Are hashtags dead in 2025? What musicians and creators should know
With TikTok, Instagram, and X shifting away from hashtag-based discovery, here’s how artists and creators can actually get seen in 2025.
Once upon a time, hashtags were the magic trick to growing your online presence. Creators could add 20 or so tags, and suddenly you were reaching new fans and climbing the discovery ladder. But times have changed.
Just last October, we published a blog about how using hashtags were still beneficial, despite spammy uses potentially doing more harm to your reach and engagement than good.
Now in 2025, hashtags aren’t the discovery powerhouse they once were, at least according to music author and blogger Bobby Owsinksi.
The decline of the hashtag
TikTok recently limited hashtags to five per post, following the likes of Instagram, X (formerly Twitter), Threads, and LinkedIn. The goal? To stop creators spamming too many vaguely relevant hashtags to try and game discovery.
It’s not just a crackdown though. Hashtags no longer hold the same importance. Earlier this year, Instagram boss Adam Mosseri admitted that hashtags now only “help with categorisation, but not distribution”. In other words: hashtags help organise your content on Instagram, but won’t magically boost your reach. In fact, a SocialInsider study of over 75 million IG posts showed that hashtags simply aren’t driving discovery anymore.
So… are hashtags totally useless?
Not entirely. Hashtags still play a role in organising content, and help people find your content if they’re searching for something specific. For example, tagging #popmusic or #indieartist means that fans searching those terms can still find your posts. Think: a trending topic on X will help fans searching for that content, and on TikTok especially, using relevant trending hashtags can still help with visibility. They’re just no longer the main engine of discovery.
Today, algorithms care more about what your content is, not just what it’s tagged as.
What actually works in 2025 instead
If hashtags aren’t as important anymore, what should musicians and creators focus on? Nowadays, discovery is powered by AI, search and engagement. Platforms are leaning on AI machine learning to decide what shows up in your TikTok For You Page, Instagram Explore, or YouTube recommendations.
That means creators and artists need to tweak their strategies. Here are some ideas that work better than solely using hashtags in your captions:
- Prioritize keywords: Use relevant keywords in your captions, descriptive, and video titles so the algorithm knows what your content is about.
- Match your formats: Make sure text overlays, voiceovers/audio, and visuals are all aligned with the content of your post. This helps AI categorise and share your videos correctly.
- Focus on engagement: Comments, shares, likes and watch time are crucial. Content that sparks reactions will boost your chances of getting shown to more people.
- Lean into AI: Most platforms now use AI for content recommendations. The more consistent your style and niche, the easier it is for AI to recommend you to the right audience.
You can find more info about what works on Instagram and other platforms on the RouteNote Blog:
The bigger picture
As hashtags become an outdated tool for discovery, Bobby Owsinski predicts hashtags could disappear completely in the next five years. Whether or not that happens, one thing is clear: hashtags aren’t the discovery hack they used to be.
For artists and creators, that’s not necessarily bad news. You no longer have to rely on stuffing your captions with hashtags in the hope of being seen. Instead, focus on making engaging content, building your niche, and letting AI do the discovery for you. It also serves as a reminder to stay updated with relevant content strategies in order to boost your online presence.
The takeaway? Don’t ditch hashtags completely, but don’t lean on them either. If you want to grow your presence, focus on the things platforms really care about: engaging content, smart keywords, and understanding how AI recommends your content behind the scenes.