Image Credit: TikTok

TikTok’s ‘Music 2020’ report details the short-video platform’s biggest, trending and emerging songs, artists and genres.

The already sawing social media platform only grew faster as stay-at-home orders came into effect in March last year.

Music is such an important aspect of the short-video sharing app. In 2020, “over 176 different songs surpassed 1 billion video views as TikTok sounds.” In December, TikTok published their Top 100. With it, they announced the platform’s top 10 most significant songs in 2020. Together, these ten songs reached over 50 billion across the 125 million videos they were featured in, five of which reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100. Nearly 90 songs that trended on TikTok last year featured on the Top 100 charts in the US, fifteen of these reached number one. TikTok has helped drive so many indie artists into the mainstream. In 2020, over 70 artists that have broken on the platform have received major label deals including Claire Rosinkranz, Dixie D’Amelio, Powfu, Priscilla Block and Tai Verdes, with dozens more charting on Rolling Stone’s Breakthrough 25.

Music shaped the year on TikTok and TikTok shaped the year in music. Unlike radio stations or streaming platform’s playlists, trending music on TikTok is not dictated by the platform but rather the community itself. To celebrate these big moments, TikTok recently published their first-ever U.S. music report, with music that mattered on TikTok last year as well as the communities favourite genres, biggest stars, emerging artists, classics songs that found new audiences and meme-worthy songs.

We at TikTok share our community’s passion for music and we’re dedicated to providing a platform where artists and fans can interact and thrive. It has been inspiring to watch our community bring new talent to the forefront, help send songs up the charts, and use music to create an oasis of joy during a trying time. We will continue to work hard to make TikTok a platform that supports artists and encourages musical engagement and discovery.

Ole Obermann, Global Head of Music, TikTok

Find your personalised Year on TikTok here.

TikTok LIVE: 2020’s Essential Music Moments
TikTok LIVE
Image Credit: TikTok

The pandemic forced events around the world to be cancelled. Luckily social media had our backs, with thousands of artists hosting live shows from the comfort of their living rooms. TikTok became a home for a wide variety of entertainment, allowing artists to perform and interact with fans.

  • Created in partnership with XO/Republic, Wave, and The Weeknd, #TheWeekndEXP was one of the most successful at-home virtual events of the year, drawing 2 million total views and 275k concurrent viewers for the enhanced-reality performance while raising over $350,000 for the Equal Justice Initiative.
  • TikTok delivered unforgettable experiences for high school seniors missing out on life experiences with a virtual prom, featuring DJ sets from Diplo and Dillon Francis, and staged a special Graduation ceremony for the Class of 2020, with special guest appearances from Bad Bunny, H.E.R., The Jonas Brothers, Pharrell, and many others.
  • TikTok teamed up with Jennifer Lopez and Maluma to give an exclusive look behind-the-scenes of their two-in-one music video for “Pa Ti/Lonely.” 
  • A-List artists participated in TikTok’s “Watermarked” series, giving TikTok users an opportunity to interact with the artists and preview their new albums in the minutes before they hit streaming services. Drawing over 1.2 million unique views, the “Watermarked” series included TikTok LIVE streams from Miley Cyrus and Trippie Redd.
  • TikTok highlighted its sizable community of Rock and Alternative musicians with #AltRocktober, on-boarding accounts for Fleetwood Mac bandmembers Mick Fleetwood and Stevie Nicks and hosting a series of popular TikTok LIVE streams with Tommy Lee, Rivers Cuomo, and many others.
  • Paying tribute to its large community of R&B fans, TikTok hosted a series of TikTok LIVE streams with artists like Ne-Yo, Mario, Miguel, Tinashe, Pink $weats, during its #RnBVibes initiative.
  • All year, TikTok hosted “Sound Off In The Comments,” quick-hitting livestreams in which artists and celebrities took thirty minutes to host a Q&A, perform a stripped-down set, or a combination of the two. Notable artists who hosted Sound-Offs include Liam Payne, Queen Naija, T-Pain, Pia Mia, and many more.