Popular Music Genres on TikTok in 2025: What Do People Use?
The music plays a crucial role for TikTok content creators. The idea is not just to use the song for background, but to add value to your content and make it recognizable among millions of pieces of content. Whether it's electronic music, dance music, or something from K-pop, creators always search for the most valuable tracks. Today, we identify key patterns for music genres and trends based on how people choose music for their content on TikTok. It's not only about using new music faster than others, but also about choosing tracks that create emotional relatability, cultural influence, and references. Music becomes an essential part of TikTok content creation. In today's article, we will discuss the most viral tracks on TikTok and uncover the whole tendency of using music on the platform, showing common patterns and popular genres.
In the table below, we showcase the actual trends and provide a proper explanation for each of them.
|
Trend |
Description |
Examples |
|
Dance Challenges |
Energetic, rhythmic tracks paired with viral choreography remain a cornerstone of TikTok culture. |
“Shake It to the Max (Fly)” by Moliy & Silent Addy |
|
Emotional Storytelling |
Users sync personal or vulnerable stories with emotionally powerful tracks. |
“DTMF” by Bad Bunny, “Messy” by Lola Young |
|
Nostalgic Revivals |
Old hits or overlooked classics are rediscovered and gain new life through creative video formats. |
“Pretty Little Baby” by Connie Francis, Janet Jackson |
|
Meme and Comedy Syncs |
Catchy or quirky tracks are used in humorous or ironic meme content. |
“WTHelly” by Rob49 |
|
Celebrity Boosts |
Songs go viral when featured in videos by influencers or performers with large followings. |
“Ecstasy” by Ciara (viral after Coachella performance) |
How Do People Choose Songs for TikTok Videos?
In most cases, creators choose viral tracks that match the latest trends. Such songs match current trends, being spotted in memes, dancing challenges, nostalgic videos, etc. They choose viral music because it leads to better visibility. Genres like Phonk, EDM, and hip hop offer fresh songs all the time, and content makers follow the trend to make sure the audience won't abandon their content. Once Taylor Swift or Justin Bieber releases new songs, they immediately get used on TikTok. Still, is it only about trending tracks and artists?
Videos with rap and hip hop-related hashtags got over 190,6 billion views on TikTok. In 2024, a song “Back It Up and Dump It” inspired creators to make viral videos, getting over 10 billion views in total. Moreover, the feud between Drake and Kendrick Lamar made them one of the most-streamed artists worldwide (the GNX album by Kendrick got over 900 million streams in 2024).
The electronic dance music (EDM) genre also remains popular on TikTok, as the #ElectronicMusic hashtag made the difference in late 2024, giving this genre the biggest presence on the platform ever. Videos from Tomorrowland got over 3.5 billion views on TikTok in 2024, and the major electronic genre artists keep establishing themselves on the platform.
Phonk, a brand new genre, gained popularity among Gen-Z users, also made a statement on TikTok. Songs like Slay became viral because of TikTok videos and surpassed 100 million streams on Spotify because of that. In 2024, people searched for phonk 255,000 times per day, which is 200% more than in 2023.
Source: Music Business Worldwide – TikTok reveals its top songs of 2024
2024 was considered a year of K-pop on TikTok, as 7 of the 10 most popular artists on TikTok were from South Korea.
Inspirational Songs
Tracks are used to give people additional motivation and inspiration to move forward regardless of the situation. Sometimes, the music is combined with inspirational quotes. Still, what's more important is that creators add hashtags like #motivation or #motivationalmusic to their TikTok videos.
Such content not only gets engagement. Users share feedback, starting conversations and communicating with creators, pushing the videos even more.
Viral Tracks and Genres
Phonk slowly takes over social media, competing with hip hop and rap for the most popular genre on the platform. It's not only about TikTok. Creators who use both TikTok and Instagram to share almost the same content can't ignore that Phonk is on top of global music today. With viral songs like Passo Bem Solto, Authority, Ecos Do Abismo, Bonito Roubo, and others, the content immediately goes viral and jumps on top of the For You page. Why? The music resonates with the visual content and mood of the viewers, getting solid engagement all the time.
One of the recent TikTok trends is about making football compilations using phonk songs. It works because short videos made with energetic songs are easy to perceive.
Platform Suggestions
TikTok's AI algorithms suggest songs for you based on your recent activity. Depending on what content you engaged with, the platform will offer posts with similar songs. It's called a behavior-based recommendation, and it depends on liked/saved tracks, the genres you engaged with the most, and the songs you used for your own content.
You will also have trend-based suggestions, basically showing tracks that are trending due to high engagement. Why does it happen? Because the platform keeps the viral content on top as long as possible.
Are the Trends Formed Because of the Viral Songs?
In most cases, the trends form the current social media playlist. If most jokes, sketches, and other types of content contain Latin music, it will be everywhere on TikTok. If it's about rock music or indie rock, the pattern will change. For example, today, people mostly listen to phonk as one of the most dominant genres on the platform, even though the timeless classic appears in trends occasionally.
How to Find the Most Popular TikTok Songs?
People may know about 1 or 2 viral TikTok tracks like Die With A Smile from Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars, but an average person may not know most of the viral tracks. How to deal with that? Curators have created playlists on platforms like Spotify and Apple Music, representing viral TikTok hits in 2025. Some choices, like Anxiety by Doechii or Not Like Us by Kendrick Lamar, are familiar, but most tracks may remain unrecognizable. That's why searching for viral tracks with such playlists may seem like a good idea. If you are a content creator searching for relevant music for your tracks, reach out to such playlists and find soulful songs that inspire you and your followers.
How to Push Your TikTok Content?
Besides searching for good music for your videos, it's essential to push them to reach a wider audience, get higher engagement, and make a difference for your profile. This is the reason creators share TikTok content on Instagram, engaging with the audience from a different platform. Platforms offer a format of short music videos, allowing you to put your music in the background (you can even add it to the platform's library) and do a cross-platform promotion.
Your TikTok videos must include a hook within the first 15 seconds. It’s necessary to draw attention to both the visual and music parts of your content, and you should do it as quickly as possible.
When starting your TikTok activity, participate in music-related challenges, making more users hear your music via videos. Moreover, if your music gains popularity, it’s reasonable to launch a challenge of your own, creating a precedent to notice your track.
Repost fan content with your music to increase your platform visibility. TikTok’s algorithm appreciates activity, and you can use it to your advantage, as your nickname and music will appear in people’s feeds more often. You show that your content has value.
Another option is a paid organic promotion. With a complex package that contains views, likes, and followers, you'll get the desired boost and make the content go viral regardless of the genre's popularity. With catchy melodies and a broad selection of tracks from multiple genres, you don't need to search for the music phenomenon. You can choose tracks that match your content, and trust us with the promotion process. In a few days, you will see solid changes in stats.
What is the most popular music genre on TikTok today?
How do people choose tracks for TikTok videos?
How to mark your music on TikTok?
Can I find viral songs on TikTok myself?
