What Are the Most Popular Songs on TikTok? There's Now a Billboard Chart for That
You can now check the top 50 most-streamed and most-shared songs on the app.
- Co-author of two Gen X pop-culture encyclopedia for Penguin Books. Won "Headline Writer of the Year" award for 2017, 2014 and 2013 from the American Copy Editors Society. Won first place in headline writing from the 2013 Society for Features Journalism.
Listeners can now track the hottest songs on TikTok with the app's own Billboard chart.
The Billboard charts track all kinds of musical genres and other divisions, from Christian music to country, and rap to reggae. On Thursday, Billboard and TikTok announced the TikTok Billboard Top 50 chart, a new weekly chart tracking the most popular songs on TikTok in the US.
The chart is the first of its kind and will be released every Thursday. The ratings are based on a combination of creations, video views and user engagement.
You can find the chart on Billboard.com or by pressing the round icon on the bottom corner of your phone screen in the TikTok app, and then, once the screen changes, tapping the Music Charts button in the upper right.
SkeeYee, a song by rapper Sexyy Red, topped the inaugural chart from Billboard and TikTok.
SkeeYee, a song by rapper Sexyy Red, topped the inaugural TikTok Top 50 chart, followed by Doja Cat's Paint the Town Red. Sexyy Red also had the very last song on the inaugural Top 50, with Mad at Me.
There's also a Viral 50 Tab. TikTok and Billboard didn't immediately respond to a request for comment, but in a similar situation on Spotify, the viral list tracks the most-shared songs as opposed to the most-streamed. The Viral 50 chart led with Doja Cat's Paint the Town Red (up from No. 2 on the Top 50 chart) and was followed by Billie Eilish's What Was I Made For? from the Barbie movie.
More than 150 million Americans use TikTok, the company said in March. The app has faced restrictions in the US, with the state of Montana even banning TikTok back in May, as some American politicians call it a threat to national security due to its Chinese roots and the belief that the company could give sensitive user data to the Chinese government.
The company has denied such charges and features a page on its site noting that roughly 60% of the company is owned by global institutional investors. TikTok also sued Montana in June, saying the state's ban violates the First Amendment.