TikTok rules the charts: every fourth hit goes viral first on TikTok
18 September 2024 - Press release- A new music analysis from TikTok shows that more than one in four songs in the German top 100 single charts in 2023 were first successful on TikTok, including hits from Ayliva, Luciano, Ski Aggu and international stars such as Miley Cyrus and Harry Styles.
- The tracks were usually listed on the TikTok Hot 50 an average of 12 days before they entered the chart.
- Both newcomers and long-forgotten hits of every genre have the chance to go viral on the entertainment platform and from there reach the German single charts - as the case study “Forever Young” by Alphaville shows.
- 89 percent of users are convinced that artists receive more visibility when they are featured on TikTok.
It is no longer a secret that TikTok has a major influence on the music industry, but so far the knowledge has been based more on prominent examples than on concrete numbers. This is changing with a new music chart analysis from TikTok, which shows, among other things, that more than one in four songs in the German top 100 single charts in 2023 were first successful on TikTok. In addition, the study clearly shows how the TikTok community creates trends and thus paves the way into the charts for both newcomers and long-forgotten classics.
It wasn't that long ago that the German top 100 single charts were made up of songs that had either just been released by well-known stars or caused a stir in films and commercials. The situation has now changed and songs and artists that were only really known or rediscovered through TikTok are increasingly finding their way into the chart.
Via the TikTok Hot 50 in the German single charts
As part of an exclusive study, TikTok took a closer look at the German top 100 single charts from last year 2023 and compared them with the results of the TikTok Hot 50.
The platform's top hits are determined in this format every Thursday and announced in the in-app Soundpage and in the music magazine MusikWoche. It turned out that a total of 27 of the 100 most successful songs - and therefore more than one in four titles - were first celebrated on TikTok in Germany before they ended up in the official German charts. The tracks were usually listed on the TikTok Hot50 an average of 12 days before they entered the chart.
How big the fundamental overlap is between the German single charts and the TikTok Hot 50 is also shown by the fact that 58 of the 100 songs could be found in both rankings. And because the TikTok Hot 50 is only limited to 50 titles, it can be assumed that the overlap would have been even greater if 100 titles had been recorded weekly.
The artist Ayliva, who celebrated her first successes on TikTok, was represented in the German top 100 single charts with a total of five songs that had previously made it into the TikTok Hot 50. Other German artists like Luciano, Ski Aggu, Nina Chuba and Kontra K and international stars like Raye, Miley Cyrus and Harry Styles followed suit and took the same path: via the TikTok Hot 50 into the German single charts.
Ski Aggu says: “Thank you TikTok for democratizing the music market. Through TikTok, everyone can market themselves and is not dependent on large budgets from labels.”
The TikTok community celebrates the songs even before they become chart successes
The TikTok community plays a central role in this context: Using the example of three songs, TikTok analyzed how the community interacted with the titles before they climbed into the German single charts. The songs “eehhhyyy” (4K+ posts) and “how you sometimes miss” (3K+ posts) by Zartmann and Ski Aggu & Dauner became increasingly popular on TikTok several weeks before they entered the charts, which is reflected in both the video views and can be seen in the video uploads in which the tracks were used.
This development can be seen even more clearly in the example of Alphaville's “Forever Young” (1+ million posts). The song celebrated its 40th anniversary this year, but because the TikTok community increased the video views and more and more users incorporated the classic into their videos, the German cult band's title actually became a German chart single again.
On TikTok, everyone has the chance to go viral This is exactly what characterizes the music cycle on TikTok: Newcomers as well as past hits or classics of every genre have the chance to go viral on the entertainment platform and from there reach the German single charts.
Chartlotte Stahl, Head of Music partnerships, EMEA, at TikTok, says: “TikTok has disrupted the way hits are created and in doing so, in a sense, started a democratization of the music industry. The community decides which artists become and remain successful. We are of course particularly pleased that we can also offer newcomers a stage and, in the best case scenario, help them achieve their breakthrough.”
New music content, especially new songs, artists and albums, is actively searched for and discovered on TikTok. They are among the most searched categories on the platform. 80 percent of all TikTok users say they use the app to discover new music and even 89 percent are convinced that artists receive more visibility when they are featured on TikTok.*
Overall, a good basis for continuing to produce the chart-toppers of tomorrow.
- Quelle: TikTok Marketing Science Global TikTok as a Discovery Engine Study 2023 (Germany Results), durchgeführt von Material
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