TikTok: you either love it or hate it, but you’ve definitely seen it. The spiritual successor to Vine and Musical.ly and currently the #1 free app on the App Store’s Top Charts list, TikTok isn’t just confined to the app or its perceived audience of young teens—it’s all over Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube, plus organizations from the NBA to the Washington Post seem to have one of their own. The app has transformed the way songs become hits, leading to many TikTok songs achieving viral success. So without further ado, here’s a playlist of my favorites.
1. “Lottery (Renegade)” by K Camp
Arguably the most iconic TikTok song, “Renegade” is a prime example of how a song that shouldn’t have achieved so much success has, because of TikTok, achieved it. With a tightly choreographed dance popularized by the app’s community, “Renegade” has cemented itself as a symbol of the app and an icon of pop culture.
2. “The Box” by Roddy Rich
“Ee er, ee er, ee er,” squeaks Roddy Rich before descending into this chart-topping masterpiece. The song has become ubiquitous ever since it went viral on TikTok and is currently number one on the Billboard Hot 100.
3. “Say So” by Doja Cat
With slow, image-filled lines like, “Why don’t you say so? / Didn’t even notice, no punches left to roll with. / You got to keep me focused, you want it, say so,” the popularity of the “Say So” dance trend makes complete sense. The success of “Candy” on the app means Doja Cat also has the honor of being one of the few artists with more than one TikTok hit.
4. “Obsessed” by Mariah Carey
Eleven years after its release, this Mariah Carey hit went viral on TikTok last summer with the #obsessed challenge. Carey herself tried the challenge to mixed results.
5. “Get Silly” by V.I.C.
Another 2000s song that TikTok has propelled back into fame, “Get Silly” is one of those classic songs I had never heard until it blew up on the platform. The dance for “Get Silly” also happens to be one of my favorites.
6. “Make No Sense” by YoungBoy Never Broke Again
“I feel like I’m Gucci Mane in 2006,” raps YoungBoy NBA in the intro to this hit. For those of you like me who don’t know what happened to Gucci Mane in 2006, authorities dropped murder charges against him that year. Thirteen years later, TikTokers took advantage of YoungBoy NBA’s casual name-drop and created a genre of videos of them lip syncing to the line.
7. “Le Festin” by Camille
It would have been a shame if TikTok didn’t have a tribute to in my opinion, the best Disney movie of all time: Ratatouille (2007). “Le Festin,” the film’s main theme is fresh and cheerful in contrast to all of the stress people face today. So it only makes sense that they’ve created thousands of videos displaying the level of anxiety people face as they struggle to finish their work.
