Can a 10-second clip of a song make it go viral? TikTok says yes. Ravyn Lenae, an almost complete unknown music artist, released “Love Me Not” on May 3, 2024, but it didn’t blow up on TikTok until early 2025. “Love Me Not” became a song everyone heard if they scrolled on TikTok. The song has now been used for over 320,000 TikToks. When a song goes viral on TikTok, it pushes users to listen to it on streaming platforms too, which made “Love Me Not” get a spot on the Billboard 100.
Additionally, TikTok songs always manage to get stuck in our head. According to researcher Callula Killingly, “For some reason, a clip of a TikTok song is catchier than listening to the full song.” She talks about how it’s like leaving a task unfinished. Our brain naturally wants to finish that task by listening to the full song, not just the 10-15 second clip, so they will seek out the song on a streaming platform.
Furthermore, TikTok doesn’t just make songs popular; the platform also launches careers. Artists like Addison Rae, Doja Cat, and PinkPantheress have set their careers in motion on TikTok. TikTok is a powerful tool for new artists to reach large audiences fast and reach the success of which they dream. TikTok’s algorithm is designed to not only show popular artists, but also smaller, less discovered artists. This means that musicians that aren’t even signed with a record label can blow up overnight all because of TikTok.
TikTok has replaced traditional music promotion. Instead of songs starting out being played on the radio once or twice, they begin to show up on everyone’s phones. New artists on TikTok rely on the app’s algorithm to promote their music. Record labels are monitoring the platform looking for their next big artist. When these labels find an artist with a lot of following, they reach out to them with an offer in mind.
In addition, fans aren’t just listening to these songs, they’re a part of why they go viral. TikTok viewers use the songs on their own TikToks, making trends that help these songs blow up on social media. The more people use the song, it signals to TikTok’s algorithm to promote it to more people. When users use a song in their own video, it helps the artist because that user is sharing the artist’s song.
TikTok has transformed the way we discover and listen to music. TikTok doesn’t just share music though, it revives old songs and launches careers. As TikTok continues to evolve, it’s very clear that social media and music go hand in hand now. The next viral hit could just be a scroll away.
