From Memes to World Tours: How TikTok Is Boosting Artists and Reviving Pop Careers

If you’ve discovered a new song recently, chances are you first heard it on TikTok. Over the past few years, the platform has completely changed the way music becomes popular. Instead of depending on radio play or large-scale campaigns, a song can go viral overnight thanks to a dance trend, a relatable lyric, or a funny meme. Suddenly, millions of people are using the same 15-second clip — and just like that, a new hit is born.

Researchers and industry reports have pointed out that TikTok’s algorithm plays a major role in this phenomenon. TikTok and Luminate released a Music Impact Report that stated that a large percentage of Gen Z listeners discover new music through short-form video platforms. Unlike traditional radio or streaming playlists, TikTok’s recommendation system constantly pushes content beyond users’ immediate circles, allowing a song to reach millions of people who had never heard the artist before.

But the platform isn’t only creating viral songs, it’s also launching new artists, reviving existing careers and even turning influencers into pop stars.

The Pandemic Era: When TikTok Turned Artists Into Superstars

During the pandemic, TikTok became one of the primary platforms for music discovery. With everyone spending more time online, songs started spreading across the app faster than ever.

One of the biggest examples is Doja Cat. Although she had been releasing music for years, the viral success of “Say So” on TikTok helped push her into global pop stardom. The choreography trend exploded on the social media, and suddenly the song was everywhere. In fact, the track became one of the clearest examples of how a user-created dance challenge can influence chart performance.

Another artist who benefited from this moment was Olivia Rodrigo. When she released “Drivers License” in 2021, the emotional ballad quickly took over TikTok. Users created edits, reaction videos and covers that amplified the song’s popularity and helped turn Olivia into one of the defining pop voices of Gen Z.

And then, there’s Tate McRae. Her career actually started gaining attention back in 2020 with the emotional pop song “You Broke Me First”. The track quickly went viral on TikTok and ended up appearing in over a million videos on the platform, helping it spread across streaming services and radio charts worldwide.

But even with that early success, Tate’s career reached a whole new level a few years later. In 2023, songs like “Greedy” started dominating TikTok again, with users creating edits, dance trends, and viral clips that introduced her music to an even wider audience. The song’s popularity on the platform translated directly into chart success, proving once again how the app can turn a catchy sound into a global hit. 

When TikTok Revives Pop Careers

But TikTok isn’t just helping new artists break through, it’s also giving established performers a second wave of popularity.

Take Zara Larsson and Sabrina Carpenter, for example! Both singers already had successful careers before TikTok became such a powerful cultural force. However, viral moments on the platform helped introduce their music to a new generation of listeners.

Sabrina Carpenter’s recent surge in popularity is closely tied to how her songs circulate on the app. Clips from her tracks, especially songs like “Espresso”, “Please Please Please” and “Feather”, have become popular sounds for edits, trends and memes.

Because TikTok rewards repeated use of a sound across different videos, these tracks remain visible for long periods of time, allowing them to gain momentum even months after release. Music industry analysts have pointed out that this constant circulation can be more powerful than traditional promotion because it feels organic and community-driven.

Zara Larsson has experienced similar moments, with her songs repeatedly resurfacing through trends and fan-made videos. Earlier hits like “Lush Life” and “Never Forget You” often appear in nostalgic edits and throwback trends. TikTok allows older songs — or songs that may not have been major hits before — to suddenly find a new audience years later, especially with the new trend that says “2026 is the new 2016”, when Zara consolidated her international career. 

From Influencer to Pop Star

However, TikTok has also blurred the line between content creators and musicians.

A clear example is Addison Rae. She first gained massive popularity through dance and lifestyle videos on the platform, becoming one of the app’s biggest creators. Later, she transitioned into music and began releasing pop songs such as “Obsessed” and the viral track “Diet Pepsi”, showing how TikTok fame can open doors in the music industry.

Because Addison already had millions of followers and understood how trends spread on the platform, her music could easily integrate into TikTok culture. Some media scholars argue that this represents a new type of celebrity pipeline: instead of artists becoming famous through music first, they build an audience online and then introduce music to an already engaged fanbase.

While this path isn’t always easy, it highlights how the platform can act as a launching pad for entirely new types of artists.

A New Way for Hits to Happen

What makes TikTok so powerful is that the audience is part of the process. Instead of labels deciding what becomes a hit, users help determine which songs take off. A catchy chorus, a dance challenge, or even a funny meme can turn an unknown track into a global phenomenon. In many cases, only a specific section of the song, sometimes just 10 or 15 second, becomes the viral sound that fuels the trend.

Researchers studying digital culture note that TikTok encourages what is called “participatory promotion”. Instead of passively listening to music, users actively remix, reinterpret and redistribute it through their own videos. Every new video using the sound essentially becomes a form of free promotion.

But going viral is only the first step, the artists who truly succeed are the ones who know how to turn that moment into something bigger — building a fanbase, releasing new music, and translating online buzz into streaming numbers, chart success, and eventually world tours.

The Future of Pop Music

TikTok has completely reshaped the way the music industry works. A song no longer needs a traditional promotional strategy to reach millions of listeners. Sometimes all it takes is one viral moment. From emerging stars like Tate McRae to established artists like Sabrina Carpenter and Zara Larsson, the platform has proven that the path to pop success is changing. And who knows? The next global hit might already be waiting in someone’s For You Page.

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The article above was edited by Júlia Darú.

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• artists
• entertainment
• music
• pop
• tiktok
• viral