Our Takeaways:

In the year of the Barbie movie, it only makes sense that female empowerment anthems would take over TikTok. Eleven of our top 100 TikTok songs celebrated themes like leaving toxic relationships (e.g. “Flowers” by Miley Cyrus and “Shakira: Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 53”) or reveled in the joy of feminine energy (e.g. “Barbie Girl” by Aqua and “In Ha Mood” by Ice Spice). Of course, it’s impossible to overemphasize the impact of the Barbie movie on TikTok (and pop) culture this year, with three songs from the movie cracking our top 100 list.  
‍Top year of the girl tracks include: “Flowers” - Miley Cyrus, “Shakira: Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 53” - Shakira, “In Ha Mood” - Ice Spice, “Barbie Girl” - Aqua, “Barbie World” - Aqua, Ice Spice, and Nicki Minaj, “Greedy” - Tate McRae, “Made You Look” - Meghan Trainor, “If We Ever Broke Up” - Mae Stephens

Every year, we expect dance trends to decline in popularity and every year, we’re proven wrong. While most songs on our list end up being genre agnostic, at least 32 of them came to popularity as dance trends. 
‍Top dance trend tracks include: “Cupid - Twin Version” - FIFTY FIFTY, “Money Trees” - Kendrick Lamar feat. Jay Rock, “Collide” - Justine Skye feat. Tyga, “Super Bass” - Nicki Minaj, “Price Tag” - Jessie J, “Paint the Town Red” - Doja Cat, “Calm Down” - Rema

If TikTok is known for one thing it’s constant change on the app. Any trend, song, or even creator that’s popular one week is guaranteed to fall out of favor within weeks. Except, seemingly for a good instrumental background track. We were surprised to see that six tracks that made our top 50 list last year also stuck around for another year. All of them, of course, were instrumental songs that make up a timeless soundtrack for day in the life content, storytimes, or GRWMs.
‍Timeless instrumental tracks include: “Aesthetic” - Tollan Kim, “Chill Vibes” - Tollan Kim, “Monkeys Spinning Monkeys” - Kevin MacLeod & Songchain, “Love You So” - King Khan & BBQ Show, “Sunrise” - Official Sound Studio, “Feel the Groove” - Queens Road, Fabian Graetz

With CapCut becoming more and more popular, we’re starting to see more songs become hits because they’re attached to trending templates. Think Jain’s “Makeba” and the Bill Hader dancing template or “In Ha Mood” by Ice Spice and the dancing Barbie dogs template. 
‍Top CapCut tracks of the year include: “Makeba” - Jain, “In Ha Mood” - Ice Spice, “Give It To Me” - Timbaland, Nelly Furtado, and Justin Timberlake

Is the collective of TikTok, like, doing okay? Ten of the top 100 2023 tracks were emotionally charged songs that acted as the background for hearttugging videos of baby animals being rescued, storytimes of epic love stories, or remembering those who are no longer with us. I’m not crying you’re crying. 
‍Top emotional tracks of the year include: “My Love Mine All Mine” - Mitski, “Daylight” - David Kushner,” “Acróstico” - Shakira, “Angels Like You” - Miley Cyrus, “Until I Found You” - Stephen Sanchez, “What Was I Made For?” - Billie Eilish

Often popular songs seem to come from the massive TikTok void, suddenly becoming ubiquitous overnight. This year, however, we were able to tie the rise of certain songs to specific creators. Sabrina Bahsoon’s love for “Greedy” by Tate McRae, for example, made it the unofficial track of the Tube Girl trend. Stephen Sanchez’s “Until I Found You” was already popular on TikTok before Sofia Richie used it as her wedding song, but it skyrocketed to new heights after she posted content to the track. While not necessarily a big name Creator, Stephanie Prosa (aka Skeleton Girl), is the face of the fancam trend tied to Chris Brown’s “Under the Influence.”
‍Top tracks driven by individual Creators include: “Under the Influence” - Chris Brown, “Greedy” - Tate McRae, “Makeba” - Jain, “Until I Found You” - Stephen Sanchez

In 2023, why are songs from 2019 frequently hitting the top of the charts? The answer, of course, is TikTok. The best example of this is Taylor Swift’s “Cruel Summer,” a fan favorite track that started going viral once Taylor made it the second song on her Eras Tour setlist. In response, Taylor at long last released the track as a single in June 2023, where it spent four weeks on the Billboard Hot 100. Thanks to TikTok this isn’t an isolated occurrence, with Chris Brown’s 2019 song “Under the Influence” ending the year at #17 on Billboard’s annual hot 100 and Miley Cyrus’ 2020 track “Angels Like You” charting inside the top 20 on Global Spotify this year.  
‍Songs given a second life on TikTok, and later the charts include: “Cruel Summer” - Taylor Swift, “Under the Influence” - Chris Brown, “Sure Thing” - Miguel, “Money Trees” - Kendrick Lamar feat. Jay Rock, “Angels Like You” - Miley Cyrus