TikTok’s Soundtrack: How Viral Hits Are Made

TikTok’s Soundtrack: The Same Songs Over and Over

A thread with nearly 300 replies has compiled the melodies endlessly repeated in TikTok and YouTube shorts. It’s not a list of major hits, but a catalog of tracks that have become emotional shortcuts for content creators. From motivational self-improvement music to the cliché nostalgia of Chinese city skylines from skyscrapers, the pattern is clear: the algorithm rewards familiarity.

Motivation and empowerment, the king genres

Among the most cited songs is the omnipresent soundtrack of self-improvement videos, the one playing when the protagonist ‘looks back’ to see how far they’ve come. Also the track accompanying the empty speeches of shallow gurus or clips by street photographers pretending to be profound. There are even tracks that have become empowerment anthems, repeated even on official government accounts. Ukraine’s TikTok account even used one, according to the thread.

The gigachad and fitness: when the meme comes with its own BSO

The fitness and ‘sigma male’ subgenre has its own soundtrack. The song associated with the gigachad character and references to O’Hearn are cited as mandatory in bodybuilding videos. One user compares the tedious repetition of these melodies to the tutorials and pirate game launchers of years past. Nostalgia also has its place: classics from movie summaries or the mythical songs from ‘pranks’.

From AI to pavor: the music unifying all formats

The compilation spans from AI videos aging celebrities to pavor shorts. A curious example: the track accompanying night views of Chinese cities from apartments on the 20th floor, or the one used for Cascadia landscapes. There are even mentions of the music from Tinder in Real Life virals. All this draws a sonic map transcending genres and audiences.

User fatigue: when does the canon change?

The thread not only lists, but also denounces. Several participants express their weariness with the repetition. ‘It should be punishable by jail,’ they say of one of the most unbearable. Others lament that figures like influencer Llados fill content with platitudes using the same background music. The arrival of TikTok is seen by some as an intellectual catastrophe. However, the business works: creators know these tracks guarantee retention, and the algorithm rewards what has already worked.

With this data, social media music resembles more a machine of tropes than an artistic expression. And the worst part is that, as one participant admits, ‘with just an hour spent watching TikTok videos, they already know the darkest secrets of your soul.’ The auditory déjà vu is no coincidence: it’s the sound of the algorithm.