Over the past few years, TikTok has become less of a video-sharing platform and more of a cultural trendsetter. This has become especially true for the music industry. In its six-year span, TikTok has served to introduce new musicians to the mainstream. Nowadays, it is now almost expected of artists to jump on viral dance or audio trends when aiming for mainstream success. However, this opportunity for mainstream popularity is not limited to new projects alone. Some of Tiktok’s biggest and most organic viral hits have been songs that had been out for a while, before finding renewed popularity and becoming a sleeper hit.
“Knock Knock” - SoFaygo
SoFaygo's "Knock Knock,” was produced by Lil Tecca and dropped on August 4th, 2019. The track was released as the lead single for his mixtape Angelic 7, but neither had a smooth takeoff. So, for the mixtape to gain some momentum after its release, “Knock Knock” was teased on Twitter and Triller. Again, it only managed to gather a few thousand views.
Things changed when “Knock Knock” caught fire on TikTok in early 2021, becoming a sleeper hit. As a result, it successfully propelled SoFaygo into the limelight. Over the following two years, it exploded even further, boosting SoFaygo's popularity. The song also got impressive streaming numbers with over 16 million plays on SoundCloud, and 32 million on Spotify. In May 2021, SoFaygo released the song's official music video, which quickly amassed over 50 million views in just over a year.
“Streets” - Doja Cat
Doja Cat's “Streets” is the ninth track on her album Hot Pink, which dropped on November 7, 2019. On March 5, 2020, she dropped a one-take music video during a VEVO Lift Live Session. The song subsequently debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 in January 2021 at number 91. On March 12, 2021, Doja Cat released two remixes of “Streets”: the Silhouette Remix and the Disclosure Remix.
Soon after, the song became a sleeper hit on TikTok, and led to the famous “Silhouette Challenge.” The dance challenge began on January 14th, 2021, when @yoelise posted the first video. The challenge was also featured in the official “Streets” music video, which starred Doja Cat and Kofi Siriboe. "Streets” would eventually skyrocket on the Billboard Hot 100.
“See You Again” - Tyler The Creator Ft. Kali Uchis
"See You Again" was released as the fourth single from Tyler's album, Flower Boy, on August 29, 2017. The song, albeit adored, was widely underrated before its resurgence on TikTok. The newfound popularity was mostly due to Tyler’s opening vocals, and this is why the song is known by some on the app as the “OKOKOKOK LALALALA” song. Kali Uchis eventually made the song even more popular after she performed it at Coachella. The track gained a ton of momentum, and Robin Thicke shared a video of his son singing it at a school event on June 10th. By 2023, it had amassed over 1 billion streams on Spotify.
“Lost” - Frank Ocean
In 2022, Frank Ocean's "Lost" became a sleeper hit on TikTok because it was featured in a dance challenge. This surge in popularity is also reflected on the Billboard 200, where Channel Orange shot up to #65 years after its release. Specifically, that was the album’s highest position since 2016 -- a significant climb up from its previous spot at 146. Moreover, "Lost" itself was doing better on the charts than ever before, becoming the 22nd most-streamed song on Spotify in the U.S. for the week ending January 20th, 2022. Moreover, the sudden popularity translated to over 600 million streams. On TikTok, the song was used in over 176,300 videos, all featuring TikTokers dancing to a short clip from the song.
“Sure Thing” - Miguel
"Sure Thing" was recorded for Miguel’s debut album, All I Want Is You, which was released in 2010. The song was older than that, however, leaking on YouTube as far back as 2007. Nonetheless, the track officially hit the radio as the album's second single in January 2011. While it was moderately successful upon release, it wasn’t until 2022, over a decade later, that it became a TikTok sleeper hit. “Sure Thing” gained renewed attention after a popular "slowed + reverb" remix surfaced on YouTube in 2019. Months later, TikTok users began creating videos to the audio. As of this moment, the song has been featured in over four million TikTok videos to date.
“Bag Season” - Jay Lewis Ft. DaRealGeeMoney
“Bag Season,” the sleeper hit by Jay Lewis and Da Real Gee Money, has become the soundtrack for TikTok's slushie challenge. This trend involves people recording themselves making a trip to a local convenience store to purchase large slushies, which they then proceed to gleefully hurl at their parked truck's windshield, creating a splash. While it's unclear who initiated the trend, some credit @brett.michaels, although his original video didn't involve throwing the slushie at his truck. While the challenge may seem wasteful, the trend has garnered millions of views. As a result, it’s responsible for putting Jay Lewis’ 2017 song on Billboard’s Top 50 chart.
“Surround Sound” - JID
"Surround Sound" was released on January 14, 2022, as the lead single from JID's third studio album, The Forever Story. The song was already a fan-favorite but in September 2023, the song went viral on TikTok. However, the most popular part of the song is the sampled clip of Aretha Franklin’s "One Step Ahead.” More than 57,000 TikTok videos have been made using the song. Subsequently, this has propelled “Surround Sound” to a peak at number 40 on the Billboard Hot 100.