2021 closes out in a few weeks time, and as we round the corner onto another new year, TikTok has shared an overview of some of its top-performing elements and trends of the year, also serving as a summary of the broader web trends and cultures that stood out most during another COVID-impacted period.
TikTok explains:
“This year, our community discovered new ways to express creativity, championed the teams and the causes they care about, and found new favorites – from recipes to new music trends and genres. Across the United States, creators inspired others to open a new book, chomp on hot chicken, and treat themselves to a “Bones Day.”
Who’s At The Top?
TikTok’s “list” has some interesting and potentially valuable insights, both in terms of what drives engagement, as well as which content styles and formats have shown to work best on the platform. TikTok’s overview mainly highlights creators, so expect to see a fair amount of names here.
Starting things off are the top videos of the year. At number 1 is David Allen’s (@totouchanemu) ‘Drone Dancing’. From the video alone, you can glean several key elements that almost always make up the most viral TikTok clips, which is usually a pop music soundtrack, a remix or redo of an existing clip, and an engaging, personalized visual format. David’s clip is currently sitting on 313.9 million views, with around 43.9 million likes, duly highlighting the viral potential of relatively simple, yet well-made TikTok clips.
Other notable clips include:
- @chipmunksoftiktok – The one with the chipmunk ‘Squishy’ stuffing his mouth with nuts.
- @_catben_ – Restocking at its finest.
- @my_aussie_gal – The one where her dog paints!
- @zachking – The one where Zack disappears into his artwork.
- @tracy.oj – The OG ‘Woman’ dance video.
- @chaotticgoood – ‘Please don’t go’
- @felixgabrielmusic – Here comes the boy musical edition.
- @sunisalee – The one where Sunisa celebrates her gold.
- @zeddywill – “Bro, who got you smiling like that?”
As you may have guessed, TikTok is a very audio-on platform; music plays an equally critical role in building engagement and has become a key consideration for many artists and publishers. Some even alter their tracks so as to be more in line with current TikTok trends, thus maximizing potential sales.
Top 2021 Songs on TkTok:
1). “Adderall (Corvette Corvette)” – Popp Hunna
2). “Batman” – LPB Poody
3). “Bundles (ft. Taylor Girlz)” – Kayla Nicole
4). “Kiss Me More (feat.SZA)” – Doja Cat
5). “TWINEM” – Coi Leray
6). “Up” – Cardi B.
7). “Buss It” – Erica Banks
8). “Astronaut In The Ocean” – Masked Wolf
9). “Punk Monk” – Playboi Carti
10). “Drivers License” – Olivia Rodrigo
TikTok also briefly highlights the top AR effects throughout the year, with the ‘Psychedelic Clown’ filter sitting at the very top. Other popular filters also include the ‘Inverted’ filter, which throws you into a 3rd-person perspective of yourself, and the ‘Versailles Run’ and ‘Buffering’ effects.
When it comes to top products listings, we have: GAP’s brown hoodie, Kate Spade’s heart-shaped bag, Clinique’s Almost Lipstick in Black Honey, Squishmallows, Peter Thomas Roth Instant FIRMx Eye, KFC Nashville Hot Chicken, IKEA tote bag, Bissell Little Green Machine, Laser star projector, They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera.
The Wrap
Perhaps the best way to summarize TikTok this 2021 is that it underwent major growth and provides several very useful insights that can tell us lots about trends, engagement drivers, and even consumer patterns and behaviors. Overall, it wasn’t just a trendy app, but proved that it was capable and worthy of being called an industry-leader. Given all it was able to achieve this year, TikTok has firmly cemented itself as a major social media platform, and one that continues to develop.
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