More than one in four (27%) of the Top 100 singles in Germany last year went viral on TikTok before becoming a hit on the German singles chart.
That’s according to the results of a new Germany-specific study published by the ByteDance-owned app today (September 18).
Citing findings from the ‘TikTok Marketing Science Global TikTok as a Discovery Engine Study 2023‘, TikTok claims that “the tracks were usually listed on the TikTok Hot 50 chart an average of 12 days before they entered Germany’s singles chart”.
As part of the study, TikTok says that it examined the German Top 100 single charts from last year and compared them with the results of its TikTok Hot 50 chart.
TikTok claims that, “it turned out that a total of 27 of the 100 most successful songs – and therefore more than one in four titles – were first celebrated on TikTok in Germany before they ended up in the official German charts”.
TikTok notes that German artist Ayliva, who it says, “celebrated her first successes on TikTok”, was represented in the German Top 100 single chart with five songs that had previously made it into the TikTok Hot 50.
The platform also points to other German artists like Luciano, Ski Aggu, Nina Chuba, and Kontra K, plus global stars like Raye, Miley Cyrus, and Harry Styles, who it claims “followed suit and took the same path” by charting in the TikTok Hot 50 before breaking into the German single charts.
TikTok also references three examples of songs that it says gained traction on its platform in Germany before breaking into the country’s singles chart.
The songs eehhhyyy (4K+ posts) and Wie Du Manchmal Fehlst (3K+ posts) by Zartmann and Ski Aggu & Dauner became “increasingly popular on TikTok several weeks before they entered the charts,” says TikTok.
TikTok also cited an example of a catalog hit that went viral on its platform before breaking into the German Singles Chart again, 40 years after its release: Alphaville’s Forever Young, which TikTok notes was used in over 1 million posts on the platform.
Photo credit: Omid Mostofi
“TikTok has disrupted the way hits are created and in doing so, in a sense, started a democratization of the music industry. The community decides which artists become and remain successful.”
Charlotte Stahl, TikTok
Charlotte Stahl, Head of Music partnerships, EMEA, at TikTok, said: “TikTok has disrupted the way hits are created and in doing so, in a sense, started a democratization of the music industry.
“The community decides which artists become and remain successful. We are, of course, particularly pleased that we can also offer newcomers a stage and, in the best case scenario, help them achieve their breakthrough.”
