TikTok is a social media platform that spiked in popularity during the COVID-19 Pandemic. The app allows its users to post video clips alongside short clips of music, which often leads to the discovery of small artists and musicians.
If an artist’s ‘sound’ is lucky enough to go viral, they can gain multitudes of social media followers, earn money through TikTok’s ‘Creator Fund’ and even have their song blow up in the global charts.
These artists became phenomenons overnight when their sounds blew up on TikTok.
Doja Cat
I can picture it now, a 16-year-old version of myself dancing along to ‘Say So’ in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. At the time, the world was naive to the phenomenon that is Doja Cat. It all started when ‘Say So’ went viral, launching Doja into a viral spiral overnight.
The sensation didn’t die down though, with the artist having had seven songs reach the top 20 on the charts and won several awards including a Grammy and an AMA.
Lizzo
Surprisingly, the hit ‘Truth Hurts’ went viral on TikTok two years after it was released, storming the charts as millions of users danced to the catchy tune. Later, her hit ‘About Damn Time’ would also go viral on the social media app.
The sensation didn’t stop there, the artist now boasts an impressive 25.9 million followers on TikTok and 12 million Instagram followers. Her loyal fanbase has supported her through the ups and downs of her music career so far.
Tyla
More recently, Tyla has become an overnight sensation with ‘Water’. The ‘Water Dance’ became an obsession with TikTok users, which was inspired by South African artist Tyla twerking whilst pouring a glass of water over herself (It looks better than it sounds, trust me).
The iconic dance took the world by storm, with the artist managing to bag herself a Grammy Award for Best African Music Performance in 2024, despite not even having debuted her first album yet.
Mimi Webb
Mimi Webb is the pop princess we didn’t know we needed. The 23-year-old singer specialises in providing us with ‘cry along tunes’, one of which went viral on TikTok, launching her career.
During the pandemic, the newbie singer went viral on TikTok when influencer Charli d’Amelio featured ‘Before I Go’ in a video, granting the track 85 million views and 25 million streams on Spotify.
Since then, she has produced chart-topping tracks such as ‘Good Without’, which unsurprisingly also went viral on TikTok. Post-lockdown, Mimi’s career is taking off, from performing alongside The Script, Mabel, Becky Hill, Joel Corry, Tom Grennan, Ella Henderson and Ed Sheeran, to being nominated for a Brit Award in 2023.
Megan Thee Stallion
We all remember ‘Savage’, right? Another lockdown favourite, this tune went viral on TikTok after users created a dance to accompany the chorus. Snippets of the song were recognisable across the globe as the world sheltered inside during the Coronavirus Lockdown of 2020 to 2022.
Since then, Megan has taken the Rap scene by storm, from her controversial collaboration with star Cardi B on ‘WAP’ (yet another viral sensation), to her feud with the Queen of Rap Nicki Minaj, to winning a Grammy not ONCE, but THREE times.
