Bella Poarch, Charli d’Amelio, cranberry-juice drinking skateboarder among TikTok’s Top 100 in 2020
The COVID-19 pandemic, racial and political tensions, natural disasters, and more have ravaged the world in the year 2020. But let it also be known that 2020 is the year when social media consumption has been redefined by a behemoth of an app—TikTok.
This year’s TikTok Top 100 truly magnifies how powerful its impact is. As of April 2020, the app already already had two billion downloads both in Apple Store and Google Play worldwide.
As seen in previous months, the app can catapult a nobody to stardom (and change their lives for the better) with just a 15-second clip; it can also get someone fired (or hired) from a job over the seemingly mundane things; it can widely propagate awareness on certain issues; and it can inspire people to express their creativity, which in turn helps inspire others.
@bellapoarch To the ? ? ? #fyp
♬ M to the B - Millie B
But more than anything else, especially in the time of a pandemic, TikTok has somehow become a conduit that brings people together through music, dance challenges, lip-sync videos, and more, and sends sunshine to battle the cloudy gloom and doom.
Yes, TikTok is widely popular with the Gen Zs but the micro-entertainment its users churn out transcends generations. In the Philippines recently, Gen Zs used the platform to unite and voice out their ideas and share their knowledge about history and current situations to the public with the Museo de Filipino videos, whose message also resonated with millennials and some Gen Xers.
This year, Filipino-American Bella Poarch’s M to the B by Millie B took the No. 1 spot for TikTok's Top Viral Videos. It also recently became the most liked TikTok video of all time with 43 million likes to date.
It’s also not surprising that the video of Nathan Apodaca, while on his skateboard and drinking cranberry juice to the tune of Dreams by Fleetwood Mac made it to No. 2 of the list. The 15-second video of Apodaca didn’t just help propel Dreams to the top of the charts once again—more than three decades after it first came out—it also changed Apodaca’s life for the better as people and brands pitched in to get him back on his feet—with a new truck and thousands of dollars for him and his family.
@420doggface208 Morning vibe #420souljahz #ec #feelinggood #h2o #cloud9 #happyhippie #worldpeace #king #peaceup #merch #tacos #waterislife #high #morning #710 #cloud9
♬ Dreams (2004 Remaster) - Fleetwood Mac
Over to the top creators, 16-year-old Charli d’Amelio still took the cake with the No. 1 spot despite the backlash she received from the public a couple of weeks ago, where she lost one million followers overnight. However, she regained those followers and she currently has 101 million. D’Amelio became popular for her viral dance videos (she was a competitive dancer prior to being TikTok-famous). She was only 15 years old when she amassed 41 million followers on TikTok, 22 million of which she gained in just seven months.
@charlidamelio dc @kamronagee and @wh0.nia
♬ VMESHBEATS ADDERALL X BOO X IG FREESTYLE - Varoon Ramesh
Jason Derulo’s earworm-inducing Savage Love occupied the No. 1 spot of the Top Song list as it has become the poster child for TikTok dance challenges.
For top food recipes, trends and hacks that turned many to become “semi-professional” chefs, the cute Pancake Cereal trend was the No. 1 most viewed video, followed by the (Dalgona) Whipped Coffee trend, which apparently was not only popular here in the Philippines but the rest of the TikTok world.
As the world undoubtedly changed a lot this year, TikTok believes that there is one thing that has not changed—“the heart of the TikTok community.”
And as the community grows a deeper sense of connection, and people continue to churn out their creative expressions and share them to the world, there are no signs of TikTok slowing down in the next year.
Click here for the complete list of top viral videos on TikTok.