One week after Spotify Wrapped comes another look at music trends for the year, with The King Khan & BBQ Show’s 2004 song Love You So topping a UK TikTok chart.
In 2023, more than 32 million of the platform’s videos used the song. As such, it now has traction despite not being a hit upon its original release almost 20 years ago.
But while household names such as Taylor Swift and Miley Cyrus topped the most played list on Spotify, the TikTok list features some lesser-known numbers that were perfect for the short format. In second place is Aesthetic by Tollan Kim, which featured in 17 million videos, followed by Girls Like Me Don’t Cry by Thuy in third with 9.7 million.
The list was not an official one released by Spotify. Economy market research firm Net Influencer compiled and then released the TikTok list on Friday (December 8).
“The ranking was determined by investigating official sounds and audios over the past four months and analysing their performance on TikTok and Spotify,” the firm said of its criteria for selecting songs.
For Love You So, Net Influencer found it has made £92,047 in royalties and had a 5 per cent playlist increase between August and October 2023. This came after it featured in 450 playlists created by users. The company also found that Tollan Kim’s Aesthetic netted a reported £32,000 in streaming income and was a hit on Spotify — despite not having any lyrics.
Nii Ahene, managing director of Net Influencer, said: “It is fascinating to see the power of social media, especially TikTok over the recent years.
“Most of these songs listed are performed by smaller, independent artists or artists from different generations and genres from other parts of the world. TikTok enables these artists to be discovered, or rediscovered, allowing for widespread exposure.”
The list comes just after the release of the latest trend, an anglicised version of Marge Simpson.
The songs used on the most TikTok videos in 2023
Position |
Artist |
Song name |
Number of videos |
1. |
The King Khan & BBQ Show |
Love You So |
32.5 million |
2. |
Tollan Kim |
Aesthetic |
17.3 million |
3. |
Thuy |
Girls Like Me Don't Cry |
9.7 million |
4. |
Ariana De Bose |
The Wish |
4.3 million |
5. |
Gucci and Loud Behaviour |
Notice Me |
3.9 million |
6. |
Doja Cat |
Paint the Town Red |
2.7 million |
7. |
Encanto Cast |
We Don’t Talk About Bruno |
2.5 million |
8. |
Nicki Minaj and Ice Spice |
Barbie World |
2.4 million |
9. |
Famous Sally and YB |
Wassup Gway |
2.4 million |
10. |
Alan Walker |
Endless Summer |
2.4 million |
