Sabrina Carpenter was the most popular artist on TikTok in the United States this year. Her viral hits like “Espresso” and “Please Please Please” generated more than 15 million TikTok video creations between January and November. Ranked by views on their TikTok accounts, Carpenter was the nation’s No.
1 artist and the 10th most popular artist globally. Mexican singer Yeri Mua and South Korean boy band ENHYPEN topped that list. Ice Spice, who gained mainstream attention with her remix of Taylor Swift’s “Karma,” was the second most-popular American artist on the app.
She was followed by LNLA Choppa, Billie Eilish, and Meghan Trainor. Several songs dominated TikTok in the United States based on the number of videos made using the music. These included “MILLION DOLLAR BABY (VHS)” by Tommy Richman, “CARNIVAL” by ¥$ featuring Kanye West and Ty Dolla $ign, and “Tell Ur Girlfriend” by Lay Bankz.
Taylor Swift, despite her Eras Tour’s influence, did not appear on any of TikTok’s most popular music data for 2024. Swift’s music was absent from the app for almost three months following a licensing dispute between Universal Music Group, which distributes her music, and TikTok.
Sabrina Carpenter tops TikTok charts
The annual TikTok report also provided insights into some of the app’s most popular trends of the year. Educators were more popular than ever in 2024, with influencers like Shelby Lattimore and Deidre Kelly garnering huge audiences. The hashtag #TeachersOfTikTok was used 5.5 million times between January and November.
The STEM community also saw significant growth, with #science posts increasing by 45% over last year. The #SportsOnTikTok and #BookTok communities also saw considerable increases in activity. TikTok trends led to at least two “word of the year” designations.
Following Jools Lebron’s popularization of the phrase “very demure, very mindful,” stars like Lindsay Lohan, Jennifer Lopez, Olivia Rodrigo, and Khloe Kardashian embraced it, leading to “demure” being named the 2024 Word of the Year. Additionally, Charli XCX’s “Brat Summer” trend inspired by a dance created by Kelley Heyer led to “brat” being another word of the year. TikTok has more than 1 billion global users, with 170 million in the U.S. Despite its popularity, the app has faced controversy among lawmakers due to its parent company’s ties to the Chinese government and potential privacy threats.
President Joe Biden and other lawmakers have argued that as long as the app is owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, it poses a privacy risk to users. A federal court is expected to rule this week on whether to uphold a federal ban on TikTok.
