How to Find Trending TikTok Sounds While They’re Still Popular (+ 12 of the Best)

How to source the best audio clips for your TikToks while they’re still popular, plus examples of TikTok sounds with staying power.

Feb 11, 2025 - 11:23
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How to Find Trending TikTok Sounds While They’re Still Popular (+ 12 of the Best)
How to Find Trending TikTok Sounds While They’re Still Popular (+ 12 of the Best)

Funny, poignant, catchy — trending sounds are the backbone of TikTok virality and can often make or break a video’s success.

According to TikTok research, “sound is the anti-scroll on TikTok”. With their data, it’s not hard to see why. Eighty-eight percent of TikTok users said that “sound is essential to the TikTok experience,” while 73% admitted they would "stop and look" at ads on TikTok with audio.

Both of these stats are significantly higher than other platforms, TikTok said (though they didn’t offer a comparison).

Of course, it’s not always easy to find TikTok audio at the peak of its popularity — and no one wants to add a phased-out sound to a video clip that’s taken them ages to film.

Learn how to source trending TikTok songs and sounds for your social media posts while they’re still popular. Plus, we'll surface some examples of TikTok sounds with staying power: a selection of the best tracks in 2025. Whether you're a content creator, social media manager, or business owner, we'll help you stay ahead of the audio trends on TikTok.

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10 ways to find new trending sounds on TikTok

Yes, you could spend hours scrolling through the platform to try to find the best audio for your next TikTok (honestly, I wouldn’t complain). But if you’re a busy content creator, business owner, or social media manager, you probably just don’t have time for it.

Luckily, there are a few little shortcuts you can take to make this process easier so you can get back to the most important part of content creation on TikTok — filming and editing your short-form videos and still-photo posts.

Let's take a look at how to find trending TikTok sounds.

A note for businesses: Not all music is cleared for business use on TikTok, even if it's being used in another post. Original sounds are OK to reuse, but for tracks that might have copyrights on them, look for the "Approved for business use" tag on TikTok. Read TikTok's official statement on the commercial use of music.

1. Browse TikTok’s Creative Center

If you haven't checked out TikTok’s Creative Center yet, the link is worth a bookmark. It's effectively a guide to the biggest trends on the platform within a timeframe of your choice, including creators, hashtags, and — you guessed it — songs trending on TikTok.

Another great feature? You can choose specific regions to pinpoint exactly what is resonating there.

How to Find Trending TikTok Sounds While They’re Still Popular (+ 12 of the Best)

2. Use TikTok’s search function

You may have heard about TikTok SEO or that TikTok is the new Google. According to The New York Times, it’s Gen Z’s search engine of choice.

It's not hard to see why. The platform has a pretty great search function — and it’s probably one of the simplest ways to discover trending sounds. Here’s how to do it:

  1. Tap the magnifying glass icon on the top right of the app to open the search tool in the TikTok app.
  2. In the search bar, type a phrase like “viral sound.”
  3. Tap the "Sounds" tab and scroll through, paying special attention to the ones labeled "popular."
  4. When you find a sound you like, tap on the "Use this sound" button on the bottom right to add the sound to the editor.
  5. Record or add your clips, and you’re ready to post!
How to Find Trending TikTok Sounds While They’re Still Popular (+ 12 of the Best)

3. Check out what TikTok recommends for you

One cool sound discovery feature in TikTok makes it a breeze to find suitable audio for your content. When you're creating a post in the app, you'll get recommended music once you add your content. Here's how to find it:

  1. Tap the "+" button on the bottom middle of your screen.
  2. Add your content.
  3. Tap the "Add music" button at the top.
  4. Voile! Curated music based on your content.

For me, you can see once I added a video of my new, glittery manicure, I received fitting suggestions from TikTok, like "All Sparkles, Like Magic!" and "My nails will be done."

How to Find Trending TikTok Sounds While They’re Still Popular (+ 12 of the Best)

4. TikTok's music charts

TikTok partnered with Billboard to curate the most popular songs on TikTok in the United States that week. It's surprisingly well hidden on the platform.

Access it from any sound's page by clicking the "Music Charts" button in the top right of your screen:

How to Find Trending TikTok Sounds While They’re Still Popular (+ 12 of the Best)

There, you'll see a list of the top 50 trending TikTok songs.

How to Find Trending TikTok Sounds While They’re Still Popular (+ 12 of the Best)

5. Explore TikTok’s playlists

TikTok has curated a sound library of sorts based on genre, category, and what’s performing well in your area. It's just takes a few more steps from our last tip to find them:

  1. After tapping the "Add music" button in the editor, click the magnifying glass on the right.
  2. Instead of searching, tap "Discover more sounds."
How to Find Trending TikTok Sounds While They’re Still Popular (+ 12 of the Best)
  1. There, you’ll find sounds recommended for you, plus a host of playlists created by TikTok.
How to Find Trending TikTok Sounds While They’re Still Popular (+ 12 of the Best)