The top 5 TikTok trends of 2023

Despite the slew of legal challenges TikTok faced this year—from a five-hour-long U.S. congressional hearing surrounding data privacy concerns to an outright ban of its app in Montana (which was recently blocked by a federal judge)—the social media platform is ending 2023 in a stronger position than ever. In March, TikTok announced it had more than 150 million monthly active U.S. users, and the platform’s global monthly user base swelled from roughly 1.3 billion in 2022 to over 1.6 billion in 2023, according to Business of Apps. That global audience is expected to continue its climb in 2024, with Business of Apps projecting TikTok will reach 2 billion users worldwide next year. And, as has been the case since 2020, TikTok continued to dominate Gen Z’s screen time. Just over 75% of Gen Z consumers surveyed by youth market research firm YPulse in June reported they use TikTok, and nearly two-thirds of those consumers said they scroll through the app daily—sometimes for five or more hours each day, as 18% of respondents reported doing. More news: TikTok, Instagram and Pinterest predict 2024 trends TikTok also leaned into ambitions to expand beyond solely being a social media app in 2023 with the launch of TikTok Shop, its in-app e-commerce platform, in September and the rollout of its out-of-home offering, “Out of Phone,” a month later. Ultimately, though, TikTok has remained a platform ruled by its trends, from widely circulated songs (or remixes thereof) to out-of-context audio or video clips from TV shows or films—and yes, even a few dances. Here are five of 2023’s most viral TikTok trends, whose impact often spilled over from TikTok posts into pop culture. See our Year in Review stories here 5. Flyana Boss’ ‘You Wish’ Bobbi Lanea and Folayan Kunerede—who together form hip-hop duo Flyana Boss—sprinted to TikTok virality this summer in a series of videos featuring the two girls running toward the camera while mouthing the words to their song “You Wish.” After Flyana Boss uploaded their first video in that style in May, “You Wish” became a summertime anthem both on TikTok, where it has been used in nearly 166,000 videos, and on platforms such as Spotify, where users have streamed the track more than 33 million times. As the summer progressed, the hip-hop duo began receiving invites from brands including Chipotle, Google, Spotify and even TikTok itself to sprint through their buildings. Pizza Hut went a step further and tapped Flyana Boss to write a brief jingle about the brand and run toward the camera while holding a pizza box. @flyanaboss Replying to @TikTok we love @TikTok and can’t believe we’re almost at 1 million followers 🦋✨ #flyanaboss #evanblummadeit ♬ You Wish - Flyana Boss 4. ‘Hi, Barbie!’ In the months leading up to the “Barbie” movie’s July premiere, buzz around the highly anticipated film was practically inescapable. That was especially true on TikTok, where, along with the rise of trends such as “Barbiecore” fashion, an audio clip of the various Barbies and Kens excitedly exchanging hellos (“Hi, Barbie!”) circulated across the platform for more than four months. The clip traces directly back to a trailer scene posted by the “Barbie” movie’s official TikTok account in April, inviting users to “use this sound and enter Barbie Land!” TikTokers took that request to heart, collectively making over 241,000 videos using the audio clip to recreate the trailer scene with their friends or share a series of Barbiecore outfits. The hashtag #HiBarbie, meanwhile, has amassed over 822 million total views since April. A number of brands incorporated the trending audio into TikTok videos promoting their collaborations with “Barbie,” including OPI and Duolingo. @shivanijune_ 🎀🌸💗 #barbiethemovie #barbiestyle #pinkaesthetic #barbiecore #barbieoutfit ♬ Hi Barbie Hi Ken Barbie Movie Only In Theaters - Barbie Movie 3. Tube Girl Though the “Tube Girl effect” emerged relatively late in the year, hitting its peak in mid-September, the phenomenon—and Sabrina Bahsoon, the creator at the center of it all—rapidly grew into one of the most viral TikTok trends of 2023. Similarly to Flyana Boss, Bahsoon developed a signature video format that involved her quickly swiveling her phone around while filming herself through her phone’s rear-facing, wide-angle camera and lip synching and dancing along to various pop songs. She filmed the majority of these videos while riding London’s underground transit system, known as the “Tube”—hence, the “Tube Girl” moniker TikTokers gave Bahsoon. TikTok users applauded Bahsoon for her self-confidence and lack of embarrassment about recording these videos on public transit, leading a surge of TikTokers to emulate the video format on public transit systems in cities around the world, including New York, Paris and Warsaw, Poland. Others simply sought to channel Bahsoon’s unabashed self-confidence, a mindset that was soon dubbed the “Tube Girl effect.” Over the past several months, the hashtag #TubeGirl garnered 2 billion overall views and has been used on more than 95,000 videos, while the related hashtag #TubeGirlEffect drew an additional 347 million views. A slew of brands leaned into the Tube Girl trend and its surrounding message of self-confidence, including MAC Cosmetics, which invited Bahsoon, a professional model, to walk the runway during the brand’s London Fashion Week event, and luxury fashion brand Boss, which brought her to its runway show during Milan Fashion Week shortly after. @sabrinabahsoon I finally made a @Spotify playlist! Link in bio💃🏽🫶🏽 Im normally quite shy with my tunes but I needed to pull through for my tube gang 😘 love you guys ❤️😭 #tubegirl #tubegirleffect ♬ original sound - habz.fx 2. The Roman Empire For a brief period this year, TikTok was flooded with people all asking the same question: “How often do you think about the Roman Empire?” The viral trend originated from Roman reenactor Gaius Flavius’ Instagram Reel urging women to ask men in their lives that question, promising they would “be surprised by their answers!” And when TikTok users began posing the question en masse to their husbands, boyfriends, fathers and brothers, the platform (and soon, the rest of the internet) quickly discovered that far more men than anyone would have assumed pondered the Roman Empire on a near-daily basis. As the trend took off and the hashtag #RomanEmpire started its rapid ascent to its current total of nearly 3 billion views, a few brands capitalized on this fascination with the ancient, militaristic empire, with Panera unveiling a Roman-Empire-inspired menu and United Airlines briefly discounting its flights to Rome. Within just a couple of weeks, though, the trend’s original format of asking men about the Roman Empire morphed into TikTok users adopting the phrase “my Roman Empire” to refer to anything—be it a celebrity, a movie scene or even just a scenario—that regularly invades their thoughts. The initial phase of the Roman Empire trend may have faded, but that internet shorthand has remained popular among Gen Z on both TikTok and beyond. @idkhowyoufoundme he got so defensive😭😭 once a week is insane ♬ original sound - ashley lance 1. Girl math and girl dinner Sure, it may technically be cheating to put two trends in the same spot, but TikTok’s “girl math” and “girl dinner” phenomena both reflect a broader pop culture theme that arose this year—a celebration of girlhood, driven in part by the rush of female-oriented entertainment in 2023, from the “Barbie” movie to Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour and Beyoncé’s Renaissance World Tour. That theme naturally made its way to TikTok—a platform that frequently acts as both a reflection and source of pop culture trends—in the form of “girl dinner” and “girl math.” The former emerged in May when user Olivia Maher shared a video describing eating just bread and cheese for dinner as “girl dinner,” but it truly took off in July after creator Karma Carr made a short jingle tied to the trend. @karmapilled i CANT FIND THE GIRL DINNER PERSONS ACC BUT SHE IS MY HERO (alt: @karma (´◠ω◠`) ♬ original sound - karma carr TikTok users have created almost 440,000 videos using Carr’s song and sharing their own versions of girl dinner, ranging from wine glasses filled with mac and cheese and garnished with dinosaur-shaped chicken nuggets to a cup of Coca-Cola. Brands that quickly jumped on the trend included Popeyes, which launched a “Girl Dinner” menu item consisting of mac and cheese, mashed potatoes, coleslaw, fries and biscuits. Since May, the hashtag #GirlDinner has garnered 3 billion collective views. “Girl math” began to circulate on the platform in late July, as TikTok users began employing the term to jokingly justify their nonessential purchases or impulse buys. Examples of girl math include the idea that paying for something in cash means it’s free, or that buying an item and then returning it actually makes you money. The #GirlMath hashtag has received nearly 2 billion views since July and sparked brand reactions such as a Pizza Hut ad featuring influencer Anna Sitar using girl math to promote the brand’s new menu. @mckennaelianna somehow it makes sense #girlmath ♬ original sound - kenna 📚🍷 See our Year in Review stories here

The top 5 TikTok trends of 2023

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