The TikTokification of music: Is the Era of the album over?

By Ava Ramsey and Cailynn Rodriguez '26

Have you noticed a switch in our music recently? What is this switch? Is it making music better or worse?

We open the app every day, but we don’t think about its effect on what we listen to. TikTok, the social media app with 1.6 billion monthly users that has taken over our culture, has affected the way we listen to music, the way music is made, and the way we engage with the world around us. 

What is TikTok? What does it have to do with music?
Tiktok is a widely popular and universal social media platform used for creating, sharing, and discovering short form video content. People use it for a variety of reasons such as raising awareness for certain issues, announcing businesses, promoting music, art, products etc. and overall self expression. Crucially, the platform centers around sounds within a 15 second clip that are attention grabbing. 

How TikTok affects the music we listen to
TikTok has become one of the most powerful platforms for music discovery. The app is full of new trends every day, and most of them are connected to songs. Whether it’s an older song blowing up again, a catchy song someone creates a dance to, or a genre of music that normally isn’t popular. As a result, a song that goes viral on TikTok often becomes the ones we hear everywhere. According to the Billboard Radio Song Estimates  during the week of November 16, 2025, 74.67 million people have heard the song The Ordinary by Alex Warren, which blew up on TikTok in February of this year. Throughout the app, the song is used in 2.3 million videos and has over 10.2 billion views. So, essentially, TikTok was the engine of discovery for The Ordinary and many other songs. The platform took a successful content creators song and it became a viral sensation. 

How music is changing because of TikTok
A very notable change in our music since the growth of TikTok is the creative process. Songs have begun to seem like they’re written to deliver one killer 15 second clip rather than 3 minutes of complete lyrics. Songwriters and producers put lots of energy into a memorable, attention-grabbing punchline- like a distinctive beat drop, unique intro or a vigorous chorus. The rest of the song is often structured to buffer time between the well engineered viral clip and the runtime. The 15-second letdown is real. I’ve done it myself, checked apple music and it’s just a boring song. could consider TikTok a testing ground for pre-released music where the algorithm then decides what becomes a major hit.

Is music made better/worse because of TikTok?

Tiktok has changed the music industry in many huge ways, but whether it has made music better or worse depends mainly on perspective. Tiktok's relationship is complicated. On the bright side, it gives an amazing opportunity for talent and to show off skills. A new artist can blow up and go completely viral. It's an awesome opportunity to discover random tracks and new genres you didn't know you liked. 

But on the other hand, it might be killing the full song. Since everything revolves around a 15- second clip, there's pressure on artists to focus only on those certain catchy little hooks instead of putting actual meaning onto the track. And to be honest, the moment a song goes viral it gets ridiculously overplayed that people get sick and tired of it after a week. And then it's on the radio for the next 6 months. 

Tiktok has definitely boosted creativity and new opportunities in music although it has also shifted attention towards trends and short-term popularity.

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