The youths’ favorite app (or so they would have us elder-folk believe) has unveiled its list of the most listened-to artists of 2020, further gilding the throne of one queen in particular: Megan Thee Stallion. According to TikTok’s year-end breakdown, the rising rap superstar was the most listened-to artist on the app in 2020, with the company reporting that “Savage” was featured in over 30 million videos, while more recent hit “WAP” (featuring fellow queen Cardi B) was utilized in over 10 million. Two other Megan Thee Stallion hits, “Captain Hook” and “Body,” were also prominent across TikTok, due in part to user-created dance challenges set to the tracks.
Coming in second on the app this year is Doja Cat, with the remaining top five rounded out by Pop Smoke, Da Baby, and Roddy Ricch. Rap and hip-hop were, of course, the most popular genres on the app. TikTok also offered some eye-popping numbers to give a better idea of how quickly a song spreads across the app: Drake’s “Tootsie Slide,” for example, hit a billion views in a record-breaking three days. “WAP” was the runner-up, hitting a billion views in two weeks. In all, over 176 songs surpassed a billion views on TikTok this year.
In addition to contemporary artists and current hits, TikTok’s short-form content helped bring some classics back into the mainstream—including, most notably, Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams,” re-popularized by viral skateboarding sensation and TikTok user 420DoggFace208.