How to Find Trending Videos on TikTok

Scrolling your For You Page is a good start, but finding TikTok trends before they’re yesterday’s news requires a more strategic approach. This guide will walk you through exactly where to find trending videos, audios, and formats - both inside and outside the app. You'll learn the techniques pros use to spot patterns early and create content that the algorithm loves.

Why Following Trends is a Game-Changer for TikTok Growth

TikTok’s algorithm is built to reward timely and relevant content. When you participate in a trend, whether it's using popular audio, a specific filter, or a repeating video format, you're tapping into a conversation that’s already happening on the platform. This does two powerful things: it gives your content a higher chance of being pushed out to a new audience interested in that trend, and it signals to your existing followers that you understand the culture of the platform. Using trends isn’t about just copying others, it’s about using a shared language to connect with viewers and accelerate your reach organically.

Method 1: Uncover Trends Directly Within the TikTok App

The best place to start your search is inside the app itself. TikTok provides several built-in tools and feeds designed to show you precisely what’s popular right now.

The For You Page (FYP): Your Personal Trend Report

Your "For You" page is the most obvious, yet often underutilized, tool for trend spotting. It's essentially a custom-tailored report of what the algorithm thinks you'll want to watch. To use it effectively, however, you need to shift from passive watching to active analysis.

• Look for Repetition: As you scroll, pay close attention to patterns. Are you hearing the same sound clip over and over again? Are multiple creators using the same text-on-screen layout or green screen effect? The moment you see an audio clip or format for the second or third time within a short scrolling session, you've likely identified a rising trend.
• Check Audio Details: When you hear an audio you suspect is trending, tap on the spinning record icon at the bottom right of the screen. This takes you to the sound's primary page. Look for a small arrow pointing up next to the number of videos created with it. This symbol means the sound is currently trending. You can also see how many videos have used the sound - a high number (hundreds of thousands or millions) means it’s a big trend, while a lower number (a few thousand) could be a niche or emerging one.
• Save Your Discoveries: Don’t rely on memory. When you find a trending sound, format, or effect, save it immediately. You can add the sound to your Favorites so you can find it later. For video formats, use TikTok's "Collections" feature to create a private folder named "Trend Ideas" and save videos there for inspiration.

The Search Page & ‘Trending Now’ Section

The Search/Discover page is your next stop for a broader view of platform-wide trends. Here's how to navigate it:

1. Tap the magnifying glass icon at the top right of your home screen.
2. Scroll down past the search bar. You'll see sections like "You may like" and, more importantly, a list of what's currently popular under banners like "Trending Now" or simply curated hashtags.
3. This section often features sponsored hashtag challenges from major brands, but it's also a great indicator of the organic, user-generated trends that TikTok is actively promoting.

You can also use the search bar more intentionally. Typing in broad terms like “trend alert,” “viral sound,” or “trending video idea” will show you results from other creators who specifically focus on curating and announcing new trends for a living.

Method 2: Use an Unbeatable (And Free) Resource: TikTok’s Creative Center

While the app is great for spotting trends in real-time, the TikTok Creative Center is where you can confirm them with data. It’s a free website provided by TikTok for advertisers and marketers, but anyone can use it to get powerful insights into what’s performing best on the platform.

How to Access and Use the Creative Center

Simply search for "TikTok Creative Center" on Google and navigate to the official site. Once there, you’ll find a "Trends" tab in the main navigation. This section is an absolute goldmine.

Here’s what you can find there:

Trending Hashtags: This dashboard shows you which hashtags are gaining momentum. You can filter by industry and location to find trends relevant to your specific niche. The best part? It shows you demographic information about the audience engaging with that hashtag and reveals related interests, helping you tailor your content perfectly.

Trending Songs: Forget guessing. The "Songs" tab gives you a list of the top trending audio clips, complete with charts showing their popularity over the past 7 or 30 days. You can see whether a song is "breaking out" or if it has been popular for a while. Tapping on a song reveals data and examples of top-performing videos that use it.

Trending Creators: Want to know who is setting the new trends? This section shows you which accounts are growing the fastest. Following these creators is a great way to stay ahead of the curve, as they are often early adopters (or innovators) of new styles and formats.

Trending Videos: See a real-time feed of top-performing videos. You can filter these by your region and industry to see what’s working for businesses or creators like you. This is fantastic for deconstructing a video format - note the pacing, text placement, and camera movements common among these top examples.

Look for “Breakout” or "Rising" Content

The Creative Center’s data helps you identify the lifecycle of a trend. Pay special attention to audio or hashtags labeled as “Breakout” or those showing a steep upward curve on their popularity graphs. These are trends that are gaining massive traction right now, which means you have a small window to hop on before they become over-saturated.

Method 3: Go Beyond the Platform for Deeper Insights

An effective trend-spotting strategy isn’t just about what you do on TikTok, but also how you observe your digital environment as a whole. Pay attention to what's happening in your specific world.

Study Your Niche & Competitors

Every industry has its own micro-trends. A sound that works for makeup artists might not work for financial advisors. It’s important to watch the creators and brands winning in your space.

• Identify 5-10 successful competitors or aspirational creators in your niche.
• Spend time specifically reviewing their feeds once a week.
• What sounds and formats are they using repeatedly? Their profiles are a highly curated trend report for your exact audience. If three different coffee brands are using a specific audio in a "pour-over" transition video, that's a micro-trend worth trying for your own cafe.

Connect Trends to Pop Culture

TikTok trends don't exist in a vacuum. They are often born from moments in mainstream culture. New seasons of popular shows (*Stranger Things*, *Euphoria*), major movie releases (*Barbie*), celebrity news, or big album drops (think Beyonce or Taylor Swift) all generate viral audio and video formats. Staying aware of what’s big in pop culture is like getting a sneak peek at tomorrow's trending sounds.

From Identifying to Implementing: Turning Trends into Content

Once you’ve found a trend, the work isn’t over. A successful trend video isn’t just a copy of something else, it’s an adaptation.

Make it Your Own

The most important rule is to put your unique spin on the trend. Use the popular audio or format, but apply it to your specific niche, product, or personality. For example, the “Of course…” trend was used thousands of different ways:

• A bookshop owner: “I’m a bookstore owner… of course I have a tote bag for every day of the week.”
• A software developer: “I’m a software developer… of course my monitor is vertical.”
• A plant parent: “I’m a plant parent… of course all my mugs are now planters.”

They all use the same format, but tailor the content to resonate with their unique audience.

Perfect Your Timing

Timing can be the difference between a video that hits the algorithm's sweet spot and one that gets lost in the noise. The "sweet spot" is typically on the upward curve of a trend's popularity - not days after it has peaked and everyone has already seen it a hundred times. Using the data from the TikTok Creative Center can help you identify these rising trends before they become oversaturated, giving your content a much better chance to stand out.

Final Thoughts

Finding trending videos on TikTok is a trainable skill that combines regular observation with intentional research. By actively analyzing your "For You Page," tapping into the data from the Creative Center, and watching what’s happening in your specific niche, you can build a reliable system for gathering ideas that fuel growth and connect with new audiences every single day.

Of course, once you’ve identified a list of trends you want to jump on, the challenge becomes planning and scheduling - without letting it turn into a full-time job. We created Postbase because we were tired of tools that make short-form video feel like an afterthought. Our platform is built for today’s reality: a content calendar packed with TikToks, Reels, and Shorts. You can see your entire video strategy on a visual calendar, upload content once to schedule it across all your platforms, and trust that it will go live without compression issues or failures - letting you focus on creating, not troubleshooting.