How to Find Viral Songs on TikTok

Finding the right sound for your TikTok video can feel like the difference between five views and five million. A trending song doesn't just add background music, it taps your content directly into a massive, ongoing conversation. This guide breaks down exactly where to find these songs, how to spot them before they peak, and how to use them to help your content get seen by the right audience.

Why Trending Audio is a Big Deal on TikTok

Think of a trending sound as a key that unlocks a specific audience. The TikTok algorithm pays close attention to audio because it's a powerful signal for what people are interested in right now. When a song starts trending, TikTok creates what's called a "sound page" - a dedicated hub that aggregates every single video using that audio. Getting your video on a rising sound page is one of the fastest ways to introduce your content to a wave of new viewers.

Using these sounds makes your content feel timely and relevant. It shows you understand the platform's culture and gives you a built-in format to be creative with. Instead of starting from scratch, a trending sound provides a foundation for jokes, tutorials, transitions, or emotional storytelling that already resonates with millions.

Method 1: Finding Gold Inside the TikTok App

Your first and best resource for finding trending sounds is the TikTok app itself. It's designed to show you what's currently capturing attention, so learning where to look is half the battle.

Step 1: Become a Student of the 'For You' Page

Your 'For You' Page (FYP) isn't just for endless scrolling, it's your personal trend report. The algorithm delivers content it thinks you'll like, much of which is powered by what's currently trending across the platform. Your job is to pay attention to the patterns.

• The Rule of Three: Actively scroll through your FYP for 10-15 minutes with your sound on. When you hear the same song clipped in three or more different videos, you’ve likely found a trending sound. The more frequently you hear it in a short period, the stronger the trend.
• Save It Immediately: Don't assume you'll remember it later. As soon as you spot a potential trendsetter, tap on the spinning sound icon in the bottom-right corner of the video. From the sound page, tap "Add to Favorites." This saves the audio to your personal library so it's ready to go when you create your next video.

Step 2: Directly Explore the TikTok Sound Library

When you're ready to create a video, TikTok's own sound library offers a curated look at what's popular. This is less about passive discovery and more about actively choosing a vetted sound.

1. Navigate to the video creation screen by tapping the "+" icon.
2. At the top of the screen, tap "Add sound."
3. Here, you’ll find several playlists curated by TikTok. Look specifically for selections titled something like "TikTok Viral," "Trending Songs," or lists based on your region. These are your safest bets for what's already proven popular.
4. Scroll down and also check the "Recommended" section. TikTok analyzes your past activity and followed creators to suggest sounds that are gaining traction within your specific niche. This is ideal for finding trends relevant to your industry.

Step 3: Go Deeper with the TikTok Creative Center

This is where social media marketers and serious creators get a significant edge. The TikTok Creative Center is an official tool that gives you hard data on what’s trending, why it’s trending, and who is seeing it. It's an indispensable resource for planning content with confidence.

• To access it, simply search for "TikTok Creative Center" in your browser.
• Navigate to the "Trend Discovery" tab and select the "Songs" page.
• Here you can filter songs by region and timeframe (e.g., the last 7 or 30 days). The tool splits trends into "Popular" and "Breakout" lists. While the "Popular" list is saturated, the "Breakout" list is where you find sounds on a rapid upward climb. Hopping on a "Breakout" song is how you ride a trend wave instead of getting lost in it.

Method 2: Looking Outside to Predict the Next Big Thing

The best creators and marketers don't just follow TikTok trends, they anticipate them. Viral content cycles are often influenced by culture at large, meaning you can spot potential TikTok hits before they even register on the platform. Observing trends on other platforms is a key social media strategy. Analyzing what the most creative people are doing today helps you predict what others may do tomorrow.

Keep Tabs on Spotify and Apple Music Charts

The path to TikTok virality often starts on popular music streaming services. A song that gains significant traction on Spotify or Apple Music is a strong candidate for future TikTok stardom.

• Follow Spotify’s "Viral 50": This playlist is a goldmine. It's algorithm-driven and specifically tracks songs that are getting an unusual amount of shares and attention disproportionate to their overall stream count. Many songs debut here right before they explode on TikTok.
• Watch for Sudden Spikes: Pay attention to songs - new or old - that suddenly jump up the charts. A single placement in a popular Netflix series or a movie trailer can be the catalyst for a song to go viral, and you can be one of the first creators to bring that momentum over to TikTok.

Check Out Who Starts the Trends: Follow Tastemakers

On every platform, certain users are trendsetters. They don’t just participate in trends, they create them. Identifying and observing these accounts gives you a read on not just what's popular now, but what will be popular next week.

• Find the Music Gurus: Seek out accounts dedicated to music discovery. These could be DJs, producers, or curators whose entire brand is built on finding new, interesting audio. Their followers trust their taste, so when they highlight a song, it often catches fire.
• Observe Top Creators in Your Field: Beyond just music accounts, look at the most successful creators in your niche. They often have an intuitive sense of what sounds will connect with your shared audience. You don't have to copy them directly, but see what sounds they're using right before those sounds become mainstream.

Smart Strategies for Using Trending Sounds Effectively

Finding a trend is one thing, using it correctly is another. Picking the right sound and pairing it with the right video concept will dramatically improve your results. Avoid jumping on every trend just for the sake of it - be intentional about what you choose.

Check the Sound Page Data Before You Hit "Publish"

Before using any popular sound, take a moment to visit its dedicated sound page (tap the spinning icon at the bottom of the screen). The data here tells a story:

Analyze the Number of Videos Created

• The Sweet Spot: Look for songs that have somewhere between 5,000 and 50,000 video uses. This often indicates a sound that's growing fast but isn't yet completely saturated. You have a better chance of being seen here.
• Too Crowded: Once a sound crosses into the hundreds of thousands or millions of uses, it’s much harder to stand out from the noise. Your video becomes a tiny fish in a massive ocean. By then, it's often too late to get significant traction.
• Too Niche: A sound with only a few hundred videos might be a dud, or it could be on the verge of exploding. This is higher risk but higher reward. Cross-reference it with the TikTok Creative Center to see if it’s a qualified "Breakout" track.

Use Audio Splicing For Creative Combinations

A powerful but underutilized technique is audio splicing - combining multiple viral audios into a single video. This makes your content more dynamic and can help it appear on multiple sound pages simultaneously, doubling its potential reach.

• When editing a video in the TikTok app, use the "trim" function to edit and combine multiple audio clips on your timeline.
• This technique is especially powerful for tutorials, where a change in audio can signal a transition from one step to the next. This makes the viewing experience more engaging and memorable, which can lead to better engagement and ultimately, more followers.

Final Thoughts

Finding viral songs on TikTok is less about sheer luck and more about creating a consistent method of discovery. By thoughtfully using the 'For You' Page, staying close to the TikTok Creative Center, and keeping an ear on external music charts, you can regularly find sounds that give your content the boost it needs to get noticed.

Putting these tips into constant practice means you'll have a backlog of strong content ideas and sounds ready to go. To keep track of it all, we use Postbase to schedule our videos with its visual calendar, which lets us match the perfect trending audio with our content well in advance. It helps our team stay organized and act quickly whenever we uncover that next great sound.