How to Use Popular Songs on TikTok

Using a trending song on TikTok can be the difference between a video that gets 100 views and one that gets 100,000. Sounds are the backbone of the platform, driving trends, fostering community, and pushing content into the feeds of millions. This guide breaks down exactly how to find popular songs, use them legally for your personal or business account, and integrate them into your content strategy to help your videos pop.

Why Trending Audio is a Big Deal on TikTok

On platforms like Instagram or Facebook, the visual is king. On TikTok, audio and visuals are equal partners. The algorithm heavily favors videos that use trending sounds because it knows users are already engaging with that audio. When you use a popular song, you’re basically tapping into an existing conversation and giving your content an immediate signal of relevance.

Here’s why it works so well:

• Boosted Discoverability: When a sound goes viral, users can tap on the sound at the bottom of a video to see a feed of all other videos using that same audio. Getting your video into this high-traffic feed is a shortcut to reaching a new audience.
• Cultural Relevance: Trends on TikTok are culture. Participating in a dance challenge, a popular meme format, or a lip-sync trend shows you’re paying attention. It makes your brand or profile feel current and relatable, not like you're just broadcasting advertisements.
• Effortless Content Ideas: Stuck on what to post? A trending sound often comes with a built-in format or idea. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel every single day, you just need to figure out how to put your own unique spin on a popular format.

Personal vs. Business Accounts: The Great Sound Divide

Before you add any sound to your next video, you need to understand one massive distinction TikTok makes: the difference between Personal and Business accounts. This choice directly impacts which songs you can legally use, and ignoring the rules can get your content muted or removed.

The General Music Library (For Personal Accounts)

If you have a personal account (or a regular creator account), you have access to TikTok's General Music Library. This is the treasure trove you’re used to seeing. It contains millions of songs from chart-topping artists like Taylor Swift, Drake, and Olivia Rodrigo, alongside countless viral audio clips and user-uploaded sounds.

As a personal creator, you can use these sounds freely within the app because TikTok has licensing agreements that cover non-commercial use. The key here is non-commercial. You’re A-OK if you’re just making fun videos, but if your video is promoting a product or service (even indirectly), you're straying into dangerous territory.

The Commercial Music Library (For Business Accounts)

If you have a Business Account, you are restricted to using sounds from TikTok's Commercial Music Library. This is a curated collection of over a million royalty-free tracks and sounds that TikTok has pre-cleared for promotional content.

Why the restriction? It all comes down to copyright law. Record labels and artists license their music for personal listening, not for brands to use in their advertisements for free. Using a popular hit to sell your product without the proper (and extremely expensive) commercial license is copyright infringement. Period.

TikTok’s Commercial Library protects you from this. While the song selection might not include the latest Harry Styles hit, it’s constantly updated with high-quality tracks suitable for marketing content. The alternative - getting sued or having your videos taken down - is just not worth the risk.

Heads up: Yes, this means as a business, you probably can't jump on every single viral dance challenge that's tied to a Top 40 song. The challenge for brands is to get creative within the commercial library or to spot trends that use original sound clips instead of copyrighted music.

How to Find Trending Songs on TikTok (Step-by-Step)

Finding the right sound at the right time is half the battle. Here are a few reliable methods to discover what’s about to blow up.

Method 1: Scroll Your 'For You' Page (FYP) with a Purpose

Your FYP is your best trend-spotting tool. Don't just scroll passively, pay attention. When you hear the same audio clip two or three times within a few minutes of scrolling, that’s a signal.

• Tap the spinning record icon in the bottom-right corner of a video.
• This will take you to the sound’s dedicated page. Look at the number of videos that have used it. If the number is large and growing fast, it’s trending.
• Check the videos at the top of the feed - if established, high-follower creators are using it, that’s another strong indicator.
• You can save the sound for later by tapping the Add to Favorites button at the top of the sound page.

Method 2: Use the TikTok 'Add Sound' Feature

This is the most direct way to see what TikTok itself promotes.

1. Start by creating a new video by tapping the + icon.
2. At the top of the record screen, tap on Add sound.
3. Look at the playlists. TikTok curates lists like "TikTok Viral," "New Release," and other trending categories specific to your region.
4. The For You tab in the audio library is also an algorithmically curated list of songs TikTok thinks will perform well with your audience.

For Business Accounts: The process is the same, but when you tap Add sound, you’ll be taken directly to the Commercial Music Library. Here, you'll find similar trending playlists populated with sounds cleared for commercial use. Look out for playlists like "Trending Business.”

Method 3: The TikTok Creative Center

One of the most underutilized tools from TikTok itself is the Creative Center. It's a free database for creators and brands, offering valuable analytics on what’s trending and what’s not.

• Google “TikTok Creative Center” and navigate to the sounds tab.
• Here, you can filter trending songs by region, date range, and even see which songs are breaking out (climbing fastest) versus already established viral hits.
• This is a gold mine for brand accounts because the Creative Center shows trending data for both General and Commercial libraries.

Strategies for Using Popular Songs Effectively

Just slapping a trendy sound on a random video isn’t enough. The most successful videos integrate the audio with the content. Here are four approaches:

Matching the Vibe

Every song has a mood. Is it upbeat, hyped, and energetic? Melancholic, reflective, and cinematic? The mood of the song should mirror the mood of your video. An energetic track might work perfectly for a fast-cut edited product demo. A slower, somber song could be a powerful background to a storytime video or a behind-the-scenes moment. A mismatch here is jarring and feels inauthentic to the viewer.

Participating in the Trend

Most viral sounds come attached to some kind of format, such as:

• Lip-syncing: The classic TikTok format. Choose a clip with interesting or funny lyrics and act it out.
• Dance Challenges: If it aligns with your brand voice (and you’ve got the moves!), learning a popular dance is a surefire way to participate in a massive trend.
• Sound-based Memes: This is when a particular audio clip is combined with on-screen text to create a comedic scenario. This is often a great way for brands to participate while staying relevant to their niche.

Creative Twists & Niche Applications

The sweet spot is showing you understand a trend but adapting it to your specific field. For example, if there's a popular audio clip where someone is acting flustered and confused, a financial advisor could use it with the text "Me when my clients ask why they should invest their money in a bear market." - it's relatable for their audience but uses a broad trend as a vehicle.

Sound Syncing and Editing

A final detail that separates good TikTok content from great TikTok content is timing your video cuts to the beat of the music. TikTok makes this easier with its “Sync” feature in the editor:

• After recording or uploading your clips, tap on "Edit" in the top right.
• At the bottom, tap "Replace Sound" and choose your desired track, then tap “Sync.”
• TikTok will automatically time your clips to match the beat and rhythm of the song. You can always manually adjust it after, but this is an incredibly fast way to give your video a polished, professional feel.

Can I Just Use Any Song I Want? (Copyright Explained Simply)

The short answer is no. The longer answer involves a bit of understanding about how music licensing works.

What is Copyright Infringement?

Essentially, it's when you use something (like a song) that you don’t have legal permission to use. The artists and labels who own that song have a right to control how it is used - especially in advertising where money is being made.

Doesn’t "Fair Use” Protect Me?

A lot of people mistakenly believe "fair use" allows them to use short clips of copyrighted materials freely as long as they're not using the entire piece. This is very rarely the case, especially in a commercial context. Fair use is a complex legal doctrine that usually applies to uses like criticism, commentary, or education - not using a popular song to sell more of a product.

Always Use TikTok’s Licensed Libraries

This really is the simplest solution. TikTok has done the legal heavy lifting for you by licensing a massive selection of sounds for personal use (General Library) and for commercial use (Commercial Library). Sticking to the library appropriate for your account type is the only way to stay safe.

Final Thoughts

Creating content on TikTok isn’t just about what your videos look like, it's just as much about what they sound like. Understanding the distinction between Personal and Business account libraries is the first step to avoiding copyright issues, while actively seeking out and using trending audio strategically is what will give your content the best chance of reaching a new audience.

Once you have a good batch of content ideas based around the latest trends, consistency becomes the biggest hurdle. For us at Postbase, managing video-first content across TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts was a constant headache with older tools. That's why we built it to be more of a visual calendar where you can plan, schedule, and see all your short-form video content for all your platforms in one place.