TikTok gets less viral

The Future. TikTok’s slightly cherry-picked top ten trending videos of the year list have millions of views, but its top video is trending downward in viewership year to year. The algorithm is probably to blame, keeping people locked into only seeing the videos they’re actually interested in. Don’t be surprised if next year’s list contains top-trending subcultures within TikTok.

Trend trends
According to The Verge, while TikTok is still insanely popular, the most popular videos on the app are… less so.

• The top video on TikTok’s FYFaves list this year, a pastry chef slowly constructing a giraffe statue made out of chocolate, was viewed 308 million times.
• That’s a lot… but last year’s top video, a dancing video shot with a drone, was viewed 314 million times.
• And the top video of 2020, TikTok star Bella Poarch lip-syncing “M to the B” by Millie B, was viewed over half a billion times.

While TikTok has only gained more and more users in the past few years, the top videos getting less viewership is notable. What does that all mean? Maybe nothing.

Or, maybe it’s the perfect indicator of how virality on TikTok has changed as the platform’s algorithm has put people in more niche silos. You may get exactly what you want to watch, but the shared cultural moments are becoming less shared.

But there is one consistency: the account @chipmunksoftiktok snatched the #2 spot for the second year in a row. What does that mean? Social media needs more chipmunks.