How Tiktok Music Virality Drives Streaming on Pandora

TikTok made it viral—Pandora makes it stick. See how music trends drive streaming audio listening and how brands can tap into high-impact audio moments.

May 4, 2026

For many of us, long gone are the days of discovering new music from the radio. Today, listening to the radio usually includes hearing the same songs on repeat (and again and again in grocery stores and commercials alike). Music discovery has shifted towards a (once) unexpected place: TikTok. While many users turn to the social media platform to get some laughs or search for information, TikTok has quickly become a goldmine for discovering new music and artists.

It usually happens when we’re not expecting it—we’re watching a popular trend and all of the videos are using the same song—and we later can’t get it out of our heads. Or we’re watching our favorite creator’s new upload, and the background music sounds like something we’d add to our personal playlist. Just like that, we’ve discovered our new favorite artist or song. While products or brands can become “TikTok-viral,” so can music. And once listeners find a tune they’re interested in, they turn to streaming audio. Here’s how modern music discovery is being redefined—and how you can join in with the SiriusXM Streaming Network.

Fueling music discovery

The phrase “You heard it here first” has now become “You heard it on TikTok first.” In 2025, eight out of the 10 Billboard #1s first went viral on TikTok. 1 Additionally, in 2024, 84% of the songs that entered the Billboard Global 200 went viral on TikTok first. 2 Here’s the new music discovery journey: Songs are going viral on TikTok, users come to streaming audio to discover more about the artist and their discography, and then those songs top the Billboard charts.

This journey highlights a new shift. Whether they’re looking for it or not, US TikTok users are 74% more likely to discover and share new music on social media and short-form video platforms than the average short-form video user. 2

Finding comfort in throwback music

It’s not just the latest hits that have gone viral on TikTok. Tracks from past decades have also seen a resurgence on social media. In 2025, TikTok users rediscovered tracks like “Pretty Little Baby” by Connie Francis, “Breakin' Dishes” by Rihanna, and “Rock That Body” by the Black Eyed Peas, creating new generations of fans. This trend comes as no surprise as recession pop, a genre of escapist pop songs dating from 2007-2012, has risen in popularity. Listeners are using their audio choices to spark nostalgia and callback to past times. And advertisers can leverage these emotions and listening environments for their next campaign. After all, 84% of Pandora listeners say nostalgic music brings them comfort/peace of mind. 3

Make your brand’s message part of the music to listeners’ ears

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Shining a bright spotlight on newer artists

Many of today’s up-and-coming artists can credit TikTok to their meteoric rise. With the speed at which videos go viral on the platform, this can mean overnight fame for many rising artists. Acts like Lola Young, Sombr, and Alex Warren have all gone TikTok-viral at some point.

For instance, Young’s song “Messy” sparked a finger-gun dance that sparked over 250K creations on the app as of early 2025 and became No. 1 on Billboard’s Pop Airplay chart. Meanwhile, Sombr’s “Back to Friends” track has been featured in 881K videos on TikTok and helped transition him from high school student to Grammy nominee for Best New Artist.

For Alex Warren, his hit “Ordinary” was popularized by BookTok, TikTok’s community of book lovers, who used the song for fan videos on romance novels. This traction helped the song become No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for 10 weeks. Warren was also on Pandora’s 2025 list of Artists to Watch and part of the SiriusXM and Pandora Artist Accelerator program. We predicted that he’d see significant success, and it’s more than come true—proving the magic that can happen when social media and streaming audio come together.

Tiktok users are music superfans

Today, music superfans and social media users go hand in hand. Music superfans in the US are almost twice as likely to be on TikTok. The inverse is also true—US TikTok users are nearly twice as likely to be music superfans than the US general population. To top it off, US TikTok users spend 48% more time streaming music than the average US music listener, making platforms like Pandora and SoundCloud prime destinations to reach social media-savvy, plugged-in music lovers. 2

In fact, 65% of SoundCloud users use TikTok, and 42% of them are highly engaged on TikTok, using the app more than once a day. 4 This overlap creates a powerful opportunity for brands to reach highly engaged music fans across platforms—starting with discovery on TikTok and ending with engaged listening on streaming audio.

Pandora brings together on-trend brands and social-obsessed users

It’s an all-too familiar trajectory: Artists go from TikTok virality to becoming a household name on Pandora. Just look at the many examples. In early 2025, Gracie Abrams’ “That’s So True” fueled a trend where users created year-in-review montages with the song playing in the background. This led to a +4000% increase in spins on Pandora for the track. And after Olivia Dean blew up on TikTok for “Man I Need,” fans eagerly awaited her sophomore album, leading to a 2x spin increase for the artist. 5

Here’s a cheat sheet. These are just a handful of Pandora stations to advertise on when reaching listeners of artists who made it big on TikTok:

Young. Engaged. Passionate.

Now that you know the “where” (Pandora), it’s time for the “who.” The average age of TikTok users unsurprisingly skews younger, with 56% of all US adults ages 18-34 saying they use the platform. 6 We dominantly reach this demographic, with 60% of 18- to 24-year-olds consuming SiriusXM Media content on a monthly basis. 7

To reach younger, social media-obsessed listeners, find them on the SiriusXM Streaming Network. On Pandora, Gen Z spends 168M hours on the platform monthly, whether they’re smashing the thumbs up button, creating playlists, or further discovering their music taste. 5 Music is a lifeline to Gen Zers, with 97% of them consuming music in the last month, outranking all other media. Additionally, 69% of them say audio has brought them joy. 8 We offer brands a direct line to Gen Z—so you can show up alongside the music they love, in moments when they’re engaged and receptive.

Turn viral music moments into brand impact

While social media trends may be temporary, music discovery on TikTok likely won’t go away anytime soon. As we await the next TikTok-viral hit or artist, the SiriusXM Streaming Network will be here to capture all the action.

Ready to target social media-obsessed, music superfans? Let’s chat.