The Most Viral TikTok Videos of All Time
TikTok is the fourth most popular social media platform, with over 1.5 billion monthly active users. The app’s addictive short-form video content and massive user base have made the idea of ‘going viral’ a goal for users and brands alike.
Below, we delve into what it means to go viral on TikTok. Discover the most viral TikTok videos of all time, find out who holds the top view counts, and learn tips to help you achieve virality of your own. Whether you’re a creator looking to grow your audience or a brand seeking to make a splash, learn more about going viral on TikTok below.
What Does ‘Going Viral’ on TikTok Mean?
When a video goes viral on TikTok, it means that it has exploded in popularity, gaining a significant number of views, likes, comments, and shares in a short period.
The criteria for defining viral content may vary, but typically, reaching hundreds of thousands to millions of views signifies viral success on the platform. This also means that the video is probably getting widely shared across various platforms, extending its reach beyond TikTok. For example, viral TikTok videos often find their way onto platforms like Instagram Reels or Twitter (X).
The definition of ‘viral’ in terms of likes or views is fluid and can differ from one video to another. Going viral on TikTok can lead to increased visibility, attract new followers, and boost engagement, ultimately helping creators expand their audience and potentially elevate their presence on the platform. Achieving virality on TikTok involves creating compelling content that resonates with viewers, leveraging current trends, engaging with specific communities, and utilizing popular sounds and hashtags to maximize reach and engagement.
Who has the Most Viewed TikTok of All Time?
Zach King holds the record for the most views on TikTok. He gained fame on Vine with his magic videos before transitioning to TikTok, where he continues to share similar captivating content. With over 2 billion views on his videos, Zach King boasts a massive following of 79.7 million on TikTok.
Top Most Viral TikTok Videos
Harry Potter Illusion by Zach King
In the video, Zach impresses viewers with his magic trick that makes it appear as though he is floating on a broom. This video gained a whopping 2.1 billion views, 24.6 million likes, 668.6 thousand comments, and 1.1 million shares.
Glass and Cake Illusion by Zach King
Here, Zach King masterfully turns a glass of water into a slice of cake, leaving viewers stunned. What’s more, his content often delves into the behind-the-scenes of his tricks, offering a unique blend of entertainment and education. This particular video has garnered an impressive 13.2 million likes, 73,900 comments, and 491,900 shares.
“M to the B” lip-syncing by Bella Porch
Bella Porch jumped on to a wildly popular trend a while back, and it paid off in a big way. Her video racked up a staggering 752.1 million views, 66.3 million likes, 2.4 million comments, and 42.4 million shares. One reason for its viral success might be the inclusion of the iconic “Gen Z shake,” which was all the rage at the time.
Paint Loop by Zach King
Zach King’s “Paint Loop” video has secured the 4th most viral TikTok spot with an impressive 660.2 million views, 11.3 million likes, and over 70k comments. In this illusion, he creates the perception of a long hallway, when in reality it’s just a cleverly painted wall. King’s ability to manipulate perspective and create optical illusions is truly remarkable, one of the reasons he remains the most viewed TikToker of all time.
Say it Right Dance by Jamie32Bishs
Sometimes simpler is better. This short and sweet dance by Jamie32bsh has been liked more than 52 million times, and has generated 723.9 thousand comments and 1.7 million shares.
How to Go Viral on TikTok
Thanks to TikTok’s wide audience reach and short content half-life, anyone has the chance to go viral on the platform regardless of number of followers. While there is no fixed recipe to virality, there are some ways to increase your chances.
If you want to go viral on TikTok, follow these tips to increase your chances of success:
Participate in TikTok trends
Being part of TikTok trends means diving into popular challenges, dances, and viral content circulating on the platform. These trends play a crucial role in driving the platform’s popularity, allowing users to connect, share creativity, and build a community of like-minded creators.
Participating in TikTok challenges is a fantastic way for users to immerse themselves in the platform, express their creativity, and interact with others. Challenges often gain viral status when they strike a chord with a broad audience, sparking widespread participation and inspiring various interpretations of the original idea. Brands can leverage TikTok challenges by joining existing trends, customizing challenges to fit their brand, creating unique challenges, and sharing user-generated content from other participating users.
Some tips for participating in TikTok trends:
- Putting Your Spin on Trends: When you spot trending challenges, add your unique touch that reflects your style or interests. Personalizing the challenge with your twist can make it stand out and feel more authentic to your audience.
- Teaming Up in Challenges: Joining forces with fellow creators to take on challenges or react to them can broaden your audience and interaction. Partnering with influencers or creators in your field can help you reach a wider audience and boost your visibility.
- Creating Your Own Challenges: Develop challenges tailored to your niche, inclusive themes, or topics related to causes, events, or education. Crafting unique challenges can engage your followers and encourage more interaction on the platform.
- Boosting Challenge Engagement: Make sure your challenges are clear, enjoyable, and offer incentives like rewards or shoutouts to motivate participation. Using catchy hashtags, providing guidance through tutorials, interacting with participants, and promoting challenges on other social platforms can also increase engagement levels.
Utilize relevant hashtags and keywords
Using relevant hashtags and keywords in your TikTok videos is key to boosting your chances of going viral.
Here’s why keywords matter on TikTok:
- Discoverability: Think of hashtags as the key to unlocking your content’s visibility. By using relevant and popular hashtags, you make your videos more visible to a broader audience interested in that specific topic or trend.
- Targeted Reach: Hashtags help you connect with users actively seeking or following a particular hashtag. These users are more likely to engage with your content as they have already shown interest in that subject. Mixing trending, niche, and branded hashtags can help you reach the right audience for your content.
- Increased Visibility: Videos with relevant hashtags tend to perform better in TikTok’s “For You” feed, the main feed users see upon opening the app. The algorithm favors content with hashtags matching users’ interests and interactions, leading to more views, likes, and shares.
- Joining Trends: By incorporating trending hashtags into your videos, you can tap into popular conversations and challenges on TikTok. Trending hashtags indicate high user engagement, making it easier for your videos to gain traction and potentially go viral.
- Branded Hashtags: Consistently using a branded hashtag can enhance brand awareness and make your content more recognizable. Branded hashtags also streamline content discovery for users and contribute to your overall marketing strategy.
To make the most of hashtags, mix popular, niche, and branded ones that align with your content and audience. Experiment with different hashtag strategies, monitor performance, and adjust based on what resonates best with your audience. Incorporating relevant hashtags is a straightforward yet effective method to boost your chances of going viral on TikTok.
Collaborate with other content creators
Teaming up with fellow creators is a powerful way to boost your chances of going viral on TikTok.
By collaborating with other content creators you can:
- Reach New Audiences: By joining forces with creators who already have established followings, you can tap into fresh audiences that may not have discovered your content before. This cross-promotion benefits both creators as you expand your reach.
- Increase Engagement: Collaborations usually generate more interaction as followers of the collaborating creators engage with the content, leading to more likes, shares, and comments. This heightened engagement signals to TikTok’s algorithm that your content is resonating.
- Leverage Influencers: Partnering with popular TikTok creators and influencers can help promote your content to their large, engaged audiences. Influencers can encourage their followers to participate in your challenge or video, giving it a strong push towards going viral.
- Join Trends Together: Collaborating with creators who are already riding the wave of popular challenges and trends allows you to join the momentum. Jumping on viral challenges side-by-side can help your content gain traction.
- Diversify Content: Teaming up with creators who have different styles and perspectives can lead to more unique, engaging content that appeals to a wider audience. The collaboration can result in fresh ideas and formats that make your content stand out.
- Build Lasting Relationships: Successful collaborations often lead to ongoing partnerships and friendships between creators. These relationships can open doors to future collaborations and opportunities to support each other’s growth.
Post consistently
Posting frequently and consistently greatly increases your chances of going viral on TikTok.
The more content you share, the more data the TikTok algorithm has to analyze and determine what resonates with your audience. The algorithm loves accounts that post regularly, as it indicates an active, engaged creator worthy of being pushed to a larger audience.
Posting consistently allows you to quickly jump on viral trends before they fade, increasing your chances of being discovered by a wider audience. It keeps your followers engaged and interested, preventing them from losing interest and ensuring a steady flow of new videos in their feeds.
Frequent posting provides more opportunities for your content to be seen and shared. The more videos you have out there, the higher your chances of one of them catching fire and going viral. However, it’s crucial to strike a balance between quantity and quality. Overwhelming your audience with too much low-quality content can negatively impact your engagement. The key is to post frequently, but ensure each video is engaging, on-brand, and adds value for your followers.
Aiming for 1-4 posts per day can significantly boost your chances of going viral on TikTok. But the optimal frequency may vary based on your specific audience, content type, and performance. Experiment with different posting schedules, monitor your analytics, and adjust as needed to find the sweet spot for your account.
Analyze account metrics with Metricool
Analyzing account metrics is crucial to understanding how your content is performing on TikTok and identifying opportunities to increase your chances of going viral.
Metricool offers a comprehensive analytics tool that can help you track and monitor your TikTok account metrics and make data-driven decisions to improve your content’s performance.
With Metricool you can find:
- Community Growth: The analytics tool allows you to monitor your follower growth over time, showing you the exact number of new followers gained within a specific period. This data can help you identify effective content or strategies for attracting new followers and adjust your approach accordingly.
- Audience Demographics: Metricool gives you insights into your audience demographics, such as gender distribution and the locations of your followers. This can help you customize your content to better connect with your target audience.
- Content Performance: Analyze your video performance, checking out views, interactions, and shares. Pinpoint your top-performing videos and sort them by various metrics like views, likes, comments, shares, reach, duration, and engagement to help you figure out what content resonates most with your audience.
- Engagement Patterns: The analytics tool allows you to monitor your follower growth over time, showing you the exact number of new followers gained within a specific period. This data can help you identify effective content or strategies for attracting new followers and adjust your approach accordingly.
- Impression Sources: Metricool’s analytics reveal where your video views originate, such as the For You feed, Follow feed, hashtags, video sound, personal profile, and search. Understanding how users discover your content can help you tweak your strategy to boost visibility.
