How to Find Trending Instagram Audio: Boost Your Reels Reach

Want your Instagram Reels to pop off? One of the best ways to find trending audio on Instagram is to explore the “Reels” feature. Engaging with content creators in your niche and keeping an eye on popular hashtags can also help you stay updated on trending audio on Instagram. For social media professionals, the challenge is separating personal taste from data-backed trends. Knowing how to find trending audio on Instagram allows you to plan your production schedule around audio files that give your Reels an immediate advantage.

The Strategic Importance of Instagram Audio

The Instagram algorithm treats audio as a metadata tag. When a user interacts with a Reel, watches it to completion, or saves it, the platform takes note of the audio track associated with that behavior. If thousands of users perform these actions simultaneously on different videos using the same track, the system classifies that audio asset as a trend.

Once a track achieves this status, the algorithm favors other videos that use it, showing them to users who have previously shown an interest in that specific sound. This creates a compounding discovery loop. If you understand how to find audio on Instagram before it hits its peak saturation point, your content can gain substantial visibility on the Reels and Explore tabs.

How to Find Trending Audio on Instagram: Native Discovery Methods

Instagram provides several visual indicators and native search fields that signal when a sound is gaining traction.

1. The Trend Arrow

As you review the Reels feed, pay attention to the lower-left corner of the screen where the audio track title is displayed. A standard post will show a music note icon next to the track name. However, when a sound is rapidly increasing in popularity, that note is replaced by an upward-pointing arrow.

This arrow means the track is growing in terms of use and engagement. If you tap on the audio title, you can see how many total Reels have been created with it. A sweet spot for growing brands is finding tracks with an upward arrow that have fewer than 30,000 total creations. This indicates that the trend is fresh and your video is less likely to be buried by high-profile competitor accounts.

2. The Dedicated Audio Tab

When you use the global search bar on Instagram, you can filter your results by tapping the “Audio” tab. This page functions as an index of sounds matching your search query.

To use this strategically, enter keywords related to your industry niche. If you run a fitness brand, searching for terms like “workout motivation” or “focus” within the audio tab will surface tracks and original voiceovers that other creators are using. This method helps you find audio assets that fit your brand identity rather than relying solely on mainstream pop music.

3. Monitoring the Instagram Professional Dashboard

For business and creator profiles, the Professional Dashboard offers curated resources, including trend roundups. Instagram periodically updates this section with recommendations based on macro-trends across the entire ecosystem. While these tracks are often highly saturated by the time they appear here, they provide a reliable baseline of what the broader user base is consuming.

Scheduling Reels with Audio: The Metricool Integration

Previously, if you wanted to use a native sound, you had to publish it manually from a mobile device, which disrupted a structured workflow.

Thanks to an official update to the Instagram Content Publishing API, you can now search for, preview, and schedule your Reels with native audio directly from your centralized desktop planner.

Main Capabilities

The audio selector within the Metricool Planner connects directly to Meta’s data architecture, providing your business with several core advantages:

• Dual Asset Search: You can search and implement two distinct categories of audio assets. The system allows you to select Music (licensed songs from Meta’s library that are fully authorized for third-party software use) or Original Audio (original sound files created and published by users within their public Reels).
• Automatic Trend Discovery: The search function adapts to how you input information. If you use the search_query parameter by entering specific keywords or artist names, the system returns matching tracks. If you send the query completely empty, the integration automatically pulls the current trending sounds directly from the platform, allowing you to pick a popular track without leaving your workspace.
• Complete Automation: Once you select your asset and save your configuration, the post is fully automated. Metricool will publish the Reel with the native audio track embedded at your designated time, requiring no manual mobile notifications.

Native Methods vs. Metricool Planner for Audio Discovery

Important Technical Limitations to Consider

To keep your deployment strategy running smoothly, keep these three structural limitations in mind:

Commercial and Third-Party Licensing Filters

The catalog of music available through third-party platforms is more limited than the native mobile library. The API only returns audio tracks that are explicitly cleared for third-party commercial and software distribution. If a major pop track is missing from your search inside the planner, it is due to these global licensing restrictions.

The Facebook Login Requirement

This advanced audio interaction relies entirely on Meta’s secure Graph infrastructure. It is only accessible to profiles that have linked their Instagram account to Metricool using the Facebook Login option. If you are currently connected via the legacy Instagram Login method, the audio features will remain unavailable until you update your connection permissions.

No Mixed Previews Before Publication

Although you can listen to individual audio tracks inside the Metricool selector to verify the song, the API does not support a combined, real-time preview of your video file with the audio track layered on top before it goes live. The post will publish exactly as configured in your layout options, meaning you must verify your original file’s volume levels prior to upload.

How to Find Trending Sounds on Instagram: External Methods

Relying exclusively on the native app can lead to a reactive workflow. By the time you notice a sound while scrolling your personal feed, the trend may have already peaked. To build a proactive workflow, you must look at external indicators.

1. Cross-Platform Analysis on TikTok: Many audio trends that dominate Instagram originate on TikTok. Because the consumption cycle on TikTok moves quickly, checking their Creative Center or trend charts can give you a one-week preview of what will likely become popular on Instagram. Pay attention to comedic original sounds, trending sound bites, or underground music tracks that are starting to accompany vertical videos on TikTok, as they are often imported by users to Instagram shortly after.

2. Curated Spotify Playlists: Independent creators and digital agencies maintain public Spotify playlists that track social media hits. Searching for terms like “Trending Reels Sounds” or “TikTok Viral Hits” on Spotify will reveal lists that are updated weekly. This allows you to listen to tracks in full while working on your desktop, making it easier to select background music during your video editing sessions.

3. Digital Trend Reports: Several marketing publications and independent creators send weekly newsletters detailing the exact audio tracks that are currently rising in popularity. These reports often break down the specific context of the trend, explaining the joke, transition, or theme associated with the sound, along with direct links to the audio pages on Instagram.