This Week’s Trending Songs on Instagram Reels: May 7th, 2026
Kalum
07 May 2026 
To maintain an engaging and relevant presence on Instagram, staying on top of trending audio is a fundamental practice for social media managers, agencies, creators, and entrepreneurs. Reels continue to be the star format on Instagram, achieving the highest reach, according to our 2026 Social Media Study. Instagram’s algorithm pushes short video content, as it drives user engagement and brand awareness. To create a sense of relatability and reference pop culture, trending songs on Instagram reels are a strategy to boost visibility.
We know that trends come and go in a matter of days. Social media managers need to stay on top of these trends to create timely content with the hope of going viral. Using trending sounds increases your likelihood of being seen by a wider audience or shared by new users.
Trending Songs on Instagram Reels Today
What’s trending on Instagram reels today? While there are more than just 10 trending songs on the network, this list will give you a good idea of what songs grab users’ attention and appear on their feeds. We’ve chosen to share songs rather than all audio, so don’t be alarmed if you can’t see the popular sound you heard; you can find trending audio in your Instagram ‘Professional Dashboard’. Here’s a look at some of the hottest tracks making waves on Instagram reels, with a focus on their origin, why they’re captivating audiences, and the creative content they inspire:
#1. 1st of Tha Month – Bone Thugs-n-Harmony
This song somehow continues to find its way back onto the Instagram trending list at the start of the month. This track has become a staple, with creators using it for monthly resets, paycheck jokes, and life updates that everyone relates to. Its laid-back beat and catchy hook make it perfect for nostalgic reels and content, especially as users reflect on their monthly goals, bills, routines, or fresh starts whenever the calendar flips.
#2. Hold on Till May – Pierce The Veil
Hold On Till May by Pierce the Veil tops the Instagram charts with fans turning this song into the unofficial soundtrack of the Month. The track’s energy fits perfectly with spring transitions, graduation season, and reflective edits. This song is particularly popular in reels about growth, change, and making it through difficult times before the summer season kicks off.
#3. Fallin’ (feat. Leon Thomas) – Chris Brown
Fallin’ by Chris Brown has become a favorite sound for fashion content, lifestyle edits, and foodie reels on Instagram. The smooth production gives videos an effortlessly cool feel, making it perfect for outfit transitions and day-in-the-life clips. Its laid-back but polished vibe helps creators make even simple moments feel elevated, which is exactly why the track is spreading so quickly on the Instagram platform right now.
#4 Long Train Runnin’ Remix – partypupils
This song is taking off on Instagram thanks to its upbeat, instrumental sound that instantly adds energy to short-form videos. The remix has become especially popular in fashion and beauty content because it provides creators with a fun background track without overpowering the visuals. Its rhythmic groove works great for makeup transformations, outfit reveals, and fast-paced edits, helping videos feel stylish and effortless.
#5. It’s Gonna Be Me – *NSYNC
It’s Gonna Be Me by *NSYNC becomes unavoidable every May thanks to the famous way Justin Timberlake pronounces ‘me’ like ‘may’ in the chorus. What started as an internet joke has turned into a yearly social media tradition with creators using the song for everything from seasonal memes to throwback edits. The trend resurfaces like clockwork every spring, making the song one of the most recognizable audio trends on Instagram.
#6 Friday (Dopamine Re-Edit) (feat. Mufasa & Hypeman) – Riton, Nightcrawlers
Friday by Riton is becoming a go-to sound every time the weekend rolls around. Built around the iconic “Push the Feeling On” sample, the upbeat dance track brings a fun vibe that aligns perfectly with nightlife content, gym clips, and weekend montages. Its fast-paced techno-pop feel creates that Friday mood, which is why creators keep bringing it back for party-ready and feel-good reels.
#7. Bring Your Love – Madonna, Sabrina Carpenter
Bring Your Love by Madonna and Sabrina Carpenter is quickly becoming one of Instagram’s breakout summer sounds. The bright, carefree energy it brings is ideal for beach days, poolside clips, vacations, and golden-hour reels, with creators using it to soundtrack all kinds of fun-in-the-sun moments. Its playful pop vibe feels tailor-made for summer content, helping the song gain momentum as more users lean into warm-weather aesthetics and careless lifestyle edits.
#8. Quiet Comfort – Oldies Playing
Quiet Comfort by Oldies Playing is gaining attention for its calm, vintage-inspired sound that feels like stepping into another era. The soft and old-time influence gives reels a warm 1940s atmosphere, making the track especially popular for cozy café clips, slow morning routines, and nostalgic aesthetic content. It’s peaceful, timeless feel stands out against louder-trending audio, giving creators a more relaxed and cinematic option for storytelling-style videos.
#9. I’ll Always Remember You – Hannah Montana
I’ll Always Remember You by Hannah Montana is having a resurgence as high school seniors use the song to reflect on graduation and their next chapter. The track has become popular in college reveal videos. Its sentimental lyrics perfectly capture the mix of excitement, change, and looking back that comes with graduation season.
#10. RUNWAY – Lady Gaga, Doechii
Runway by Lady Gaga and Doechii rounds out our top ten with its high-energy, fashion-themed audio built for statement visuals. The track’s bold, runway-inspired production and attitude-heavy delivery make it a natural fit for outfit transitions, editorial-style shoots, and confident “main character” walk clips. Creators are using their sharp, dramatic vibe for anything that feels like a personal fashion show moment.
How to Save Instagram Songs
If you are scrolling through Instagram Reels and you find an audio that you would like to save, just follow these simple steps:
- Tap on the name of the audio you want to use.
- Right next to the ‘Use Audio’, you will see ‘Save Audio’.
If you do not see this, it is because you must have a Business or Creator Account to be able to save trending audio.
Want to use any of the songs from this article? Just click the song name in the paragraph title, and it will take you to the Instagram audio page.
How to Access Saved Songs
- Go to create a New reel.
- If you want to film before, click on the music icon on the left side of the screen
- At the top, you will see the Save button.
- Here you will see all your Saved songs.
You can also access your saved songs through your Instagram bio. All you have to do is:
- Go to your bio and click on the three lines in the top right corner.
- Click on ‘Saved’.
- The first square will say ‘Audio’.
- Here you can access all your saved songs.
How to Find Trending Songs for Instagram Reels
Instagram portrays which sounds are trending with a little up arrow icon. You can find these arrows by browsing the suggested sounds and on the Instagram reel page. There are also several other ways to find trending sounds, so let’s dive right in!
Browse Suggestions
Click on the +, scroll to reel, and click on the trending arrow. This method is less likely to match your niche; instead, Instagram will show you a library of trending songs used by various creators.
On the Instagram Reel tab
This method is a great way to start because this is where your tailored Reels live. The Reels show up on this page because the Instagram algorithm takes into account the content you’ve liked in the past based on your past engagement.
For example, if you post a lot about makeup or engage with makeup on this page, you will likely see a lot of Reels having to do with beauty products. This helps you find sounds that will match your niche.
Through the Creator’s Instagram account
@Creators is used by Instagram to share important updates like platform improvements, Reels trends, and trending audio. Make sure you’re following this account to stay up to date. This reel below showcases some recent trends on the platform:
By scrolling TikTok
Using TikTok to get inspired is a great way to find trending sounds. Although they are two completely separate apps, the trends often carry over between the two apps. So, by scrolling through the app and seeing some similarities of videos that would match your niche, odds are they could do well on Instagram too! We update the top 10 TikTok songs each week, so this is a great place to see timely trending songs:
Use Instagram Reels Templates
Instagram has recently added reel templates, so you can easily create professional videos. When going to create a reel, you will see a Templates option. You can scroll through different templates created by users and save your favorite ones. They are also broken into different categories, such as trending and recommended.
After selecting a template you want to use, you can add your clips and edit the video to your liking. These templates can be very helpful because many times the sounds that offer templates not only make editing easier, but they are also most likely trending as well. A recent trending template is the song: Dog Days Are Over by Florence and the Machine. This song has over 683K Reels. The template looks like this:
All you have to do is simply add three clips, and the template will edit them to sync them to the sound!
Instagram does not have exact data as to why songs are trending, but we believe it is due to the number of users who save, use, or interact with a certain sound.
For our visual learners, check out our YouTube video on how to find trending audio on both TikTok and Instagram:
Can Businesses Use Trending Sounds on Instagram?
There are currently over 200 million business profiles on Instagram, and being that Reels are the most popular type of content on the app, it is likely that businesses are posting Reels frequently. As the owner of your business account, you may have run into the issue where a trending sound was not available for your business account to use. We’re here to tell you why.
This is because of Instagram’s Copyright rule. Instagram can remove audio or clips of audio from your content if it detects a potential licensing violation. They can also block content or delete content if they believe that you have infringed on their copyright rule.
Businesses have access to all sounds that are labeled “Original Audio” as well as songs that are for “Commercial Use”. And not to worry, because there is quite a library full of original audio that is trending!
Make your life easier and schedule your Instagram Reels using Metricool so that they are published automatically at the most optimal time.
We hope this guide to finding trending songs on Instagram Reels in 2026 was helpful, and let us know if you have any questions or comments!
