The more popular a song is on TikTok, the higher the payout can be for musical artists.
My title is Senior Features Writer, which is a license to write about absolutely anything if I can connect it to technology (I can). I’ve been at PCMag since 2011 and have covered the surveillance state, vaccination cards, ghost guns, voting, ISIS, art, fashion, film, design, gender bias, and more. You might have seen me on TV talking about these topics or heard me on your commute home on the radio or a podcast. Or maybe you’ve just seen my Bernie meme.
One of the things that fueled Olivia Rodrigo’s song “Driver’s License” earlier this year was a series of TikTok videos in which creators fell backward onto a bed with a dramatic outfit change(Opens in a new window) while doing even more dramatic lip-syncing to “Red lights, stop signs / I still see your face in the white cars, front yards.” The song soon set a record for Spotify’s most streams per day.
WhistleOut wanted to find out(Opens in a new window) just how much such TikTok attention was worth, so it took data from Tokboard to find the 10 most played songs on TikTok from January through June of this year, cross-referenced it with what’s available on Spotify, and figured out the payout.
The company said it didn’t find a strong correlation between earnings and TikTok plays, but there are reasons for that. It listed the most-played songs on TikTok for the time period as “Monkeys Spinning Monkeys” by Kevin MacLeod (31,612,975,915 plays), “Oh No” by Kreepa (30,406,767266 plays), and “Steven Universe” by L.Dre (10,681,174,626 plays). WhistleOut found “Monkeys Spinning Monkeys” has earned only $14,577 from Spotify; but the song, which is perfect for background music, has no copyright, so it’s widely available for free elsewhere. And “Oh No” has earned $114,933 on Spotify because despite being attributed to Kreepa, it’s really a sample from 60s girl group The Shangri-Las, and its popularity is tied to its effectiveness as a snippet and not necessarily for listening to as a whole. As for “Steven Universe,” it’s a trippy version of the cartoon’s theme songs and one of those “check out my SoundCloud” tunes that’s more atmospheric than a song you want on repeat.
But WhistleOut also put together a list of the highest-earning songs, thanks to TikTok. The top three are “Montero (Call Me by Your Name)” by Lil Nas X ($2,992,743), “Astronaut in the Ocean” by Masked Wolf ($2,693,099), and “Good 4 U” by Olivia Rodrigo ($2,275,954). Lil Nas X atop the list makes sense: His career launched when he uploaded “Old Town Road” to TikTok, where it took off and led to hisDublin record deal.
This week Lil Nas X helped launch a radio station called TikTok Radio on Sirius XM(Opens in a new window) that plays the app’s most viral hits, something that will add to how much artists receive from their TikTok fame.
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My title is Senior Features Writer, which is a license to write about absolutely anything if I can connect it to technology (I can). I’ve been at PCMag since 2011 and have covered the surveillance state, vaccination cards, ghost guns, voting, ISIS, art, fashion, film, design, gender bias, and more. You might have seen me on TV talking about these topics or heard me on your commute home on the radio or a podcast. Or maybe you’ve just seen my Bernie meme.
I strive to explain topics that you might come across in the news but not fully understand, such as NFTs and meme stocks. I’ve had the pleasure of talking tech with Jeff Goldblum, Ang Lee, and other celebrities who have brought a different perspective to it. I put great care into writing gift guides and am always touched by the notes I get from people who’ve used them to choose presents that have been well-received. Though I love that I get to write about the tech industry every day, it’s touched by gender, racial, and socioeconomic inequality and I try to bring these topics to light.
Outside of PCMag, I write fiction, poetry, humor, and essays on culture.
Read Chandra’s full bio
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