Charting the Rise of TikTok's Music Star Performers
In an intriguing analysis, The Pudding, an online publication specializing in visual essays, has delved into the world of music and TikTok. The study, titled “What happens when musicians go viral on TikTok?”, examined a dataset of musicians who gained viral attention on the popular platform and tracked eight milestones indicating commercial success beyond TikTok.
The visualizations, which are easily accessible on The Pudding's website, represent each musician with a larger circle, surrounded by pink dots. Each pink dot represents a milestone achieved by the musician, such as playing at a music festival, signing a record deal, or appearing on Billboard charts.
However, the visualizations do not provide the names of the musicians, keeping the focus on the patterns and trends rather than individual artists. The study found that while many musicians gain viral attention, only a small fraction proceed to achieve substantial commercial success across these milestones.
Conversely, ten musicians have not met any of the eight milestones, according to the visualization. On the other hand, three musicians have managed to meet all eight milestones, highlighting the exceptional journey of these artists.
The eight milestones displayed in the visualization serve as a proxy for commercial success off the TikTok platform. The search results did not provide specific information or data about the success rate of new musicians going viral on TikTok in achieving these commercial success milestones off the platform according to The Pudding's research.
The visualizations, created by The Pudding, are focused on musicians' success on TikTok and their subsequent commercial success off the platform. The research underscores how virality on TikTok does not guarantee broader music industry breakthrough, but it can serve as a stepping stone for some artists.
If you're interested in more detailed numbers or the exact milestones studied by The Pudding, we recommend consulting their original published analysis or data visualizations directly from The Pudding’s website or their social media channels.
Research in the field of technology and entertainment reveals that achieving viral status on TikTok does not guarantee broader music industry success, but it can serve as a stepping stone. The Pudding's analysis, presented visually on their website, shows that out of a dataset of musicians who gained viral attention on TikTok, only a small fraction proceeded to achieve substantial success, as measured by eight milestones representing commercial success off TikTok such as playing at a music festival or appearing on Billboard charts.
