In April, Kentucky rapper Jack Harlow garnered his first ever solo US No 1 (and first UK Top 5 hit) after clips he posted using audio of his single First Class, which samples Fergie’s 2007 song Glamorous, went viral on TikTok. In this new economy of pop stardom, a few savvy and well-timed videos can be worth far more than a million-dollar marketing campaign.Īlthough Despechá may be the latest example of a song becoming a hit before its release, it’s not even the most significant this year.

Sharing a virality-friendly teaser is an increasingly common strategy as big stars come to understand the quirks and contours of TikTok. You can understand why: the song’s piquant piano stabs, combined with Rosalía’s carefree, escapist lyrics (translated: “Baby, don’t call me / I’m busy forgetting your ills / I’m going out tonight / With all my motomamis”) have an irresistible sun-kissed charm. In July, Rosalía posted a TikTok of her singing and dancing to Despechá by the time she was ready to release the finished song, demand from her fanbase and the Spanish pop-listening public was deafening. Where songs used to worm their way into the cultural psyche – and, as with Glass Animals’ slow-rising Heat Waves, sometimes still do – they can now reach full societal saturation before they are officially released. This is not a Josie and the Pussycats-style brainwashing situation, but another example of the way TikTok is fundamentally changing the way we interact with music.

Top tik tok songs april 2022