You are scrolling through TikTok to find yourself recycling through the same four trending songs on repeat. If those songs appear on the radio, some people may find themselves turning the volume up because they know a 15-second portion of the song very well (hint: it’s the trending song on TikTok), however, others may find themselves to become annoyed with the overplayed audios and subconsciously begin to dislike the songs.

Looking at friends’ playlists, sure, many songs are outside of the “trendy”/mass-consumer songs on there, but sometimes, if the song is an overplayed trendy song, it can contribute to the playlist losing personality because “everyone” listens to it.

It’s been more than six years since Musical.ly turned into the app we know today as TikTok, where users can share their life events through various creative means. Not only has this changed the way people “share” themselves online on social media (such as “Reels” for Instagram or “Spotlight” for Snapchat – both of which serve the purpose of sharing videos for users to scroll through), but it has also changed the way people listen to music on the daily.

Charts, such as the Billboard Hot 100, are available to see what songs are trending and how long they’ve been trending. But those actively on TikTok can see what songs that trend on TikTok also trend on streaming services. On one hand, it’s a great thing for artists to get recognized around the world for their work. This also comes with the fact that the longer songs are played – on the charts or Tiktok – the more people will grow to dislike them. Songs made by artists previously unheard of are suddenly getting the most attention from fans, however, it leads to the question, would it still be as popular if not everyone was listening to it?

It’s not a bad thing to listen to trendy songs, because if you like a song, it’s as simple as that. But TikTok’s effect on the charts has made it seem to the outside point of view that if you listen to these songs, you’re just the average TikTok user, and nothing else.

Either you are someone who will sing to the songs on the radio no matter how often you hear them, or social media apps such as TikTok places a negative impression on songs that are “trendy” to the consumer as they grow used-to, and then get tired of these songs.