Growing up I remember watching CBBC’s Official Chart Show, Top Of The Pops reruns with my parents, and hearing about the iconic Blur versus Oasis face off of the 1990s. However, it seems that over the past decade the idea of chart competitions is non-existent, and instead charts reflect the weekly trending TikTok audios. With the new age of social media, the way we consume music and creative media has shifted dramatically, there is now a focus on short-form content and instant satisfaction. This means the role of the radio and charts, as the place for recommendations about what music to listen to, has changed. Instead, new artists are found by how well a song fits playing behind a ‘fit check’ or ‘a day in the life’ video. As a result, the way that music is marketed and the way artists get paid relies on both views they get on social media like TikTok and Instagram, as well as touring, due to the limited profit from physical media like CDs, cassettes or vinyls. This means that instead of finding artists through a particularly good, well-charting album or appearances on radio shows, individual songs tend to bring the attraction. Artists suddenly chart in the worldwide Top 40 for a month before they disappear back into the shadows of Los Angeles, along with all the other social media stars.
Obviously this is not the case with all TikTok sounds, and artists that get discovered through the internet can have long, successful careers which were only boosted by the power of social media. The best current examples of this are Olivia Rodrigo and Troye Sivan – the latter slowly created his pop empire, after boosting his career in the 2010s as a Youtuber. Nevertheless, the period of time in which songs or artists are successful is ever-shortening, bringing them into the spotlight, quickly chewing them up and spitting them out. As a result, the idea of a ‘one hit wonder’ is not as prominent anymore and has been diluted as so many songs these days are victim to the 'TikTok algorithm’. Because of this, an artist is only known for a singular song, associated with a trend, and their concerts see the crowd knowing only one or two songs. Additionally, with already successful artists like Lizzy McAlpine or Faye Webster, for example, newly viral TikTok clips can change the concert atmosphere significantly. While social media is good for the discovery and recognition of smaller artists, the reduction of an artists career to a single 20 second soundbite, or even a lyric or dance, suggests the way we treat artists has gone wrong somewhere. Overall, this demonstrates how short-form content (most prominently that on TikTok) has changed the way in which we consume music, and as a consequence, how central parts of music culture like festivals, concerts and vinyl collections have evolved because of these changes.
One area in particular that I have seen evolve since TikTok’s growth in popularity is festival line-ups, and the transition away from the typical festival genres to cater to a more social-media-savvy audience. The best example of this is how Reading and Leeds have changed over the past few years. I understand that festivals have to change, alongside popular music, to cater to their target audience, especially when it is a festival primarily for teenagers, like Reading and Leeds. However, the drastic genre shift from their previously rigid, alternative, rock and punk music structure to rap and pop, definitely aligns with the changes in pop culture. Looking at the line-up from 2013, to the prospective 2025 one out of context, you would not even believe it is the same festival.
In 2024, I noticed a few artists had cropped up quite high on the festival line-up, despite not having a music career the year before. Dasha was the one that caught my eye the most, as she landed the opening main stage slot because of her viral track ‘Austin (Boots Stop Workin’)’. Reading and Leeds is becoming genre-less as the direction of the music festival has changed to adapt to its younger audience. Glastonbury has also been under fire for similar reasons, with many people being unhappy with SZA and Jungle headlining the Pyramid and West Holts stages, with arguments that they were not popular enough or far enough along in their career. This was possibly proven right with SZA attracting the smallest crowd a Glastonbury headliner has seen in over 20 years. I do not believe this is the fault of SZA, but the Glastonbury team, as she experienced technical difficulties throughout her set and did not quite cater to the usual Glastonbury audience.
I completely understand why both of these festivals have changed directions to showcase what is popular, bringing in younger festival-goers and making way for a new age of popular music. It is just very interesting to see how quickly this change has been made. The 2025 Reading line-up is also maintaining this direction with Hozier and Chappell Roan headlining one of the days – leaning into the desires of the new generation of Reading and Leeds attendees. I am excited to see the 2025 Glastonbury line-up and curious as to whether they will stick to their guns and maintain a similar choice of artists to 2024.
The way that we consume music through digital platforms rather than physical media has also contributed to a change in the charts. With the increased use of AI on streaming platforms like Spotify, streaming statistics have skewed and pushed the most popular, trending songs of the moment. This can be seen through the various AI playlists that combine your listening habits with an injection of a few TikTok sounds. In many of my ‘personal’ AI playlists created by Spotify, there is always the trio of Chappell Roan, Sabrina Carpenter, and Lola Young right at the top of the pop playlist or the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Jeff Buckley in my alternative rock playlist. There was also a period where whenever I played a song picked from the search bar, every time without fail either ‘Espresso’ or ‘BIRDS OF A FEATHER’ would play after. This genre mashing and promotion has pushed certain songs to be played over and over, increasing their streaming numbers.
There is a good reason for streaming platforms to be pushing popular songs; it is because of the changing ways music is now consumed, with the growing disuse of physical media forms like CDs, cassettes, and vinyl records. Artists have now been forced onto streaming platforms or to tour, as it is the leading form of income, as well as the average listener not being able to afford £20 or more records and £15 CDs alongside the cost of a CD player or record player. This could be an explanation for why we see artists so early on in their career immediately jumping into playing festivals and touring, with only one viral song. Unfortunately, due to the meagre rate at which streaming platforms pay artists, with Spotify reportedly paying between $0.003 to $0.005 cents per stream, artists have no choice but to market their songs on social media for both views and the ultimate goal of getting a viral audio.
Now, there is a constant need for internet engagement and new material to be able to maintain an audience and an income. This new industry promotes the idea of quantity over quality with a constant output of new media. The best example I can find for this is Taylor Swift’s release schedule for her newest album, The Tortured Poets Department, which saw her releasing The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology just two hours later. In the end, this album had 19 different physical variants all of the same album, bar the difference between nine CD, six vinyl, and four cassette variants. Taylor Swift has had an absolutely monumental year, however, it is undeniable that this number of releases is excessive.
This new way of consumption limits the type of music made, and creativity, to a set formula to please certain algorithms. The constant push for new content alongside the lack of income stability pushes artists to the bone to maintain an audience through constant touring, new music and social media engagement due to a need for survival and profit. The combination of these factors has fundamentally changed the make-up of the charts. I want to refer to the current chart below (stated by Spotify, as of the time of writing: 8 January 2025) for top songs in the UK. All 10 of these songs are currently viral on TikTok, in fact, within the UK Top 20, the only song I could find that was/is not a viral TikTok sound was ‘Mr Brightside’ by The Killers at number 19.
- ‘That’s So True’ – Gracie Abrams
- ‘Sailor Song’ – Gigi Perez
- ‘Die With A Smile’ – Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars
- ‘APT’ – ROSE and Bruno Mars
- ‘Messy’ – Lola Young
- ‘BIRDS OF A FEATHER’ – Billie Eillish
- ‘Good Luck, Babe!’ – Chappell Roan
- ‘Espresso’ – Sabrina Carpenter
- ‘Taste’ – Sabrina Carpenter
- ‘Beautiful Things’ – Benson Boone
The charts have always reflected popular music, no matter the way it was consumed or the genre. However, there is just something about how release cycles are getting shorter, creativity is getting limited due to fear of career success and the changes in concert culture that has significantly changed music culture. This article does not reflect the quality of songs or artists, as many influencers and artists have been able to use TikTok and other social media platforms to build successful and long careers. However, it is merely an account of the changing priorities of the music industry, and the power that social media has had in influencing our music consumption over the past decades. It asks the question: what is the future of the music industry?
