TikTok’s Viral Moments in 2024 (Part One)

TikTok’s ban lasted a few hours, from January 18th to January 19th, affecting its 170 million American users. President Trump issued an executive order delaying the ban by 75 days. However, users who hadn’t already downloaded the app were unable to do so during this time. TikTok’s future remains uncertain. Continue reading this article to recap TikTok’s viral moments of 2024!

January:

Gypsy Rose (@gypsyrose.tiktok) 

Before Gypsy Rose was released from prison, many people jokingly posted edits captioned with β€œ#freegypsy”. Shortly after her release, her social media presence broke the internet. She quickly gained millions of followers and became a trending topic on TikTok for most of January. She currently boasts an impressive 9.7 million followers on TikTok.

Stanley cups 

Stanley cups went viral on TikTok, largely due to a video posted in November 2023 by @danimariettering, where a car caught fire, but a Stanley cup inside remained nearly intact. The video garnered over 9 million likes. Besides their durability, these cups became popular for their sleek appearance, color options, and ability to keep beverages hot or cold for extended periods. People rushed to stores like Target to grab their own, often facing purchasing limits (usually two cups per customer) to ensure availability for others.

Sephora girls

This trend started with TikTok users labeling young girls who purchased expensive Sephora products they didn’t need. Popular brands included Drunk Elephant, Sol de Janeiro, and anti-aging products typically marketed to older women. Sephora employees reported these girls often left testers messy and disrupted the store.

February:

β€œYou have been promoted!” (@mainlymannie)

This comedian created a POV (point of view) sketch, portraying a boss and CEO. The comedic video, with over 7 million likes, quickly became a meme. Many users referenced it to celebrate β€œupgrading” friendships, like one video captioned, β€œWhen I can finally unleash my weirdness in front of them,” which earned over 5 million likes.

Chocolate Drizzle Video (@gabskssk)

A video of strawberries drizzled with chocolate went viral, amassing over 50 million likes. It inspired countless recreations with the same audio. Although the original video was removed, the creator later posted a remake.

March:

JLO

A clip from Jennifer Lopez’s documentary, The Greatest Love Story Never Told, uploaded by @primevideo, showed her sitting on a gym bench, reminiscing about growing up in The Bronx. She also revealed how her hair looked when she was sixteen, sparking a frenzy of recreations on TikTok. Users mimicked her pose and dialogue while showing off their hair.

This clip quickly led to people mimicking the way JLO sat and spoke in the video. Many videos used the sound and showed their hair while lip syncing to JLO’s dialogue. 

Francis Scott Key Bridge Memes

After a cargo ship caused the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, TikTok exploded with memes. Popular ones included captions like, β€œInsurance company: You hit what?” Some users even joked about The Simpsons Predicting the collapse.

April:

β€œTikTok Rizz Party”

A video of teenagers dancing and singing at Jillian’s Sweet 16 went viral, amassing over 50 million views and 7 million likes. This event became known as the β€œTikTok Rizz Party.” Four main characters emerged, including the group leader (Blue Tie Kid), Second in Command, Tomato Boy, and Turkish Quandale Dingle.

JoJo Siwa

JoJo Siwa’s song β€œKarma” became a TikTok sensation. Users recreated her music video choreography, leaving comments begging her to stop releasing music.

May

Four Seasons Orlando Baby (@sobrizzle)

A wholesome video featuring a mom asking her two kids, β€œWho’s excited to go to the Four Seasons Orlando?” went viral. The older daughter and an infant raised their hands, with the infant doing so while exclaiming, β€œME!” Viewers were amazed by the baby’s apparent cognitive abilities, sparking jokes about her being an adult imposter.

β€œBirds of a feather”

Billie Eilish’s album Hit Me Hard and Soft dominated TikTok in 2024, with the track β€œBirds of a Feather” (BOAF) becoming a viral hit. The song inspired users to create heartfelt slideshows featuring friends and family alongside the lyrics, β€œBirds of a feather, we should stick together.” BOAF has amassed 1.78 billion streams on Spotify, making it the platform’s most-streamed song of 2024.

β€œI’m looking for a man in finance”

A creator on TikTok @girl_on_couch recited the lyrics to a song she wrote. She captioned it asking if anyone wanted to make it into an actual song and people did just that. The original creator’s video has over 4 million likes. The most viral remix (by @rubythepookie) has over 60 thousand posts and has caused these lyrics to be an earworm all summer.  

June:

β€œSpectacular, give me 14 of them, right now” (@bigalandvicky)

A video of a man trying pancakes and his reaction was quite something. After one taste the man immediately says β€œspectacular, give me 14 of them right now”. This hilarious video relates to how people feel when they try something new and its delicious. The original video has over 8 million likes. The trend consisted of people describing something they tried fir the first time (on a text overlay) and then lip syncing the words of the audio.

β€œIs somebody gonna match my freak?” 

This viral song called β€œNasty girl” by Tinashe led to multiple different trends and remixes but the main two were the dance and the remix that contains β€œSpace Song” by Beach House. The original audio has 5.8 million posts and the majority being people doing day to day activities while dancing to the lyrics β€œI’ve been a nasty girl”. The remixed audio is mainly used for people to post about asking if anyone would β€œmatch their freak”, and the creators would put in parenthesis an activity they would like to do such as β€œrandomly [sing] lyrics mid conversation”, (@camfant).

Read Part Two through this link: https://www.theblakebeat.com/tiktoks-viral-moments-in-2024-part-2/