As the year wraps up, what better way to take a trip down memory lane than to re-visit the trends that had us in a chokehold each month, or at least for a few seconds on TikTok. In this blog post, we're here to spill the tea on the most viral TikTok trends and moments of 2023, those monthly phenomena that kept gracing our For You Pages, or made a brief cameo, if anything. Let’s dive in.
January - "Dumb Ways To Die" Trend
Creator: Rita-Fishing on Tiktok
Homage takes a twist with this trend, where users utilize the audio from the once incredibly popular app, Dumb Ways to Die. They share nail-biting moments of when they, or their friends, faced near-death experiences. Users are kept on their toes, as many videos end with a freeze frame of the action, leaving the ending result of the events to the imagination.
February - Hailey Bieber VS Selena Gomez Drama
Creator: Hailey Bieber on IG
In case you missed it, here’s the scoop. Selena Gomez uploaded a video of herself trying to shape her eyebrows, playfully concerned about how out of place they looked when laminated. Soon after, Hailey Bieber re-posted a screenshot of a FaceTime call with Kylie Kardashian, showing off her eyebrow shape, allegedly making fun of Selena’s recent post. While this wasn’t a “trend” per se, creators wasted no time sharing their two cents on the Hailey Bieber and Selena drama, many branding Hailey Bieber as a “copycat” and “mean girl”. Many scrolled through archives of content, finding instances of Hailey allegedly copying Selena’s mannerisms, style, and looks. Users largely sided with Selena, evident in her follower count increasing by 12.8 million in just 10 days. If that doesn't show the power of social media, I don't know what will. Well, maybe Keith Lee's impact...
March - Keith Lee Goes Viral
Creator: Keith Lee on TikTok
Who doesn’t love a good mukbang? Food Critic Keith Lee’s first on-brand viral video skyrocketed to fame in March. The video reviewed a pizza shop in Vegas known as Frankensons Pizzeria, whose sales had severely struggled, and paying rent was rapidly becoming impossible for the brand. Taken back by their story, Keith Lee came in to honestly rate their menu of garlic knots, burgers, chicken wings, and of course, pizza, on a scale from 1-10, with his scores on the joint ultimately ranging from 2 (fries) to an impressive, and hard to earn, 10 (chicken wings) from the content creator. Upon going viral, the restaurant actually ran out of products to serve one day as viewers traveled far and wide to support the local business.
April - Wes Anderson Tiktok Trend 2023
Creator: TaraMilkTea on Tiktok
The Wes Anderson trend exploded on TikTok, where users mimicked the well-known Director Wes Anderson’s cinematic style through color, symmetry, and music. Some were so skillful that it became arguably difficult to distinguish the videos from one of his actual films. Well, maybe if they had a million dollar production budget. Check out the video above and see for yourself.
May - Bombastic Side Eye Tiktok Trend 2023
Creator: Winston_Da_Ween on TikTok
This audio peaked in popularity in early May. Many users shared clips of the side-eye expressions of their pets, kids, or animals, incorporating the audio into it. Some went for the relatable approach, adding text to scenarios where that side-eye is very much called for.
Bombastic Side Eye Meaning: The bombastic side eye trend essentially means that you are silently sharing feelings of disapproval for what someone else is doing or saying through that side-eye.
June - The Titan Submarine Story
Creator: SaberYumi on TikTok
I seriously can’t believe this happened just 6 months ago. In case you were on some cleansing yoga retreat in the middle of the humid jungles of Costa Rica at the time, here’s what you missed in a nutshell. Four billionaires and a captain loaded into a tiny submarine to see the Titanic with an Xbox controller as their navigator (yes, this is real). Some thousand feet underneath the Earth’s surface, they either had a system failure or got caught somewhere near the Titanic, and had 96 hours of oxygen left to live and float back onto the Earth’s surface. Massive search parties went out to see, even the Navy, but were unfortunately not recovered in time. The submarine imploded underwater and was eventually found some days later. Avid TikTokers, like myself, got real-time news updates on this story every time we refreshed our screens. Teenagers turned into anchors and became my go-to source for all things sub-related for those 96 hours.
July - Girl Dinner Tiktok Trend 2023
Creator: Esme_Gough on TikTok
Users shared the very interesting types of dinners they make for themselves. Some have 6 goldfish, a handful of corn nuts, and their fruity mango pebble 2000 vapes. The “purpose” of the trend is to show the type of food you eat when you cook for yourself.
August - The Rise Of The Roman Empire (Again)
Creator: Allie_Ninfo on TikTok
This trend had women getting their minds blown as they asked their boyfriends, dads, or literally any other male in their lives how often they think about the Roman Empire. The average response: “Not that often... probably once a week/month?”. Ummm…huh?! The last time I thought about the Roman Empire was in 5th grade history with Ms. Beach. She gave us the best pretzels.
September - Susi Pesto Stitch Tiktok Trend 2023
Creator: MaybeMyaHadele on TikTok
The Roman Empire trend came and went, but it will always be in our (boyfriends') minds forever. In September, users started stitching their videos with a girl named Susi. She posted a cooking video stating, “Call me crazy if you want, but I’ve never liked store-bought pesto,” and users took this “crazy” story and added their own, and some were just… crazy.
Tip: Put the above video on 1.5x - 2x playback speed for a faster story-telling experience.
October - Man Standing Still Tiktok Trend 2023
Creator: AyeSebastien on TikTok
The mannequin challenge gets an update with this trend. Users held their current pose on camera and added text with a relatable scenario that would make them stop what they were doing.
November - Name A Woman Tiktok Trend 2023
Creator: TrishaPaytas on TikTok
This Tiktok trend had loved ones lowkey sweating bullets in their sleep. A woman posted a TikTok telling women to ask their significant others to name a woman. She suggested if they don’t say your name, it’s what their subconscious is thinking. Can we please drop the mind games in 2024? Nevertheless, it was an interesting trend to watch. Even icon Trisha Paytas did it to her husband Moses, so you know it’s good (Moses failed and said Margaret Thatcher...??).
December - Weird Coincidences Tiktok Trend 2023
Creator: Jaqischm on TikTok
While December hasn’t wrapped up quite yet, there is already a trend going around for the month. The trend shows users’ past moments of coincidence or fate. The audio is just about as creepy as it gets, but some of the stories are in-explainable, and equally as incredible.
Someone should do a psych evaluation on the trends we find most interesting each month. One month we’re dying laughing as we watch people being chased by bears with fish in their hand, the next we’re sobbing from an old man playing the piano. Regardless, it’s always something fresh, always something new, always something your company needs to incorporate into its marketing strategy if it hasn’t done so already. If you need help, reach out to NU Marketing. NU Marketing is a digital marketing company designed to improve brands’ online presence by helping them tell their story.
There’s your TikTok wrap for 2024 - Until next year!
Xoxo,
Liv
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