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K-Pop Songs That Are Viral on TikTok This Summer

Allyson Tollett

K-pop enthusiast and blogger.

Lately I’ve been walking around the house with K-pop choruses stuck in my head, one after the other, twirling my hands around to popular TikTok challenge dances without even realizing I’m doing it. K-pop has always been famous for “point-choreo,” which is the easy-to-follow choreography during the chorus of every song. Every K-pop fan knows famous point choreo to top songs like BLACKPINK’s “DDU-DU DDU-DU,” aespa’s “Next Level,” NCT 127’s “Kick It,” and I’m sure anyone with internet would know the horseriding point choreo of PSY’s “Gangnam Style.” So with shorts content on the rise, of course K-pop has been popping out dance challenge after dance challenge, and these five songs have been at the top of their game trending in the peak of summer.

#5 Stray Kids – MANIAC

Stray Kids’ first #MANIACchallenge TikTok was uploaded on March 18th earlier this year and gained 11M views, but in the fast-paced TikTok audio world, this song is still trending on the app FOUR months later. This song is popular on TikTok for the dance challenge specifically, which is easy to follow but definitely a challenge to perfect. This song is so catchy that Billboard chart-topping Stray Kids took over the TikTok algorithm with users all around the world uploading their own versions of the #MANIACchallenge.

@jypestraykids 나사🔩 빠진 것처럼 미쳐 #MANIAC 🎶 핑🌀핑💫 #MANIACchallenge #매니악챌린지 #Felix #I_N #필릭스 #아이엔 #StrayKids #스트레이키즈 ♬ MANIAC - Stray Kids

#4 (G)I-DLE – TOMBOY

(G)I-DLE’s song “Tomboy” must have been MADE for TikTok because of how popular the dance challenge is. In addition to the gift of the song itself, the other gift (G)I-DLE has given us with this song is dance videos together with other K-pop idols. Through TikTok challenges, we get to see K-pop idols having fun together covering each other’s songs in ways we wouldn’t have gotten to see before. Member SOYEON knows how fun this is for us, as she even says in the song, “I don’t wanna play this pig pong, I would rather film a TikTok.”

@official_gidle #TOMBOY_Challenge 🤟 OPEN!#여자아이들 #GIDLE #I_NEVER_DIE #TOMBOY #톰보이_챌린지 ♬ TOMBOY - (G)I-DLE

@official_gidle #전소미 님과 함께한 #TOMBOY_Challenge 🤟 #여자아이들 #GIDLE #I_NEVER_DIE #TOMBOY #톰보이_챌린지 #SOYEON #JEONSOMI #Kpop @JEON SOMI ♬ TOMBOY - (G)I-DLE

PSY – That That (prod. & feat. SUGA of BTS)

It might be obvious how this song went viral. First of all most PSY songs go viral, and most songs produced by SUGA go viral, so this was one musical combo that we were bound to get stuck in our heads. Another reason it went viral on TikTok specifically is there’s two types of challenges for the audio! There’s the dance challenge of course, and as with most Psy dances this dance challenge that’s actually a lot harder to pull off than it looks. Psy himself even filmed a hilarious dance challenge tutorial, with the top comment saying “no ‘cause I still need a tutorial for the tutorial 😭,” (@mygyang). But the other popular challenge is for SUGA’s part of the song, where users pretend to fight each other as part of the dance. TikTok users around the world have been getting really creative with these, and their videos of the challenge are getting millions of views.

@42psy42 Tutorial for #ThatThat ♬ That That (prod. & feat. SUGA of BTS) - PSY

@yoojis nobody is safe #thatthat #thatthatchallenge #psy #yoongi #bts #kpop ♬ original sound - MarieandPerrine

#2 IVE – LOVE DIVE

LOVE DIVE came out on April 5th of this year, and is still one of the highest trending songs on TikTok months later. I will also admit that without being the hugest follower of IVE, this song is stuck in my head daily (no exaggeration). I have no choice but to declare myself an IVE fan now! Aside from the fact that this song is just straight up GOOD, another reason it’s doing so well on TikTok is that the members are very active, uploading challenge videos with different effects that each get millions of views and users replicating them.

@ive.official My god I love it 💘#LOVEDIVEchallenge #러브다이브챌린지 #IVE #아이브 #WONYOUNG #원영 #LOVEDIVE #러브다이브 ♬ LOVE DIVE - IVE

@ive.official 깡총 DIVE 🐰🙇‍♀️#LOVEDIVEchallenge #러브다이브챌린지 #IVE #아이브 #JANGWONYOUNG #장원영 #LOVEDIVE #러브다이브 ♬ LOVE DIVE - IVE

#1 NAYEON – POP!

Of course, #1 on this list is the long awaited NAYEON solo, “POP!” I actually heard this song on TikTok before I realized the MV had even come out, and the mesmerizing yet easy to follow hand-centric dance seems like it was perfectly made with a TikTok audience in mind. NAYEON pulls it off so perfectly that you have to watch each TikTok challenge she does again and again. The #PopPopPopChallenge isn’t the only reason this song is viral on TikTok though, as it’s just a perfect song for the summer that feels light, cool and refreshing. This challenge has everything, the musicality, the collabs with other idols, the replicability for fans all over the world to participate, and the overall summer feel, making this audio very deserving of its #1 viral title.