This was the year that gen Z had their “Brat summer”, or so we were led to believe.
Inspired by the hit album by pop sensation Charli xcx, the trend was seen to embody all the messiness of modern youth: trashy, chaotic and bright green.
But on the teenager’s social media platform of choice, TikTok, a more sepia music trend has been taking root.
Despite having an endless amount of music to pair with their short, scrollable videos, TikTok users have been raiding the back catalogues of artists from yesteryear including Bronski Beat and Sade to soundtrack their posts.
This year set a new high for use of old tracks on British TikTok posts, with tunes more than five years old accounting for 19 out of its 50 top tracks this year. It is the highest proportion since TikTok started monitoring the trend in 2021, when just 8 out of the 50 tracks were from back catalogues.
The trend is also global, with 20 out of the top 50 tracks worldwide coming from back catalogues, led by 80s hit Forever Young by German synth-pop band Alphaville.
The biggest UK hit is Champagne Coast by British artist Devonté Hynes, recording under the name Blood Orange and released in 2011, which was used on 1.1m TikTok posts this year and peaked at number 16 in the UK charts as a result.
TikTok’s head of music partnerships for the UK and Ireland, Toyin Mustapha, said the platform had created a “level playing field” for music acts.
“Older tracks and new releases are given the same amount of love by the TikTok community and it gives artists the chance to find an audience at any stage of their career,” he said. “It has really democratised music.”
Six of the top ten back catalogues tunes were released in the previous century. They include Come and Get Your Love, a 1974 hit for US rock band Redbone, Bronski Beat’s 1984 anthem Smalltown Boy and Sade’s Kiss of Life.
The popularity of Forever Young and Smalltown Boy was driven by challenges – a content staple on TikTok – with the Bronski Beat song used as a soundtrack to asking parents to dance like they did in the 80s and Alphaville’s hit appearing on a water bottle challenge. Champagne Coast proved popular as an accompaniment to “visually striking” content like photo slide shows as well as relationship stories.
“Each song has its own unique trend,” said Mustapha.
