TikTok is resurrecting sampled songs

TikTok's algorithm has changed the way hits are made

Songs aimed at TikTok's algorithm—designed for viral dances or soundtracking common experiences—often find success on the Billboard charts. An early example was Lil Nas X's "Old Town Road," which used his memes and a country-trap beat from the Netherlands to rise to the top of the Billboard charts.

Billie Eilish and TikTok helped inspire a bossa nova resurgence

Eilish's 2021 song "Billie Bossa Nova" along with a handful of other younger artists, like Laufey and Beabadoobee, have inspired Gen Z's interest in the genre, with the music soundtracking tens of thousands of videos on TikTok.

Fleetwood Mac's 'Dreams' reentered the pop charts thanks to a viral video

In 2020, a man from Idaho named Nathan Apodaca filmed himself drinking cranberry juice while skateboarding and mouthing along to Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams,” a hit from their 1977 album “Rumours.” The video’s popularity on TikTok introduced the song to a younger generation (and reintroduced it to older ones). In turn, listeners sought it out on streaming platforms, sending it back into the Hot 100.

The surprising and strange sources behind 12 famous songs

Britney Spears's "Toxic" borrowed strings from a 1981 Bollywood film, Billie Eilish sampled The Office, and one duo made an entire album using only the sounds of their Whirlpool washing machine. Explore how sampling can pull from pretty much anywhere.

TikTok can turn everyday users into stars

TikTok is such a cultural force, it’s now a platform for turning ordinary users into stars. This "Planet Money" podcast episode performs a deep dive into how Tai Verdes went from working a day job and dreaming of becoming a successful musician to using TikTok to gain a following.

In 2019, videos on TikTok convinced children they had Tourette syndrome

Right before the COVID-19 pandemic, an "outbreak" of Tourette syndrome was attributed to videos from a German TikToker who documented his life with the condition. The children experiencing the symptoms all had the same tics, which experts say was a case of mass sociogenic illness, also referred to as mass hysteria.

Deconstructing the most popular hip-hop samples over the last 50 years

Hip-hop celebrated its 50th birthday in 2023, a genre with humble origins that now dominates playlists and charts worldwide. A major, lesser-known feature of hip-hop is its artful use of samples from older records, a technically complex method that forms the unique soundscape of each hip-hop song. To honor the anniversary, sampling company TrackLib created a half-hour video showcasing both visually and auditorily the process used in hits over the last 50 years.

Why TikTok loves Rainer Maria Rilke

It seems like an odd fit: A social media app known for bite-sized videos and a long-dead Austrian poet. Despite the odds, Rilke, especially his famous "Letters to a Young Poet," has become an unexpected trend on TikTok, where influencers share his wisdom on creativity and self-discovery.

Experts don’t believe upbeat tunes, called ‘recession pop,’ are legitimate recession indicators

Social media users have begun deeming pop music by the likes of Kesha and Katy Perry a “recession indicator” as they try to predict the next economic downturn.

How to catch a TikTok thief

Someone took a 10-second clip of a parody video made by Hugh Clegg and posted it to TikTok, where it racked up millions of views. The uncredited clip meant viewers assumed it was owned by the uploader, an assumption Clegg was eager to rectify. His messages and comments had no real effect outside of earning him temporary bans for "spamming." So he decided to moonlight as a private eye.

Biz Markie's "Alone Again" changed the laws for sampling

Before 1991, there was no established legal standard for the gray area of sampling. That changed when Gilbert O-Sullivan sued Biz Markie for using his song "Alone Again (Naturally)." After the case, labels were required to clear all samples, and artists were discouraged from creating sample-heavy music.

Hear 50 years of iconic hip-hop samples, the genre's foundational looped tracks

Inside the rise of focus music

Any casual YouTube or Spotify user has likely stumbled upon a playlist called "lo-fi beats to study and relax to" while searching for new music. Those "lo-fi beats" actually represent a growing genre of music called "focus music." Spotify, for instance. saw a 50% increase in listening time for focus playlists in its 2023 Wrapped report. This article explains why productivity tunes are on an upswing right now. Read it here.

Osamu Dazai's 'No Longer Human' found a new generation of readers, thanks to TikTok

The novel was published in 1948, a month after the writer's suicide, and went on to become a classic of Japanese literature. Decades later, an English translation gained popularity on TikTok, where younger readers praised the book for its handling of alienation. (Some users may experience a paywall.)

TikTok doesn't exist in China

TikTok is owned by the Chinese company ByteDance Ltd., yet only the platform’s sister app Douyin is available in China. That's because the Chinese government regularly censors Douyin—something ByteDance likely believes would degrade TikTok, its international app.

TikTok is obsessed with weird cottage cheese recipes

Cottage cheese “cookie dough.” Pizza cottage cheese bowl. Cottage cheese queso dip. TikTok influencers are suddenly posting nonstop cottage cheese recipes. It might be echoes of the 1990s weight-loss obsession, when diet culture encouraged the consumption of questionably tasty low-fat foods and not much else. Now, cottage cheese’s high protein content has made it an intriguing prospect for online fitness gurus who say that it’s the key to building muscle.

A small portion of The Winstons' 'Amen, Brother,' an obscure '60s gospel record, is the basis for thousands of hip-hop tracks, making it one of the most sampled records ever that's informally known as 'the Amen break.'

The simple melody in 'Auld Lang Syne' has led to the song’s repurposing

In addition to becoming a standard tune to ring in the new year, the song has been reworked as a Dutch soccer anthem, a Japanese standard, and the South Korean national anthem. A significant part of its widespread use is that it has no copyright limitations. It helps, too, that it's simple melody is easy for even the most amateur singers to tackle.

To get that song out of your head, try distracting yourself or playing a new song

Around 90% of people experience getting a snippet of a song stuck in their head, also known as an earworm. Researchers think they are linked to memory, repetition, and inner rehearsal. Before written language, music was used alongside rhyming in many cultures to help people preserve oral histories.

The Winstons' 'Amen, Brother' has the most famous break in music

"Amen, Brother," a once-forgotten track from gospel group the Winstons, became one of music's most sampled songs after a six-second snippet was featured on "Ultimate Break Beats."

Psy's 'Gangam Style' was the first music video to reach 1 billion views

Psy's "Gangnam Style" was the first music video to reach 1 billion views on YouTube. The song and video catalyzed the "Korean wave," bringing K-pop into the global mainstream. As of July 2025, it had over 5 billion views on the platform.

After taking a break for over a decade, Liza Minnelli released a new track using AI arrangements

In the 2026 song "Kids, Wait Til You Hear This," the singer proudly claims that the vocals are all her own, though AI generates the background music. The dance track shows Minnelli venturing into the deep house genre, straying from her traditional pop and show tunes background. The song is part of an ElevenLabs album featuring other AI-generated tunes, and shares a title with her 2026 memoir.

Trot: Korea's melancholic pop that came before K-pop

Following the end of the Japanese occupation, Koreans shared their complex emotions through a musical genre called trot. Blending sorrowful lyrics with upbeat music, trot was used to dance the pain away after a difficult period.

Lisa Loeb was the first unsigned artist to top the Billboard chart

The singer-songwriter's single "Stay (I Missed You)" was included in the film "Reality Bites" and included on its soundtrack. Due in part to the success of the film, the song quickly raced up the Billboard Hot 100.

As a kid, Jay-Z was inspired by the Broadway musical “Annie”

That led to the rapper’s 1998 track “Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem)” which sampled one of the show’s most recognizable songs, “Hard Knock Life.” "When the TV version [of Annie] came on, I was drawn to it," he told NPR in 2010.

Daft Punk's 2006 set helped mainstream electronic dance music

Daft Punk's 2006 Coachella set wasn't just a performance—it was a turning point for electronic music. Their futuristic pyramid, dazzling visuals, and seamless live mixing captivated a packed crowd and pushed EDM into the mainstream.

The history of rickrolls (this isn't one)

Rickrolling describes a bait-and-switch meme in which a seemingly relevant hyperlink takes clickers to videos or gifs of Rick Astley’s 1987 single, “Never Gonna Give You Up." It's possible this seemingly ubiquitous internet prank can be traced to a 2006 segment of a radio show in rural Michigan. Erik Helwig called into the show during a listener comment segment and, without saying anything, played Astley's single for all those tuning in.

Fast-casual restaurant Chili's is experiencing a resurgence, with its parent company recently reporting a nearly 32% increase in sales, thanks to passionate Gen Z fans on TikTok.

One disco producer saw 'Star Wars' four times on its opening weekend and was so inspired that he recorded the album 'Star Wars and Other Intergalactic Funk,' which produced a chart-topping single.

Brian Wilson wrote the Beach Boys' 'Don't Worry Baby' for the Ronettes, but the legendary girl group rejected it.

Quincy Jones' 'Big Band Bossa Nova' helped introduce bossa nova—a jazz-influenced Brazilian genre—to the US

In recent years a child anxiety expert has created and tested a novel phobia and anxiety treatment approach for children, focused on changing how parents respond to the fears.

In preparation for this weekend's Eurovision finale, which is something like the World Cup of pop music, here's a young Céline Dion performing (for Switzerland?) at the 1988 competition.

Prince's sexually explicit 1984 track 'Darling Nikki' attracted the ire of the Parents Music Resource Center, an advocacy group that inspired the Parental Advisory sticker, even though the song ends with a Christian message.

Memecoins are a type of cryptocurrency—a form of digital currency with a wide variety of uses—created around popular 'memes,' or viral internet jokes.

A 2019 Facebook event called on attendees to "Storm Area 51, They Can't Stop All of Us," resulting in countless memes, the creation of a music festival, and eventually the arrests of those who did try to approach the area.

Explore an interactive map built from more than 100,000 survey responses on where people find joy in their lives

Fish populations in the Great Barrier Reef have increased after installing waterproof speakers on the ocean floor that played recordings of sounds from healthy coral reefs.

English mathematician Ada Lovelace wrote the first computer algorithm a century before computers existed and hypothesized that computing devices would one day be able to compose music—foreseeing the generative AI systems of today.

A researcher recently discovered an interview from 1967 between groundbreaking journalist Joan Didion and the Grateful Dead, years before the band became an institution.

When a Paris department store hesitated to sell Estée Lauder's perfume, she 'accidentally' broke a bottle, causing the smell to spread throughout the store and shoppers to start asking to buy the scent.

Some Pokémon have been named after real and fictional organisms, while some real-world species have been named after Pokémon, such as Chilicola charizard and Binburrum zapdos.

Studies suggest when you sleep is as important as how much you get, and syncing with your circadian rhythms may lead to less fatigue and improved long-term health outcomes

A pickleball's loud 'pop' sound can reach 120 decibels, which is equivalent to a hammer hitting a nail

Dorothy's famous entrance into Oz in 'The Wizard of Oz' relied on analog tricks, including a body double and sepia-toned paint, as much as it did on technology

Jimmy Carter signed a 1978 bill that legalized home brewing, a move credited with kick-starting the craft beer industry.

Existentialist writer Jean-Paul Sartre coined the famous phrase 'Hell is—other people' in his play 'No Exit'

The 2026 Ebola outbreak in the DRC is spurring new Ebola vaccine development for the Bundibugyo species.

Roughly 43 million US borrowers owe roughly $1.7T in student debt, the second-largest source of consumer debt behind mortgages.

Tattoos remain visible on your skin thanks to immune cells called macrophages