Ghanaian music is currently taking the world by storm, and TikTok is helping that happen.
A lot of the songs we can’t get out of our heads these days come from TikTok. Love it or hate it, TikTok is defining a new era of music hits that cling to our minds day-in-day-out.
The platform’s ability to catapult artists to stardom has been a game-changer for many new creators who, before the platform, didn’t know how to showcase their works or didn’t have access to major stages and audiences and we are here for it.
Partly thanks to TikTok and other social platforms, unity through music has become easier to achieve than ever and for young artists in Ghana, not only is TikTok helping to make their career dreams come true, but it is also helping to take Ghanaian music to the global stage, and show the world that Africa is a place of unmatched talent, rhythm, and movement.
In the spirit of bringing the world together through music, here are some of the Ghanaian artists and their songs that have taken TikTok, and the world, by storm or got a boost from TikTok to become the hit songs that they are now.
1. ‘Something’ by Gyakie
“Something” will be Gyakie’s fourth song in a row to blow up on TikTok. She is not new to these TikTok streets. After her song “Forever” made waves on TikTok, shooting her to international stages and topping charts, almost every one of her songs after has gone viral on the app.
2. ‘Friday Night’ by Lasmid
Lasmid is one of the newest Ghanaian artists on the scene. The infectious beat of his song “Friday Night” and the fun play on words is what is making the song go viral on TikTok. It’s a feel-good vibe that is simply irresistible. Plus, everybody loves Friday night, so what better way to celebrate the entry to the weekend?
3. ‘Kwaku the Traveler’ by Black Sherif
Released in April 2022, the song managed to chart on several streaming platforms. Apart from the catchy melody, Sherif scores massive points for the passion with which he spits his bars. The song is based on a young man’s hustle for greatness and the mistakes he makes along the way. This message resonated with those who had the song saved and reshared on their TikTok pages.
The song’s enchanting vibe caught on with TikTok users and many of them improvised to recreate the rain performance of Blacko at the 3 music awards while others employ the now-famous “who never fucked up hands in the air,” to convey a variety of massages.
4. ‘Down Flat’ by Kelvynboy
“Down Flat”, according to Kelvynboy, is the fastest song he has ever composed. The song rooted in the Ghanaian highlife beat was released because the Afrobeat artist wanted to dedicate a love song to his fans to commemorate Valentine’s Day. The song unexpectedly began to chart and made massive waves on TikTok with very little promotion and the rest, as they say, is history.
5. ‘Sugarcane’ by Camidoh
The song was first released in 2021. Then a remix featuring Mayorkun, Darkoo, and King Promise in 2022 took the song to another level. On TikTok, the song exploded thanks to Mayorkun’s verse and a dance routine created by Dancegod Lloyd.
6.‘Balance it’ by Djay
Before its debut back in April 2022 ‘Balance It’ was poised to be a hit and as expected, what a hit it has turned out to be. The song has since gone on to make waves outside of Ghana with official metrics from D Jay’s camp pointing to how well his standalone song has fared in a short space of time.
The #BalanceIt challenge did go viral on TikTok and has so far recorded over 400,000 videos on TikTok alone next to its massive 30M+ views on the app.
8. ‘Touch It’ by KiDi
“Touch It” is a fusion of Afrobeat, Afro-pop, and tropical dancehall. The song was the first single released ahead of the singer’s fourth album titled, Golden Boy. Like most songs that take off on TikTok after a dance routine challenge,” Touch It” did not disappoint. It is by far one of KiDi’s most popular songs to date.
9.’E Choke’ by Sefa
The song, which features Mr. Drew, cemented Sefa’s entry onto the music scene. Mr. Drew was a perfect feature on the song, and both artists’ vocals shone. When the song was released in 2021, it came with a dance challenge. TikTok creators jumped on it and made the song trend for weeks on end.
10. ‘One Leg’ by Jay Hover
“One Leg” started as a dance lesson for partygoers who couldn’t bust a move. After going viral on TikTok, creator Jay Hover released an accompanying song of the same name, which equally caught fire on the app.
