Is There Anyway to Find the most Viewed TikTok Videos?

TikTok has taken the world by storm, with its endless stream of entertaining videos captivating billions of users worldwide. However, despite its immense popularity and cultural influence, there is a startling lack of transparency when it comes to identifying the platform’s most viral videos over a specific timeframe, such as the past day or week. This article explores whether there are any viable methods to uncover TikTok’s biggest hits.

The Official Roadblocks Attempting to find an authoritative source that lists TikTok’s most viewed recent videos has proven to be a frustrating endeavor:

1. The TikTok App Limitations The TikTok app itself offers no straightforward way to sort or filter videos based on their view count. The search functionality lacks advanced filtering options, making it impossible to surface the most popular content.
2. TikTok API Restrictions
   While TikTok provides an API (Application Programming Interface) for researchers, it imposes strict daily limits on the number of requests, rendering it impractical for comprehensively tracking the millions of videos uploaded each day.
3. Third-Party Monitoring Tools Turning to third-party social media monitoring tools may seem like a potential solution, but these services often have incomplete data and come at a prohibitive cost, making them inaccessible to most users.

Workarounds and Their Limitations

1. Pinned Videos on Creator Profiles One basic approach is to check the pinned videos on individual creator profiles. Many creators choose to pin their most popular and highly viewed videos at the top of their page. However, with only three pin slots available, this method provides an incomplete picture and is limited to specific creators.
2. “Sort for TikTok” Chrome Extension A more advanced solution is the “Sort for TikTok” Chrome extension, which allows users to sort any TikTok profile’s uploaded videos by most viewed. To use this extension, follow these steps:

• Open the Chrome browser and ensure you’re logged into your Google account
• Search for “Sort for TikTok” in the Chrome Web Store
• Click “Add to Chrome” to install the extension

While handy for individual creators, scaling this approach to surface universally viral videos across the entire platform would be an extremely challenging task.

The Importance of Transparency The inability to identify TikTok’s most viewed videos raises significant concerns and implications:

1. Identifying Harmful Viral Content Without visibility into the top videos, it becomes difficult for policymakers, journalists, and civil society organizations to identify potentially harmful viral content, such as misinformation or hate speech, and take appropriate measures to address it.
2. Lack of Accountability The lack of transparency around TikTok’s content amplification raises questions about the platform’s accountability and the extent to which it shapes public discourse without oversight.
3. Hindering Research Researchers studying influence operations, audience behaviors, and the societal impacts of TikTok’s content curation are hindered by the absence of data on the videos driving major narratives and shaping cultures worldwide.

Potential Solutions and the Way Forward As TikTok’s dominance continues to grow, addressing this viral blindspot through increased transparency becomes increasingly crucial. Potential solutions could involve:

1. Regulatory Requirements Governments could introduce regulations compelling platforms like TikTok to provide greater access to data, including information on the most viewed videos over specific periods.
2. Robust Third-Party Monitoring Tools The development of more robust and comprehensive third-party monitoring tools could help fill the data gap, although issues of cost and data accuracy would need to be addressed.
3. Facilitated Research Access TikTok could facilitate secure data sharing with approved researchers, allowing for deeper insights into the platform’s impact while balancing user privacy concerns.