KATSEYE dominated TikTok’s 2025 year-in-review. On December 9, 2025, the platform named the group its Global Artist of the Year after a breakout season of viral engagement.

Since their 2024 debut the ensemble has become a worldwide phenomenon: TikTok reports they generated more than 30 billion views and inspired over 12 million user creations featuring their music. That social momentum translated into mainstream accolades, including two Grammy nominations — among them a nod for Best New Artist — and two entries on the Billboard Hot 100, highlighted by “Gabriela,” which climbed to No. 31.

KATSEYE is made up of Megan, Yoonchae, Sophia, Manon, Lara and Daniela. The group also received TikTok’s 2025 Breakthrough Artist award as part of the platform’s year-end honors.

On TikTok’s global artist leaderboard KATSEYE sits atop a roster rounded out by Alan Arrieta and ENHYPEN. High-profile acts such as Bad Bunny, Stray Kids, Taylor Swift and Lady Gaga also placed in the year’s top 10.

Connie Francis and the Resurgence of “Pretty Little Baby”

One of the year’s biggest TikTok phenomena was Connie Francis’s “Pretty Little Baby,” which TikTok identified as both the platform’s top global song and its top track in the United States. The song featured in more than 28.4 million videos worldwide and, during its peak in the first half of the year, averaged roughly 600,000 daily creations.

The track’s renewed popularity was amplified by a remix from German duo Lizot and by reissued versions of Francis’s original in multiple languages — French, German, Italian, Japanese, Spanish and Swedish — expanding the song’s reach to new audiences. Connie Francis joined TikTok in June 2025 and passed away on July 17, 2025, at age 87.

Other Notable TikTok Year-End Winners

Additional winners included Taylor Swift (Global Most-Saved Artist), sombr (Global Most-Saved Track for “back to friends”), Tate McRae (Global Most-Saved Album for So Close To What), Doechii (Music Trend of the Year) and EJAE (Songwriter of the Year).

Despite fierce competition from platforms like YouTube and Meta, TikTok remains a major cultural engine for music discovery. By 2024 about one-third of U.S. adults used the app; nearly six in 10 teens (57%) report daily use and 16% say they are on the platform “almost constantly,” according to Pew Research. People flock to TikTok for pop culture and entertainment, viral music and dances, comedy, personal narratives, fashion tips, product recommendations and — for a small share of users — news. Pew Research: 8 facts about Americans and TikTok

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