Let’s take a look at some positive news from the last year: creators’ favorite music. The songs that soundtracked your year. The artists you loved.
Keep reading to find out which mainstream artists, songs and playlists were the most popular with creators in 2022.
Before you dive into it, take a second to see if you can guess which artist and which song will take the number 1 spot. Done? Let’s go!
Top artists
1. David Guetta
EDM/Deep House producer David Guetta is one of the most successful DJs and music producers in the world. Taking the number 1 spot, it would seem that he’s successful amongst creators too. Great news is that right at the start of 2022 we managed to get you access to his hit track ‘Titanium’ so we’re sure to see more of David Guetta’s success in 2022.
Top hits: Titanium, Memories ft KiD CuDi, ‘Remember’ by Becky Hill, Would I Lie To You
2. Glass Animals
Glass Animals
are a British Indie Rock band that took the world by storm in 2022. You’ll probably recognise them from their hit song ‘Heat Waves’ which went viral on TikTok and now has almost 2 billion streams on Spotify (yes, billion, that’s not a typo).
Top hits: Heat Waves, I Don’t Wanna Talk (I Just Wanna Dance)
3. XXXTENTACION
XXXTENTACION
is one of the most sought-after artists on Lickd and has been for a few years. XXX was a controversial rapper that rose to fame pretty fast and is still highly popular today, even after he passed away in 2018.
Top hits: Jocelyn Flores, Hope, Everybody Dies In Their Nightmares, SAD!, Moonlight
4. Sean Paul
Top hits
5. Sia
Top hits
6. The Offspring
Top hits
7. Oliver Tree
Top hits
Honourary mention goes to Cash Machine which was used by none other than MrBeast in one of his videos this year.
8. CKay
Top hits
9. Bazzi
Top hits
10. Macklemore
Top hits
Can’t Hold Us (with Ryan Lewis, ft. Ray Dalton)
Thrift Shop (with Ryan Lewis, ft. Wanz)
Top Tracks
1. Heat Waves – Glass Animals
As you already know, this track was insanely popular in 2022. It could probably take the title of soundtrack of the year for most people, but especially for content creators and the TikTok-obsessed. Fun fact: the song actually broke the record for the longest climb to no.1, taking 59 weeks since it entered the Billboard top 100. To put that into perspective, the previous record-holder was 24 weeks shorter!
2. love nwantiti (ah ah ah) – CKay
Ah, the track that catapulted CKay into stardom, ‘Love Nwantiti’ – an infectious track that went viral on TikTok and was used in over 2.9 million TikTok videos. We can’t wait to see what else this fast-rising star comes out with and how he can pump more afrobeat flavor into the mainstream.
3. No Lie – Dua Lipa, Sean Paul
This banger is actually from 2016 but made a huge comeback this year thanks to, yet again, you guessed it: TikTok. The track went viral, being used in over 1 million TikTok posts, and racked up over 827 million streams on Spotify alone. With two hugely popular artists behind it and a catchy blend of reggae and pop, we aren’t too surprised.
4. edamame – bbno$, Rich Brian
5. Bad To The Bone – George Thorogood & The Destroyers
6. Can’t Hold Us (feat. Ray Dalton) – Macklemore & Ryan Lewis
8. Lemonade – Internet Money, ft. Don Toliver, Gunna & NAV
9. Memories (feat. Kid Cudi) [2021 Remix] – David Guetta
10. Don’t Be Shy – KAROL G, Tiësto
Top Playlists
1. Viral Hits
Only the biggest songs of the entire year, the ones that went viral or blew up on TikTok. We’re talking about huge tracks like Unholy, love nwantiti, 10 Things I Hate About You, Heat Waves, Remember, Life Goes On, Space Man, Light Switch and so many more that will pretty much give you an instant recap of 2022
2. 100m+ streams
This probably won’t surprise anyone. This playlist is home to some of the biggest tracks available on Lickd. A pretty exclusive club, only songs with over 100 million streams are allowed in.
3. Hip Hop Central
Hip Hop is an ever-popular genre on Lickd, and this playlist houses the very best. This lineup includes Stormzy, Drake, Kendrick Lamar, Megan Thee Stallion, Lil Uzi Vert, Saweetie, and tons more.
6. Remix Hits
7. The Pop List
8. 80s Classics
9. Classic Hits
10. Gaming Lounge
Now you know creators’ favorite music in 2022
So, did you guess any of these? And have you licensed any of this music already? If not, perhaps now is the time to get on the bandwagon and try out a few of these artists, songs, and playlists to see what they can do for your next video.
Tell us who your favorite artist, track and/or playlist was this year by commenting below!
If you’re new here, you’re in luck. Newcomers to Lickd get 25% off their first license! Plus, if you sign up to a plan you get 75% off mainstream music and 14 days of unlimited free stock music! Try it out today.
Related articles
UMG Pulls Music from TikTok: Implications for both creators and the Music Industry
In a move that reverberated throughout both the creator community and the music industry, Universal…
2023 Highlights – The Music Creators Loved Most
Well, now everyone and their dog is doing some kind of Spotify Wrapped style year…
