You might think that music just hits the market and if the people like them, they go viral. But there’s a lot more at play here, and it’s not just the listeners who decide.

Music hits don’t just happen these days — the platforms where we listen to them are influential and play different roles in whether a song takes off.

A recent study comparing two years of top 100 charted music, from both Spotify and TikTok, reveals that the platforms reward different kinds of artists and kinds of music. Tracking over 1,700 Spotify hits and over 300 TikTok hits, they were able to diffuse how songs become famous.

On Spotify, major-label artists rule its charts, very much like the music industry. And songs about common themes like romance typically do well.

But TikTok is different. Its short video platform prefers catchy, danceable excerpts that patrons can repurpose in memes, trends or challenges. And when a song begins to head in the viral direction the algorithm pushes it harder. This means fewer songs dominate the charts, but those that do are around longer.

Notably, the study reveals that many viral TikTok songs began their popularity momentum on Spotify first. So, Spotify launches hits and TikTok makes a cultural moment out of it, exploding it across the internet.

These platforms are reshaping how today’s songs become hits.

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