Last Updated on December 12, 2025 by Xu Yue
If you’ve ever thrown 15 random hashtags under a TikTok and then stared at your 12 views like, “Hello?? Algorithm??” — this article is for you.
Trending TikTok hashtags feel like magic spells: you copy a list from Google, paste it into your caption, and hope your next upload becomes the most viewed TikTok on earth. But in 2025, hashtags don’t work like cheat codes. They’re more like… helpful labels on a very chaotic library shelf.
Why Trending TikTok Hashtags Aren’t Magic (But Still Matter)
What TikTok hashtags really do
TikTok’s algorithm doesn’t push your video because you typed #viral three times. It uses TikTok hashtags to understand:
- What your video is about
- Who might care
- Which “topic cluster” to test it in first
Think of hashtags as metadata that helps the system categorize your content alongside similar videos — just like YouTube tags or blog categories. Guides from analytics platforms and social media tools all agree that hashtags are one of several context signals TikTok reads, along with captions, sounds, on-screen text, and viewer behavior.
But once TikTok knows what your video is about, performance is driven mainly by watch time, rewatches, shares, comments, and completion rate — not by how many hashtags you crammed in.
So:
- Good hashtags = help your video reach the right people faster
- Great content = keeps those people watching and tells TikTok, “more like this, please”
You need both.
TikTok trends vs hashtags vs sounds
A lot of beginners lump everything together as “trending TikTok hashtags,” but there are actually three different layers:
- Sounds / audio trends – viral audios, songs, voiceovers
- Content formats – skits, storytelling hooks, “day in my life,” POVs, meme formats
- Hashtags – topic labels, communities, challenges, and branded tags
TikTok’s Creative Center even separates these trends into tabs: trending hashtags, songs, creators, and videos, so you can see what’s actually popping in your region and niche.
When you ride TikTok trends, you’re usually combining:
- A trending sound
- A recognizable format
- A few relevant, sometimes trending TikTok hashtags
Hashtags aren’t the star of the show — but they help put your video on the right stage.
How to Find Trending TikTok Hashtags
Reading your FYP for clues
Your For You Page is basically a real-time dashboard of popular TikTok hashtags in your “world”:
- Look at captions and overlays from creators in your niche
- Tap on the hashtag to see:
- Top videos using it
- How they’re formatted
- Whether the tag is full of spam or real content
If you keep seeing the same tag over a few days — and it matches what you post — that’s a good sign.
Using search & Creative Center
For a more systematic approach:
- Use the search bar in TikTok and type your topic:
- #hair tutorial
- #math homework help,
- #desk setup
- #small business packing orders
- TikTok will auto-suggest queries and hashtags people are already searching. That’s basically free keyword research.
- Then open TikTok Creative Center → Trend Discovery → Hashtags and:
- Filter by your country and industry
- Sort by growth or engagement to see which tags are rising, not just the biggest ones.
This is how a lot of “TikTok hashtags 2025” guides get their lists — they’re just packaging Creative Center data.
Spying on popular TikTok hashtags in your niche
Competitive analysis doesn’t have to be scary:
- Make a list of 5–10 creators or brands whose audience you’d love to steal borrow.
- Open their last 10–20 videos and log:
- Which TikTok hashtags appear again and again
- Which videos are their most viewed TikTok clips recently
- Whether there’s a pattern (e.g. #BookTok + #kindle + #readinglog)
You’re not copying one “magic” tag — you’re learning the language your niche already understands.
How Many Hashtags? The 3-Hashtag Rule vs Real Life
What the “3 hashtag rule” means
You’ll often see advice like “only use 3 hashtags” or “never more than 5.” Recent best-practice guides and social media managers tend to agree on a small, focused set rather than spamming 20 tags:
- TikTok captions allow up to 100 characters (including hashtags)
- Most experts suggest 3–5 highly relevant tags
- Too many random hashtags can confuse the algorithm and lower reach
The “3 hashtag rule” is basically shorthand for:
“Stop stuffing 15 vague tags. Pick a small number that clearly describe your video and your niche.”
Simple hashtag mix for beginners
For new creators, here’s a simple, repeatable mix for trending TikTok hashtags:
- 1 trending / broad tag
- Example: #tiktoktrends, #fyp, #learnontiktok (if relevant)
- 1–2 niche / community tags
- Example: #BookTok, #CleanTok, #StudyTok, #MomTok
- 1–2 specific content tags
- Example: #curlyhairroutine, #smallbusinesscheck, #algebratips, #desksetupideas
That’s it: 3–5 total.
You’re telling TikTok exactly where your video belongs, without yelling at the algorithm with 20 variations of #viral.
Hashtag Playbooks: Ready-to-Use Sets for Normal Creators
Starter sets for more views (most viewed TikTok goals)
If your main goal is more views and reach, try patterns like:
- General “storytime” / lifestyle
- #storytime
- #dailyvlog
- #fyp
- Product review / unboxing
- #unboxing
- #productreview
- #tiktokmademebuyit
- Simple comedy / memes
- #funnycatvideos
- #comedy
These lean on broad but relevant tags — not just #viral spam — which many “most viewed TikTok” clips use alongside more specific labels. Benchmarks show that top-performing brands often mix playful trending hashtags like #foryou and #funny with niche tags.
Niche sets for education, beauty, small biz
If you’re in a teaching or “how to” niche, it’s better to blend searchable tags with community tags:
- Education / study content
- #learnontiktok
- #StudyTok
- #studytips
- #algebratips
- #tiktokhashtags
- Beauty / hair / makeup
- #BeautyTok
- #hairtutorial
- #grwm
- #makeuptutorial
- Small business / side hustle
- #smallbusiness
- #SmallBusinessTok
- #packingorders
- #businesscheck
This way, when someone searches “study tips” or “packing orders,” your video is more likely to appear in results — especially if your caption and on-screen text match those phrases.
Simple Weekly Routine to Keep Up With TikTok Trends
15-minute hashtag update ritual
Instead of chasing “152 trending TikTok hashtags” every day, give yourself a tiny weekly ritual:
- 5 minutes – Scroll your FYP and save 3–5 videos that:
- Look similar to what you post
- Have strong engagement in the last few days
- 5 minutes – Check their hashtag sets and search 1–2 of those tags in TikTok search or Creative Center to see:
- Are they still active?
- Are the top videos similar to your content?
- 5 minutes – Update your personal hashtag bank:
- Keep 5–10 “always useful” tags
- Add 3–5 fresh trending TikTok hashtags for the coming week
Many serious bloggers maintain living lists like this and refresh them monthly based on trend tools and performance data.
Reusing winning hashtag groups
When a video performs well, don’t just celebrate — reverse-engineer it:
- Save the caption and hashtag combo
- Note:
- Video topic
- Format (storytime, tutorial, meme)
- Hook and sound
Then build “hashtag families”:
- Education – algebra tips
- Education – exam prep
- Beauty – curly hair routines
- Small biz – packaging orders at night
Reuse those sets on similar future videos, tweaking only 1–2 tags to test new ideas. Over time, you’ll have your own “trending TikTok hashtags” system that’s customized to your account — not a random blog list.
Tools That Help
Basic analytics & hashtag tools
You don’t need a full enterprise stack, but a few tools can make this much easier:
- TikTok Analytics (inside the app) – see which videos drive the most views, follows, and watch time, and which hashtags appear in those posts.
- TikTok Creative Center – Trend Discovery – view trending hashtags, songs, and videos by region and industry.
- Social listening / analytics tools – track trending hashtags in your market, see which tags correlate with higher engagement for similar brands.
You can absolutely start with just the built-in tools. External platforms become more useful once you’re posting consistently and treating your account more like a brand.
Using GStory to polish clips that already get traffic
Hashtags bring people to your video. Your editing, captions, and clarity keep them there.
That’s where GStory is designed to help:
- Use the Subtitle Generator to auto-caption your TikTok, highlight important phrases, and mirror your target keywords (“study tips,” “small business packing,” “hair tutorial”) in readable text for viewers and search.
- Use the Video Translator to translate your best-performing clips into multiple languages, so one good video + strong hashtags can turn into several markets of reach.
- Use GStory’s AI Clip Maker to cut long YouTube or podcast content into short vertical clips ready for TikTok, then add your trending TikTok hashtags and niche tags.
In other words: let tools handle the editing and caption grunt work so you can focus on watching performance, tweaking hashtag groups, and making more good videos.
Leave a Reply