Is TikTok the future of the music industry? Maybe so, as a handful of songs went viral and landed on charts they'd never touched before thanks to the video platform, which is the 6th most popular social media app in the world based on monthly average users [via DemandSage].

All it takes is one video to go viral, and the song that was used in it can explode in popularity, such was the case with Metallica's "Master of Puppets" over the summer. The 1986 track was featured in the finale of Season 4 of Stranger Thingsand it became a hit song on TikTok as a result. Subsequently, the song landed on the Spotify Viral 50 and the Billboard Hot 100 chart for the first time, 36 years after it came out.

TikTok has become an essential marketing tool for artists and record labels to promote music, and they sometimes even work with influencers and other figures with large followings to push songs into the mainstream. According to MRC Data, 67 percent of TikTok users are more likely to play songs on streaming services after hearing them on the video app [via Business Insider], so there's a symbiotic relationship between the music industry and the social platform.

A handful of other rock and metal songs experienced moments in the spotlight thanks to TikTok this year as well, so we rounded some of them up in a gallery to take you on a trip down a 2022 memory lane. Along with some major artists you'll definitely recognize, we tried to highlight some up-and-coming artists from around the world.

Scroll below to a handful of the rock and metal songs that went viral on TikTok this year. Did you learn about any new artists from TikTok this year that we missed?

Rock + Metal Songs That Went Viral on TikTok in 2022

These rock + metal songs went viral on TikTok in 2022.

50 Best Rock + Metal Songs of 2022

Out of thousands of new rock and metal songs, these are 50 best.

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