The Best TikToks of 2019

Feb 2, 2020 | 7 min read
Hey! I'm Manvinder - BPharm student, certified meme connoisseur, a little too passive, and not very aggressive. Oh yeah, I like to write too.

If musical.ly and Vine had a child, it would be called TikTok. And no, I’m not talking about the song by Kesha, although it is a banger.

The unstoppable social media sensation has only grown upwards in popularity (and, let’s be honest, the quality of memes) this year, as millions more people continue to join the platform to create infinitely hilarious and quirky content.

So, I think it’s safe to say that 2019 has definitely been the biggest year for TikTok so far. Here’s a look back at the best of TikTok in 2019.


10. VSCO Mom Reese Witherspoon

Not only have totally ordinary teens and younger ‘zoomers’ adopted the social media platform and broken the norms of creativity, a handful of well-known celebrities (for example, Will Smith and Mariah Carey) jumped on the TikTok bandwagon this year too.

Among them is silver-screen-cutie Reese Witherspoon, who made her first video on TikTok and gave herself the honorary title of ‘VSCO mom’, by dancing with Hydroflasks and scrunchies to the tune of Mr. Sandman*Insert Steve Buscemi fellow kids meme here*

What an absolute madwoman.

9. Yee Haw Challenge

Now, if you’ve ever been on TikTok, you’ll know that music is a huuuuge part of what makes the whole idea tick (pun totally intended). With Lil Nas X’s song ‘Old Town Road’ we really got to see how the song came to break so many records (and so many eardrums).

Earlier this year, the ‘Yee Haw Challenge’ was to thank for the song’s astronomical rise to the top of the charts. Lil Nas himself stated in an interview with Time magazine:

“Tiktok really boosted the song after it was getting to the point that it was almost stagnant.”

This particular video has a cat drinking ‘yee yee juice’ and turning into a cow-kitty and really, you can’t get much better than that.

8. Kombucha Girl

22-year old Brittany Tomlinson, aka Kombucha Girl™ was inspired by a Youtube video to try the fizzy fermented beverage and decided to document her facial rollercoaster journey on TikTok for all of us to enjoy. 

She begins with a tentative first sip, then a pause to digest what she has just done to herself, quickly followed by disgust. But wait! Now it actually tastes alrig- yeah, NOPE. Unless…? 

The video has proved #relatable to many a person and has thus spawned countless parodies and memes on every corner of the internet. One thing remains true: kombucha “really smells like a public restroom.”

7. Peppa Pig Memes

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The breakout star of the year has to be… Peppa Pig. The beloved children’s cartoon icon has unexpectedly turned into a widely-memed legend, even before invading TikTok. 

More specifically, Peppa Pig figures appear in a series of videos where people ‘discover’ Peppa in random places and ask, ‘Peppa, what are you doing in my [said random place]?’ Supposedly, this trend started when TikTok user @beasinthetrap bit into a chocolate egg and found a tiny Peppa figure. 

Videos with the hashtag #PeppaPig have been viewed over 280 million times on TikTok, and if that doesn’t say something about the state of the internet, I don’t know what does.

6. The Git Up

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Following in the footsteps of Lil Nas X and the yee-haw agenda, American singer-songwriter Blanco Brown is the inspiration behind the viral TikTok ‘Git Up’ dance and, honestly, it’s iconic. Brown uploaded a video of himself performing a simple line dance to his own song, and it blew up from there.

Dancers are directed to step along to the instructions in the chorus:

Go’n and do the two-step then cowboy boogieGrab your sweetheart and spin out with ’emDo the hoedown and get into it (woo-hoo-hoo)

This particular version by British teenager @harveybass might just be the smoothest, most effortless version out there. I mean, he did get suspended for it, but was it worth it? (Hint: yes). And now he’s in the official music video for the song. Icon.

5. “Level Up” in Public

CIARA’s song ‘Level Up’ has inspired yet another TikTok dance craze. It literally took so much of my strength not to crack up watching this video in the library. And not so much from user @QPark’s dancing and singing, but more so at the looks of sheer confusion from half the people behind him and pure amusement from the other half.

As they say, dance like nobody’s watching.

It’s quite amazing to see that he actually got most of the moves down – the guy can twerk, ya know. He’s also got an insane amount of confidence to be doing that in public too. Respect.

4. Problematic™ TV Show Glee

Hey, remember when Glee was actually good? When, at the height of it’s popularity, everyone was either rambling non-stop about it or trying to avoid hearing the cursed word itself? It’s hard to believe that a show with such an amazing pilot episode  turned out to be such a disappointment after the first dozen episodes. 

Part of that is due to the absolute stupidity of the things that were happening in the plot. Yes, Sue somehow marries herself, and Jane Lynch cosplays as Nicki Minaj.

But nothing says problematic like making a wheelchair bound kid dive headfirst into a pool. WTF Glee?

“He can’t swim! HE CAN’T SWIM!”

3. Here’s the Tea

In this clip, 18-year-old Sammie Lewis sticks a straw into a giant Starbucks tea, takes a huge slurp, and then begins to tap on the camera, before uttering the famous words:

‘Here’s [tap tap] the motherf**king [tap tap] tea.’

Lewis discusses whatever’s on her mind, i.e. the tea. She proceeds to launch into a ‘story-time’ monologue critiquing people who wear glasses but don’t actually need them. Since this video, other TikTok users have latched onto the elaborate intro and made their own spinoffs; others have replaced her famous tapping acrylic nails with permanent markers, uncooked spaghetti, plastic straws, and even bananas!

2. Dancing to Voicemails

What’s the best way to get over your ex? Dance interpretively over their voicemails, of course! This has become a trend on TikTok this year, with young women adding some much-needed humour to the post-breakup process.

TikTok user @trapmoneybella went viral after her video ‘Day one of dancing to voicemails from my cheating ex boyfriend’ was shared on Twitter. Said ex can be heard crying and pleading with her to speak to him – you know the drill. 

I’m telling you the truth! I’m telling you all this and you still don’t trust me. I’m sorry I went off on you…’

Blah blah blah. Bella is throwing some sick moves, and frankly, she doesn’t really care about you anymore bro. 🤷‍♀️

1. VSCO Girl Memes

How can you spot a VSCO girl? Well, if she ties her hair up with a scrunchie, obsesses over stickers (stuck on to her MacBook or water bottle Hydroflask), owns a Fjällräven backpack, and reminds you every minute about saving the turtles, you can be sure you’ve got yourself a VSCO girl.

I can’t pinpoint when exactly I first heard of a VSCO girl, but what I do know is that they have been this year’s biggest meme/joke on TikTok so far. So it’s definitely understandable when people say they hate the annoying ‘sksksksk’ and ‘and I oop’ noises they make.

User @koobydoobydoobydoo can be considered Queen of VSCO, what with her repid fire speech and sksksksk-ing. Almost as if it’s another language of its own…


So, there you go, the top 10 TikToks for the year 2019. It’s up to you now – do you agree with these picks?