TikTok has announced the nominees for its inaugural TikTok Awards, marking a significant milestone for the platform’s growing influence in music discovery.
The ceremony is scheduled to take place in Los Angeles on December 18th, celebrating over 70 creators across 14 categories.
The Breakthrough Artist of the Year category represents the platform’s most significant music recognition, showcasing five artists who have leveraged TikTok’s reach to achieve mainstream success. Alex Warren leads the nominations following his breakthrough single “Ordinary”, which dominated the Billboard Hot 100 for 10 weeks at Number One this year.
Global pop group Katseye have accumulated an impressive 14 million followers and over 693 million likes on the platform. Their single “Gnarly” has generated more than 240,000 user-created videos.
Jazz sensation Laufey has cultivated a dedicated audience of 10 million users through her music and touring content, while R&B artist Ravyn Lenae has witnessed the rapid ascent of her single “Love Me Not”, featured in over 500,000 TikTok videos.
Sombr rounds out the category despite recent controversies on the platform. His tracks maintain substantial engagement, with “Back to Friends” used in over 906,000 videos, “12 to 12” in 239,000 videos, and “Would’ve Been You” featured in more than 259,000 videos.
The TikTok Awards extend beyond music recognition, encompassing categories such as Creator of the Year, Video of the Year, and Rising Star of the Year. Notable nominees include Alix Earle, Keith Lee, Caleb Hearon, Bretman Rock, Paris Hilton, and athlete Coco Gauff. Specialised categories acknowledge informational creators through the TikTok for Good Award, while entertainment industry figures compete for the My Show Is on Award.
Additional categories include the MVP of the Year for sports content, the Okay Slay Award for fashion and beauty creators, and the I Was Today Years Old Award for educational content. Further categories will be revealed prior to the voting period.
Voting opens November 18th through December 2nd via the in-app TikTok Awards hub, allowing users to support their favourite creators across all categories. The ceremony will stream live on TikTok at 6pm PST on December 18th, with simultaneous broadcasting on Tubi. The complete show will be available on the streaming platform the following day.