Find the best part of your song for TikTok
The best part of your song for TikTok is usually the final chorus, cut at its real length, which is typically about 20 seconds. The second-best is often the opening, and artists post it more than any other single cut. SongBlast's hook finder maps your song, picks the final chorus, the first chorus and a verse, and turns each into a lyric video; drag one to the start and the opening is in too. Below: how it decides, the numbers from 230 real songs, and how to do it by hand.
What 230 songs say about hooks
These figures come from 230 full songs uploaded to SongBlast by 127 independent artists, and the 299 videos those artists saved over 60 days. Short TikTok sounds imported into libraries are left out, because they are already cut down.
| Question | Answer from the data |
|---|---|
| Where does the chorus start? | A median 1:05 into the song, about 36% of the way through. 46% start before the one-minute mark. |
| How long is it? | A median 20 seconds. 29% are under 15 s and only 22% run 30 s or longer. |
| How long are hooks in general? | 74% of the sections artists kept are between 15 and 35 seconds. |
| How many usable hooks in a song? | About 3: the finder proposes 2.8 on average and artists keep 2.6. |
| Which sections get kept? | Chorus 27%, the song's opening 23%, a drop, bridge or middle section 19%, the ending 18%, a verse 13%. |
| Which cut do artists save most? | The opening (27% of saved videos), then the first chorus (17%), the main chorus (15%), a verse (14%), a drop (6%), the ending (2%). |
Two lessons. First, a hook is a section, not a number of seconds: forcing every clip to 15 seconds chops a third of choruses. Second, do not post only the chorus. The opening builds, and builds hold attention.
How the SongBlast hook finder decides
- It writes the lyrics out from the vocals, with a time on every word. Paste your own lyrics if you prefer.
- Otis, the built-in assistant, maps the whole song: every time the chorus comes round, and every verse.
- The words check the map. Every section edge has to land on a real lyric line, and a section only counts as the chorus if it shares its words with the main chorus. A chorus sung twice back to back is kept whole, as one chorus.
- It picks three hooks at their real lengths. The last chorus becomes the main hook, because it is usually the biggest version. The first chorus goes in the intro slot, and the first verse is the third.
- You check them. On the Check your hooks screen, play each one, switch any off, or drag it to a different part of the waveform. Want the opening, the most-saved cut in our data? Drag a hook to the start of the song. Then press Generate one week of promos and each hook becomes vertical lyric videos, about two minutes later.
Otis edits, he never generates: no AI music, video or images. The song is yours and the footage is your own clips or human-shot stock.
How to find the hook by hand
No tool needed, about five minutes per song:
- Find the line people would sing back. It is usually the most repeated line, and the title.
- Take the last time it comes round, not the first. Final choruses are fuller and often lifted.
- Start a beat before the first word, so the clip opens on sound, not silence. End where the phrase resolves, not mid-word.
- Keep the section whole. If it runs 24 seconds, the clip is 24 seconds.
- Cut the opening as well. From the first sound to just after the first vocal line is a second video, and in our data, the most saved one.
- Post both and compare. Whichever holds viewers longer is the version of the song to keep posting.
For the full volume plan, three hooks times ten visual angles, read How to turn one song into 30 short videos. For how often to post them, see How often should you post your song on TikTok?
Find your song's hooks
Upload a song and see its hooks, timed lyrics and seven finished lyric videos in about two minutes. Free to try, no credit card.
Try SongBlast freeFAQ
What is the best part of a song to post on TikTok?
Usually the chorus, but not only the chorus. Across 299 videos artists saved from SongBlast, the most-saved single cut was the song's opening (27%), ahead of the first chorus (17%) and the main chorus (15%). Post the chorus and the opening, then see which one your audience holds onto.
How long should a song clip be for TikTok?
As long as the section really is. The chorus artists kept from 230 songs runs a median 20 seconds, and 74% of all kept sections are between 15 and 35 seconds. Cutting a chorus short to hit a fixed number usually cuts off its payoff.
Where is the chorus in a typical song?
The chorus artists used starts a median 1:05 into the song, about 36% of the way through, and 46% of them start before the one-minute mark. The final chorus is usually the strongest version and makes the best main hook.
How does the SongBlast hook finder work?
It writes the lyrics out from the vocals with a time on every word, then Otis, the built-in assistant, maps every chorus and verse. Each section is checked against the real lyric timings, so a chorus has to share its words with the main chorus to count. It then proposes the last chorus, the first chorus and the first verse at their real lengths, and you can drag any of them to another part of the song, the opening included.
Does it work for songs without lyrics?
Yes. 14% of the songs uploaded to SongBlast are instrumental. For those, pick the sections on the waveform yourself and choose no lyrics on screen; the footage carries the video.
Related: TikTok lyric video maker · Auto-post your song to TikTok, Reels and Shorts · How to make a lyric video for TikTok