With more than a billion users, TikTok one of the biggest social media platforms today. Being relatively new (compared to Facebook and Instagram), it has attracted a primarily young(er) user base. Globally, Tik Tok stars have been extremely popular, some achieving a following of almost 130 million users.
Singapore’s TikTok community have also made waves globally – hailing from diverse backgrounds, local creators have increasingly been spotlighted for blazing the trail in a variety of ways – from ‘Silver TikTokers’ breaking norms on age and social media use, to youths teaching their craft.
TikTok trend
As with any social media, numbers are everything when it comes to finding sponsorships. Currently, the top three global TikTokers are charli d’amelio (over 129 million followers), Khabane lame (over 120 million followers), and Addison Rae (over 85 million followers). The top 10 Tiktokers are generally in the entertainment field, so they’re either singers, dancers, or actors/filmmakers.
Singapore’s most-followed TikTokers
In Singapore, our most-followed TikTokers are a mixed bag.
Ng Ming Wei (@mingweirocks) | 21.2M followers
Before Ming Wei achieved TikTok stardom in Singapore, he was actually first known as a national athlete! He won the silver medal in Taekwondo at the Southeast Asian Games, and at one point became an Instagram influencer to help fund his training before turning to TikTok.
The big surprise is that both he and his father are big TikTokers – Ming Wei posts a lot of prank videos that feature his dad, who goes by the moniker @daddyming. Daddyming also posts mainly prank videos, and his header actually says “I love pranking my son.” With 8.9 million followers, he’s in Singapore’s top 3 for TikTok influencers, and also has a YouTube page.
Nic Kaufmann (@nickaufmann) | 13.3M followers
Nic is currently based in Germany, but he was born and educated in Singapore. He also started out on Instagram and then found his fame via TikTok. He does a variety of content, from dance and comedy to lipsyncing, many of them with his TikToker buddies.
This TikTok star, model, and Youtuber is of German-Indian descent (German father, Indian mother); he even posted a TikTok video featuring his parents for the trend #mixchallenge, which gained over 18.5 million views.
Arian Teo (@arianteo) | 4.3M followers
Despite starting only in July 2020, Arian – a film and visual arts student from Ngee Ann Polytechnic – has amassed a huge following. His TikTok page is filled with visual effects, and Arian gives you tips on how to blend photos to create attention-grabbing imagery, mainly using the PicsArt app.
Like many TikTokers, Arian also has a decent following on Instagram.
Tuti & Yuki (@tutiandyuki) | 3.5M followers
Unlike other popular creators, Tuti and Yuki are actually cats! Tuti’s an American Shorthair/Persian mix known for her grumpy face, while Yuki is chonky mix of Bengal and British Longhair. They’ve since added Moshi to the gang. Together, they’ve amassed a huge following thanks to their adorable antics.
The cats are also mascots of a local online pet store, run by their owners, sisters Hani and Ally Piperdy. Unsurprisingly, they also have a popular Instagram page!
Amber Romeike (@amberromeike) | 2.4M followers
Amber is best known for uploading videos of her acrobatic moves – in July 2021, she posted a video in which she performed a backflip into a split. She also posts plenty of dance videos. Since she launched her TikTok account in November 2020, she’s the youngest TikToker on the list, at only 16 as of 2021.
Amber is German-Singaporean, and you can see her dog, Nugget, in her TikTok bio photo.
