tokconnect
- UFC 331 on 19 September produced two new search topics built around fighter walkouts: joshua van walkout grew 1,630% and arman walking out to neon song 498%.
- The real searches climbing steadily were K-pop dances: Kpop dance trend rose 156% to 274,717 across the week, helped by ILLIT's "It's Me".
- Free idea: glow recipe eye patches is a TikTok content gap, 24,593,374 on TikTok's topic figure with only 663 matching videos.
The TikTok trends of the fourth week of September 2026 were walkouts and K-pop. Two UFC fighters made TikTok search their entrance, a group of K-pop dance searches climbed every single day, and TikTok's biggest topic of the week turned out to be, of all things, a study routine. Here is what TikTok searched for between 20 and 26 September 2026, what faded, and one search that is still waiting for its video.
Every number below is TikTok's own search figure, pulled through TokConnect. The full data is here if you want to check our work.
The UFC walkouts took over TikTok search
UFC 331 ran on Saturday 19 September in Los Angeles, and by the end of the week TikTok had two new search topics built around fighters walking to the cage. The joshua van walkout topic went from 339,601 on TikTok's first reading of the week to 5,874,761 on the last, up 1,630%. Van headlined the card against Alexandre Pantoja and kept his flyweight title.
The stranger one is arman walking out to neon song, up 498% to 17,632,662. Arman Tsarukyan walked out to a song by the streamer N3on as part of a bet, which is exactly the kind of moment TikTok turns into a search. Only 148 videos match that topic. Our read: when a live event produces one odd, specific moment, the search shows up days before the videos do.
Football had its week too: messi goal today review climbed 495% to 12,058,567. Two topics on that chart we cannot explain. sartorially (a word for how someone dresses) grew 1,700%, and ethiopia country grew 1,664%. We found no clear cause for either, and we would rather say so than guess.
K-pop dance searches kept climbing
Those are TikTok's big topic labels. The real searches, the words people type, told a quieter and steadier story. Kpop dance trend started the week at 107,467 and finished at 274,717, up 156%, and it dipped only once all week, on 25 September. old kpop dances went up 45% to 360,391, and kpop girl dances up 41% to 282,084.
A big part of the fuel is ILLIT's "It's Me", released at the end of April and still producing covers five months later. The most-played video for kpop girl dances is an "It's Me" cover. The other riser worth knowing is on and on dance, up 43% to 179,153 and already matched by 1,423 videos, so that one is getting crowded.
Watch: the videos that won the week
The most-played video TikTok ranks for each of three rising dance searches right now. Tap one to load TikTok's player.
Look at the saves. The "kpop dances that become viral trends" video has 34,367 saves on 1,074,822 plays, a much higher save rate than the other two. It is a list people come back to, which is exactly what saves reward.
The biggest real searches on TikTok this week
| # | Search | Searches | Change this week | Videos |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lessons from growing a side hustle (a TikTok topic label) | 4,499,949 | −43% | 253 |
| 2 | #movies | 386,361 | +180% | 688 |
| 3 | old kpop dances | 360,391 | +45% | 765 |
| 4 | kpop girl dances | 282,084 | +41% | 1,137 |
| 5 | best kpop dances | 280,284 | +8% | 1,023 |
| 6 | Kpop dance trend | 274,717 | +156% | 1,076 |
| 7 | kindledecorating | 272,663 | +6% | 352 |
| 8 | Booktokers | 260,426 | +1% | 12,806 |
TikTok search popularity on the last reading of the week, and the change from the first reading. Source: weekly snapshot.
Our read: #movies nearly tripled but bounced around all week, so it is a lot of people browsing rather than one thing catching on. The quiet one is kindledecorating, 272,663 searches and only 352 videos. People want to see how others decorate their Kindle, and not many are showing them.
What faded
Book people moved on from a few things. stand alone romantasy dropped 43% to 246,426, and kindlecase fell 45% to 155,884. Our read: people who already own the device are moving on to decorating it. amazon desk must haves slid 35% to 174,317. Our guess: back-to-school shopping is winding down.
Free idea of the week: glow recipe eye patches
TikTok flags glow recipe eye patches as a content gap: a topic of 24,593,374 on TikTok's figure with only 663 matching videos. That is a lot of people looking for an honest take on one product and very few videos giving it.
- Hook: "I wore Glow Recipe eye patches for seven days. Here's what changed."
- Format: a before and after, same light and same angle each morning, with the product name said out loud and written on screen so TikTok search can read it.
- Length: 30 to 45 seconds. End on the verdict, not a follow request.
TikTok's biggest topic in each category
This is where TikTok's topic labels get funny. They fold huge numbers of searches into one phrase TikTok writes itself, so they tell you where attention is, not what people type.
- Education: "Simple study routines that work", 111,978,982. The single biggest topic we saw all week.
- Tourism: "how to get more rides in early", 95,262,819. Our read: theme park season.
- Dance: "popular party moves in one routine", 78,164,711.
- Fashion: "Rating my natural makeup routine", 69,555,039.
- Sports: "cristiano ronaldo merchandise and media", 22,326,965.
Hashtag of the week: #Comedy
Nothing moves #Comedy. It sits at 2,998,160,239,772 lifetime views across 928,727,822 videos, which is also why it will do nothing for your video: you would be one of nearly a billion. Pick smaller tags with our hashtag generator.
Run this for your own niche
Everything above came from TikTok's search data. You can pull the same numbers for your own topic from an AI agent connected to TokConnect.
Search TikTok topics for [my niche]. Show me the searches that grew most over the last seven days, with their daily readings and how many videos match each, and flag any with lots of searches and few videos.
Works in Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor and Gemini once TokConnect is connected. Get a free key (50 credits, no card) or see the setup guides.
Want it daily? What's trending on TikTok today updates every morning. For a single category, see the dance, BookTok, beauty and product trend pages.
Frequently asked questions
What was trending on TikTok the week of 20 September 2026?
Fighter walkouts from UFC 331 (joshua van walkout up 1,630%, arman walking out to neon song up 498%), football (messi goal today review up 495%), and K-pop dance searches, led by Kpop dance trend up 156% to 274,717. Every figure is TikTok's own search data.
What is the most searched thing on TikTok this week?
Among real searches in our pool, #movies led at 386,361 on the last reading of the week. Among TikTok's own topic labels, "Simple study routines that work" was the biggest at 111,978,982, but that figure folds many different searches into one label.
Why were UFC walkouts trending on TikTok?
UFC 331 ran on 19 September 2026. Joshua Van kept his flyweight title against Alexandre Pantoja, and Arman Tsarukyan walked out to a song by the streamer N3on as part of a bet. Both moments became TikTok search topics within days.
How is this report made?
Each day we pull TikTok's Trending tab and TikTok's topic results for 70 everyday searches, keep topics with a real seven-day history and at least one matching video, and compare the first and last readings of the week. The data file is linked at the top of the report.
