Sounds

See which songs and audio clips (sounds) are catching on across TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram, then dig into one.

At a glance

What it does: Lists trending and breakout sounds, and looks up one sound or an artist's catalog.
You send: A search word, a sound's id, an artist's name, or nothing for the trending lists.
You get back: Sounds with usage numbers, or one sound's videos, daily history, and real song.
Cost: $0.05 to $0.25 per request, even when nothing matches. Real-song matching adds $0.10 once per sound. Errors and Agent sounds are free.

Sounds used most this week: Trending sounds
Sounds suddenly taking off: Breakout sounds
A sound, found by its title: Search sounds
One sound's stats and real song: Sound details
Top videos using a sound: Sound videos
How a sound grew day by day: Usage history
Every sound credited to an artist: Creator sounds
Sounds in your agent's videos: Agent sounds

These use Virlo's stored data. For fresh videos on one TikTok or Instagram sound, use Sound lookup: $0.50, or $1.00 with trend analysis.

Sound basics

Sound IDs. id is Virlo's ID for a sound. Copy it from any list below or from a video's sound field. external_id is the platform's own ID and returns 404 where id is expected.

Which count to trust. usage_count is TikTok's all-time count of videos using the sound. Other counts only cover Virlo's data. To compare sounds, use videos_in_window (Trending) or videos_7d (Breakout). On Trending and Creator sounds, video_count and avg_views read too low, often 0.

Platforms. TikTok has the fullest data. YouTube and Instagram sounds never have usage_count and are never marked commerce music. YouTube has no duration. Any field can be null, and owner_handle often is.

Images. cover_url, thumbnail_url, and avatar_url usually hold a file name. Put it after https://auth.virlo.ai/storage/v1/object/public/ and the matching folder: sound-covers/, thumbnails/, or avatars/. Values starting with https:// are already links. "" or null means no image.

Pages. On Trending's 7-day and 30-day sorts, Breakout, and Agent sounds, pagination.total is not a real count. Keep paging while has_next_page is true (Pagination).

Errors. Most bad options return a free 400, and an unknown sound a free 404 (Errors). Some typos are ignored and still charged: a commerce_only other than true, a misspelled Creator sounds platform, and unknown options on Sound details.

Fields on every sound

Every sound has id, external_id, title, platform, duration (seconds), cover_url, owner_handle, owner_nickname (who the platform credits, not always the artist), is_original, is_commerce_music (true when TikTok clears it for ads and branded posts), and usage_count.

GET/v1/sounds/trending

The sounds used in the most new videos, over the last 7 days by default. Set platform, or YouTube sounds often fill the top.

Cost per request:$0.25

Query parameters

Name
platform
Type
string
Description
tiktok, youtube, or instagram. Default: all three.
Name
sort
Type
string
Description
videos_7d (default) or videos_30d: most new videos in that window. usage_count: most used all time (TikTok first). video_count: avoid. It only reorders each page of the usage_count list.
Name
commerce_only
Type
boolean
Description
Exactly true keeps only TikTok sounds cleared for ads. Other values, like yes, are ignored and you pay for the full list.
Name
limit
Type
number
Description
1 to 100. Default 20.
Name
page
Type
number
Description
Default 1.

Full field reference

Each result has the fields on every sound, plus video_count, avg_views, and videos_in_window (the ranking number, on the 7-day and 30-day sorts only).

Request

GET

/v1/sounds/trending

curl -G https://api.virlo.ai/v1/sounds/trending \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -d platform=tiktok \
  -d sort=videos_7d \
  -d limit=20

Response

{
  "data": [
    {
      "id": "53927570-5593-4bfe-b604-496d5aabd328",
      "external_id": "7668271352941742081",
      "title": "Vibin",
      "platform": "tiktok",
      "duration": 60,
      "cover_url": "13cb83d12e080a4b9e2609f79bebf1619b7700e6c2988b4a2c2ea8fe53819b61.jpg",
      "owner_handle": null,
      "owner_nickname": "Wxoda",
      "is_original": false,
      "is_commerce_music": false,
      "usage_count": 245774,
      "video_count": 0,
      "avg_views": 0,
      "videos_in_window": 51
    }
  ],
  "pagination": {
    "page": 1,
    "limit": 20,
    "total": 21,
    "total_pages": 2,
    "has_next_page": true,
    "has_prev_page": false
  },
  "sort": "videos_7d"
}

GET/v1/sounds/breakout

Breakout sounds

Sounds suddenly taking off from a quiet start, like 20 videos this week after about 1 a week before.

Results rank by acceleration: (videos_7d + 1) / (prior_weekly + 1), where prior_weekly is the weekly average over days 8 to 35 ago. A sound needs at least min_recent videos this week, between min_baseline and 200 in the 4 weeks before, and an acceleration of 2+. Sounds above 200 show only in Trending.

Cost per request:$0.25

Query parameters

Name
platform
Type
string
Description
tiktok, youtube, or instagram. Default: all three.
Name
commerce_only
Type
boolean
Description
Exactly true keeps only TikTok sounds cleared for ads, as in Trending.
Name
min_recent
Type
number
Description
Minimum videos in the last 7 days. Default 3.
Name
min_baseline
Type
number
Description
Minimum videos in days 8 to 35 ago. Default 3.
Name
limit
Type
number
Description
1 to 100. Default 20.
Name
page
Type
number
Description
Default 1.

Full field reference

Each result has the fields on every sound, plus videos_7d, videos_30d, videos_90d, prior_weekly, and acceleration (ties go to more videos_7d). Two older scores always come back too: burst_ratio (videos_7d / videos_90d) and breakout_score (videos_7d * burst_ratio).

Request

GET

/v1/sounds/breakout

curl -G https://api.virlo.ai/v1/sounds/breakout \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -d platform=tiktok \
  -d limit=20

Response

{
  "data": [
    {
      "id": "f3c375de-0cac-4a4f-a23e-7fdfc13874d1",
      "external_id": "7678293159960676415",
      "title": "Courtly Elegance Boccherini",
      "platform": "tiktok",
      "duration": 45,
      "cover_url": "5a2e780f5bd991284fac706d04d0c0a3edc3787c057e21b8db823df33c9beb07.jpg",
      "owner_handle": null,
      "owner_nickname": "Lucien Marceau",
      "is_original": false,
      "is_commerce_music": false,
      "usage_count": 207622,
      "videos_7d": 10,
      "videos_30d": 13,
      "videos_90d": 13,
      "burst_ratio": 0.7692,
      "breakout_score": 7.6923,
      "prior_weekly": 0.75,
      "acceleration": 6.286
    }
  ],
  "pagination": {
    "page": 1,
    "limit": 20,
    "total": 21,
    "total_pages": 2,
    "has_next_page": true,
    "has_prev_page": false
  }
}

GET/v1/sounds/search

Search sounds

Find sounds whose title contains your text exactly as typed. Case doesn't matter, but spelling and word order do: lofi beats finds "chill stylish lofi beats", while lofi beets finds nothing but is still charged. When unsure, search one distinctive word.

Results sort by usage_count, so TikTok comes first.

Cost per request:$0.10

Query parameters

Name
q
Type
string
Required
*
Description
At least 2 characters. Commas and parentheses count as spaces.
Name
platform
Type
string
Description
tiktok, youtube, or instagram. Default: all three.
Name
limit
Type
number
Description
1 to 100. Default 20.
Name
page
Type
number
Description
Default 1.

Request

GET

/v1/sounds/search

curl -G https://api.virlo.ai/v1/sounds/search \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -d q=lofi+beats \
  -d platform=tiktok \
  -d limit=20

Response

{
  "data": [
    {
      "id": "81a0c517-fbb2-45ca-b2f5-d6d62d3e1a14",
      "external_id": "7358901665129662465",
      "title": "chill stylish lofi beats(1535963)",
      "platform": "tiktok",
      "duration": 190,
      "cover_url": "a6c30ceb5263d65db6be1b7161e24c7438ac7a97554f4ed436efe455bef948f5.jpg",
      "owner_handle": null,
      "owner_nickname": "Enokido",
      "is_original": false,
      "is_commerce_music": true,
      "usage_count": 50960
    }
  ],
  "pagination": {
    "page": 1,
    "limit": 20,
    "total": 9,
    "total_pages": 1,
    "has_next_page": false,
    "has_prev_page": false
  }
}

GET/v1/sounds/:sound_id

Sound details

One sound's stats (video count, average views, top video), plus the real song behind it if you ask.

Cost per request:$0.05

Find the real song

Add resolve=true to get the artist, the ISRC (a recording's standard code), and a Spotify ID when Spotify made the match. The answer is in track_resolution (always present).

Cost. The first match adds $0.10 ($0.15 total), found or not, once per sound. Later reads cost $0.05.
Time. A first match can take 15 seconds or more. If the match isn't done yet, status says unresolved or pending and you pay $0.05. Call again in about a minute.
Already matched. Virlo matches some sounds in the background. If status is resolved or not_found, resolve=true won't look again, so leave it off.

Path parameters

Name
sound_id
Type
string
Required
*
Description
Virlo's sound id, not external_id.

Query parameters

Name
resolve
Type
boolean
Description
true or 1. Other values are ignored.

Full field reference

The fields on every sound, plus:

Name
total_videos
Type
integer
Description
Videos in Virlo's data using the sound. Stops counting at 1,000.
Name
avg_views
Type
integer
Description
Their average views (over at most 1,000).
Name
top_video_url
Type
string | null
Description
The most-viewed one.
Name
track_resolution.status
Type
string
Description
unresolved (not matched yet), pending (matching now), resolved, or not_found (no confident match).
Name
track_resolution.artist_name
Type
string | null
Description
The artist. Can differ from owner_nickname.

Request

GET

/v1/sounds/:sound_id

curl -G https://api.virlo.ai/v1/sounds/8f6e5c50-1451-4007-a120-92744e632dad \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -d resolve=true

Response

{
  "data": {
    "id": "8f6e5c50-1451-4007-a120-92744e632dad",
    "external_id": "7171140178143266818",
    "title": "I'll Never Let You Go",
    "platform": "tiktok",
    "duration": 62,
    "cover_url": "8bef57e2f1987f109f345a7b603ab2635277e7cb4f37a26ada16c11d07252572.jpg",
    "owner_handle": null,
    "owner_nickname": "BCD Studio",
    "is_original": false,
    "is_commerce_music": true,
    "usage_count": 86631999,
    "total_videos": 633,
    "avg_views": 1596202,
    "top_video_url": "https://www.tiktok.com/@cristineni34/video/7177832058478234885",
    "track_resolution": {
      "status": "resolved",
      "artist_name": "BCD Studio",
      "isrc": "SGB502290414",
      "spotify_track_id": "4fDHlmlEWbJnHa7dO5MZwW",
      "spotify_artist_id": "6ENUuaqy7QqbKD4M1X3siN",
      "apple_music_id": null,
      "release_status": "released",
      "resolution_source": "spotify",
      "release_date": null,
      "confidence": 1,
      "resolved_at": "2026-07-02T01:07:01.982+00:00"
    }
  }
}

GET/v1/sounds/:sound_id/videos

Sound videos

Videos in Virlo's data that use a sound, most-viewed first, to see how creators use it.

Cost per request:$0.25

Path parameters

Name
sound_id
Type
string
Required
*
Description
Virlo's sound id, not external_id.

Query parameters

Name
sort
Type
string
Description
views_desc (default): most views first. publish_date_desc: newest first.
Name
platform
Type
string
Description
tiktok, youtube, or instagram. Rarely needed.
Name
limit
Type
number
Description
1 to 100. Default 20.
Name
page
Type
number
Description
Default 1.

Full field reference

Each video has id, url, description (can be ""), platform, views, likes, shares, comments, bookmarks (saves), hashtags, is_duet, is_stitch, and:

Name
publish_date
Type
string
Description
No time zone marker. Read it as UTC.
Name
thumbnail_url
Type
string | null
Description
A file name, often "" (see Images).
Name
author
Type
object | null
Description
username, verified, followers (can be null), avatar_url.

Request

GET

/v1/sounds/:sound_id/videos

curl -G https://api.virlo.ai/v1/sounds/8f6e5c50-1451-4007-a120-92744e632dad/videos \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -d sort=views_desc \
  -d limit=20

Response

{
  "data": [
    {
      "id": "43721b48-f4f0-4ae4-8677-3f187aac28a4",
      "url": "https://www.tiktok.com/@cristineni34/video/7177832058478234885",
      "description": "",
      "platform": "tiktok",
      "views": 23135811,
      "likes": 600093,
      "shares": 228445,
      "comments": 15982,
      "bookmarks": 32971,
      "publish_date": "2022-12-16T19:34:22",
      "hashtags": [],
      "thumbnail_url": "",
      "is_duet": false,
      "is_stitch": false,
      "author": {
        "username": "cristineni34",
        "verified": false,
        "followers": 764158,
        "avatar_url": "8ed0b0d3-b8af-478a-b20f-d27e65bd1d0c.webp"
      }
    }
  ],
  "pagination": {
    "page": 1,
    "limit": 20,
    "total": 633,
    "total_pages": 32,
    "has_next_page": true,
    "has_prev_page": false
  }
}

GET/v1/sounds/:sound_id/usage-history

Usage history

A day-by-day record of one sound, from about one snapshot a day: TikTok's count, Virlo's count, and the change since the snapshot before.

Always set start_date. Snapshots come oldest first, and limit keeps the oldest. With no dates you get the first 90 ever recorded, which can be months old.

Cost per request:$0.05

No pagination.

Path parameters

Name
sound_id
Type
string
Required
*
Description
Virlo's sound id, not external_id.

Query parameters

Name
start_date
Type
string
Description
First day to include (YYYY-MM-DD).
Name
end_date
Type
string
Description
Last day to include (YYYY-MM-DD).
Name
limit
Type
number
Description
1 to 365. Default 90.

Full field reference

Each snapshot has usage_count (TikTok only), video_count_local, delta_usage_count, delta_video_count_local, and snapshot_at (UTC). Deltas compare with the previous row in this response, so the first row's are always null. A stray 0 snapshot shows as a fake drop and jump back. Ignore it.

Request

GET

/v1/sounds/:sound_id/usage-history

curl -G https://api.virlo.ai/v1/sounds/8f6e5c50-1451-4007-a120-92744e632dad/usage-history \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -d start_date=2026-09-22 \
  -d end_date=2026-09-24

Response

{
  "data": [
    {
      "usage_count": 83700000,
      "video_count_local": 628,
      "delta_usage_count": null,
      "delta_video_count_local": null,
      "snapshot_at": "2026-09-22T05:00:00.015+00:00"
    },
    {
      "usage_count": 84981718,
      "video_count_local": 628,
      "delta_usage_count": 1281718,
      "delta_video_count_local": 0,
      "snapshot_at": "2026-09-23T05:00:00.027+00:00"
    },
    {
      "usage_count": 86353566,
      "video_count_local": 630,
      "delta_usage_count": 1371848,
      "delta_video_count_local": 2,
      "snapshot_at": "2026-09-24T05:00:00.019+00:00"
    }
  ]
}

GET/v1/sounds/by-creator/:platform/:handle

Creator sounds

Every sound credited to one artist or creator (their catalog), not the sounds they use in their videos. Your text is checked against each sound's credited handle, display name, and matched artist.

Start with the display name: tiktok/Kygo finds 6 sounds, while the handle tiktok/kygomusic finds none. Every try is charged, even an empty one or a misspelled platform.

Cost per request:$0.25

Path parameters

Name
platform
Type
string
Required
*
Description
tiktok, youtube, or instagram.
Name
handle
Type
string
Required
*
Description
Display name or handle, @ optional. Spaces become %20: Atomica%20Music.

Query parameters

Name
sort
Type
string
Description
usage_count (default). video_count: avoid, as in Trending.
Name
limit
Type
number
Description
1 to 100. Default 20.
Name
page
Type
number
Description
Default 1.

Full field reference

Each sound has the fields on every sound, plus video_count and avg_views. The response also has aggregates:

Name
aggregates.total_sounds
Type
integer
Description
Sounds in the whole catalog.
Name
aggregates.total_ugc_videos
Type
integer
Description
Sum of video_count on this page only, including the artist's own videos.
Name
aggregates.total_usage_count
Type
integer
Description
Sum of usage_count on this page only.

Request

GET

/v1/sounds/by-creator/:platform/:handle

curl -G https://api.virlo.ai/v1/sounds/by-creator/tiktok/Kygo \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -d sort=usage_count \
  -d limit=20

Response

{
  "data": [
    {
      "id": "ede0f487-8998-45b5-aef0-802a83c1e821",
      "external_id": "7094381072426747905",
      "title": "Freeze",
      "platform": "tiktok",
      "duration": 60,
      "cover_url": "fab1fb05c9863b5df89f8d81f22c109fa0e9d9b22c81bd36f0d5863d0a3318ef.jpg",
      "owner_handle": null,
      "owner_nickname": "Kygo",
      "is_original": false,
      "is_commerce_music": true,
      "usage_count": 8492,
      "video_count": 1,
      "avg_views": 433216
    }
  ],
  "pagination": {
    "page": 1,
    "limit": 20,
    "total": 6,
    "total_pages": 1,
    "has_next_page": false,
    "has_prev_page": false
  },
  "aggregates": {
    "total_sounds": 6,
    "total_ugc_videos": 278,
    "total_usage_count": 28183
  }
}

GET/v1/agents/:agent_id/sounds

Agent sounds

The sounds used most in the videos your Content Research Agent collected. Free. Here, video_count counts videos in the agent's results.

Path parameters

Name
agent_id
Type
string
Required
*
Description
Your agent's ID. A malformed ID returns 400, and an agent you don't own returns 404.

Query parameters

Name
sort
Type
string
Description
video_count (default), usage_count, or rising (most new videos since the previous run; old name growth_7d). Unknown values fall back to the default.
Name
limit
Type
number
Description
1 to 100. Default 20.
Name
page
Type
number
Description
Default 1.

Full field reference

The fields on every sound, plus video_count, avg_views, and:

Name
growth_video_count
Type
integer | null
Description
Change in video_count since the previous run, or null with no earlier run.
Name
growth_views
Type
integer | null
Description
Change in their total views, also null with no earlier run.
Name
lifecycle
Type
string
Description
Total views against the previous run: rising (up 25% or more), fading (down 25% or more), steady, or new (no earlier run).

Request

GET

/v1/agents/:agent_id/sounds

curl -G https://api.virlo.ai/v1/agents/2b1f9c3d-7c4e-4d8a-9f12-6e8b4a2c1d05/sounds \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -d sort=rising \
  -d limit=20

Response

{
  "data": [
    {
      "id": "9479ec9f-2150-40a9-8088-23b4b7979a76",
      "external_id": "7274023553422772278",
      "title": "Million Dolla Hip Hop",
      "platform": "tiktok",
      "duration": 188,
      "cover_url": "acc0a71eb81d1cbb7bc487047488722a2671dfc2f448d1c8b844ec6900ca3156.jpg",
      "owner_handle": null,
      "owner_nickname": "Brentin Davis",
      "is_original": false,
      "is_commerce_music": false,
      "usage_count": 86590,
      "video_count": 2,
      "avg_views": 53877,
      "growth_video_count": 1,
      "growth_views": 31792,
      "lifecycle": "rising"
    }
  ],
  "pagination": {
    "page": 1,
    "limit": 20,
    "total": 21,
    "total_pages": 2,
    "has_next_page": true,
    "has_prev_page": false
  }
}