These 10 TikTok Stars Broke Out In February
Christian Hetrick is dot.LA's Entertainment Tech Reporter. He was formerly a business reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer and reported on New Jersey politics for the Observer and the Press of Atlantic City.
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Kat Clark is known for sharing healthy recipes and funny videos with her daughter—but it was a clip about mouthwash that vaulted her to TikTok stardom.
Two years ago, Clark recorded herself pouring cheaper mouthwash into an empty bottle of Listerine as a prank on her husband; the joke was that while he hates buying cheap products, he can’t even tell the difference. “White lies I tell my husband,” the caption read.
The video amassed nearly 1 million views and, along with some viral clips of her cooking, gave Clark a substantial TikTok following. The 35-year-old from Australia now has more than 1 million followers on the Culver City-based video-sharing platform. And according to new data from Santa Monica-based Famous Birthdays, Clark’s popularity continued to surge during the month of February.
“Every time I step out of the house, people are like, ‘Oh my god, aren’t you from TikTok?’” Clark told dot.LA. “It's still kind of hitting home for me.”
Famous Birthdays, which launched 10 years ago as a sort of Wikipedia-for-internet personalities, ranks online influencers based on the activity on its platform, which is visited by tens of millions of users monthly. Using that data, Famous Birthdays identified Clark as one of 10 TikTok stars that jumped highest in their rankings last month. Clark’s ranking climbed from No. 11,569 to No. 1,045 between Feb. 1 and March 1.
The rankings, largely driven by search queries on Famous Birthdays’ website, are an indicator of fan engagement, according to Famous Birthday founder Evan Britton. In Clark’s case, fans are not only watching and commenting on her videos, but are now taking time to look up her bio on Famous Birthdays, Britton noted. The company sells its data insights to social media platforms, talent agencies and brands looking for clues about influencers on the rise.
“They're a great real-time measure of popularity and culture,” Britton said of Famous Birthdays’ influencer rankings.
When asked what may have driven her climbing popularity last month, Clark noted that she recently committed to posting at least one video per day. In late January, she launched a new series of videos in which she styles her daughter’s hair, which racked up millions of views each.
“I think people love those videos because they're not scripted,” Clark said. “It's more just showing our personality, doing what we would do normally every day and just talking to the camera.”
In addition to the Famous Birthdays data, there is another sign that Clark is on the rise—albeit an unwanted one. In one of her most recent videos, she mentioned that fans had showed up to her house uninvited. “Please don’t do that ever again,” she pleaded.
Here are the 10 TikTok stars that had breakout months in February, according to Famous Birthdays (list sorted by highest jump in ranking):
- Farah Roushdy is a creator who shares stories about her life and close friends. March 1 ranking: 11,593 (Feb. 1 ranking: 40,582).
- Savannah Demers shares comedy, lifestyle and dance videos. March 1 ranking: 10,469 (Feb. 1 ranking: 25,311).
- Carol Castro is a Mexican TikTok star who posts lip syncs and dance videos. March 1 ranking: 10,369 (Feb. 1 ranking: 21,341).
- Kat Clark shares healthy recipes and funny videos with her daughter. March 1 ranking: 1,045 (Feb. 1 ranking: 11,569).
- Ski Mask Girl remains anonymous by dancing and modeling while wearing ski masks. March 1 ranking: 14,315 (Feb. 1 ranking: 22,944).
- Natalie Aguilar posts lip sync and comedy content. March 1 ranking: 9,924 (Feb. 1 ranking: 17,463).
- Eya Borja posts lip sync and dance videos on TikTok. March 1 ranking: 9,769 (Feb. 1 ranking: 15,896).
- Dylan Zitkus is a comedy content creator. March 1 ranking: 7,848 (Feb. 1 ranking: 13,024).
- Chris Olsen is known for posting “couple challenge videos” with his ex-boyfriend. March 1 ranking: 561 (Feb. 1 ranking: 3,120).
- Adrien Nuñez posts comedy and dance videos, often with his girlfriend. March 1 ranking: 2,719 (Feb. 1 ranking: 4,797).
Christian Hetrick is dot.LA's Entertainment Tech Reporter. He was formerly a business reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer and reported on New Jersey politics for the Observer and the Press of Atlantic City.
