Louis Theroux's Jiggle Jiggle was one of TikTok's top songs of 2022

Riding in his Fiat: Louis Theroux and Amelia Dimoldenberg in the video for Jiggle Jiggle

Louis Theroux's viral rap track Jiggle Jiggle has been named one of the most-played songs of the year on TikTok.

The TV presenter became an unlikely rap sensation after a verse he'd written on his Weird Weekends series in 2000 was remixed into a genuine club anthem.

It spawned more than six million videos on TikTok, with stars including Shakira and K-pop band Blackpink posting their take on the track's accompanying dance.

TikTok said it ended the year as the app's eighth most-played song.

Nicky Youre's summer anthem Sunroof topped the chart; while Kate Bush's 1985 single Running Up That Hill came sixth, after being resurrected in the Netflix series Stranger Things.

Theroux's journey to rap stardom began in February, when he appeared on Amelia Dimoldenberg's Chicken Shop Date series.

She asked the documentary-maker if he could remember a rap he'd written for an episode of Weird Weekends that focused on gangster rap.

Theroux obliged with the now-immortal lyrics: "My money don't jiggle jiggle, it folds / I like to see you wiggle wiggle, for sure."

The clip was picked up by producers Duke & Jones, who'd been promoting their music by turning viral clips into dance tracks.

"We were trying to do one a day," says Luke Conibear, the Duke half of the duo.

"It was best if it was going viral, if it had a celebrity in it, if there was no background music, and it was kind of rhythmic. So Louis Theroux was like, tick, tick, tick, tick."

No slack

They were initially told about the rap by their friend Tom, who mentioned it when he called over for lunch.

"He brought a pie and it needed 15 minutes to cook in the oven," recalls Isaac McKelvey, aka Jones.

"Luke said to him, 'I bet you, by the time you've finished cooking that pie, I'll make this Louis Theroux rap into a song'.

"And once the 15 minutes was up, it was done. We edited a video in 10 minutes, went to the pub and when we came back it had 60,000 views."

Jiggle Jiggle grew even bigger when musical theatre performers Jess Qualter and Brooke Blewitt choreographed a dance to the song, which has now been watched 67m times.

Eventually, Duke & Jones persuaded Theroux to record a professional version of the track, which he did in an hour-long break between interviewing Stormzy and picking his kids up from school.

"I don't think he was aware at the time of how viral it had gone," says Conibear.

"We read out some of the stats to him and he was just like, 'Oh my goodness!'" laughs McKelvey.

Theroux even ended up at last week's Mobo awards - although, sadly, as a presenter rather than a nominee.

"That would have been amazing, though, wouldn't it?" he told the BBC.

"For me, a 52-year-old man who has musical tastes younger than he is, it's just exciting to be part of the whole thing."

Louis Theroux in the studio with Duke & Jones (Luke Conibear, left, and Isaac McKelvey)

When Jiggle Jiggle first went viral, the presenter admitted to having "mixed feelings" - telling the New York Times the song's popularity was "a baffling 21st century example of just the weirdness of the world that we live in".

But with the benefit of hindsight, he came to enjoy the notoriety.

"Sometimes the best things I get involved with, both in my professional life and my personal life, are the ones that give me anxiety."

Sick of it?

For Duke & Jones, it has taken their career to a new level. They signed with Sony Music to release Jiggle Jiggle, which has subsequently been licenced to adverts for Uber Eats and Amazon Music, Sony also helped the duo obtain US Visas, with the hope of attending next year's Miami Music Conference.

"It's utterly bizarre, because it's not not what we set out to do when we made it," says Conibear. "And throughout the year, it's just kept going. We were like, 'Surely everyone must be sick of it', and it just kept going and going."

"My favourite thing that's come out of it," adds McKelvey, "is that my mum doesn't tell me to think about a backup career anymore."

The full list of TikTok's top songs in the UK is as follows.

British rappers fared particularly well, with tracks by Dréya Mac and FelixThe1st, Russ Millions and Nutcase 22 all trending on the app.

Many more artists crossed over to the Official Charts with songs that started out on TikTok.

Cat Burns' reached number four with her break-up ballad Go, which went viral thanks to a chipmunk remix that speeded-up the original (playing songs at 130-150% of their intended speed is well-worn trope on the app).

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Dance artist Eliza Rose also had a breakout year, with her song BOTA (Baddest Of Them All) becoming the first UK number one by a female dance act since Sonique's It Feels So Good in 2000.

Her anthem was featured in more than 600,000 TiKTok videos - soundtracking everything from recipe ideas to extreme sports and advice for people who find it hard to swallow their medicine.

The London-born DJ said TiKTok had helped her rise "from being recognised only in the underground scene" to having a "wider, global audience".

The app also helped Sam Ryder find an audience before he was selected to represent the UK at Eurovision.

He is now the most-followed UK artist on the platform, with almost 14 million fans.

And 18-year-old rapper Stepz has more video views than any other UK musician, thanks to his mixture of comedy sketches and original songs, including the viral smash Cramp Dat - a twist on Soulja Boy's 2007 hit Crank That.

"I'll be real, it means a lot to me. I'm lost for words," he told BBC News.

"I knew I wanted my music to be heard through doing comedy, but I didn't know it would get this far."

TikTok's most viewed musicians in the UK

1. Stepz

2. Sam Smith

3. Ed Sheeran

4. Sam Ryder

5. Abby Roberts

6. No Guidnce

7. Henry Moodie

8. Altego

9. Chelji

10. Harry Styles

Stepz recently posted a video saying TikTok had helped him buy his first house.

In reality, musicians rarely make huge amounts from the app itself, instead translating their popularity into merchandise and ticket sales, as well as royalty payments from music streaming apps like Spotify and Apple Music (TikTok contends it is a "promotional platform", not a streaming service).

"When I say TikTok bought me a house, I don't mean it literally," Stepz confirms.

"I bought it myself. But I'm gonna give them their props because without them, I wouldn't have had the structure to do what I'm doing."

Stepz has ruled TikTok's weekly charts with his hit Cramp Dat

The rapper says he uses comedy to draw people into his music, a free-spirited take on UK hip-hop that he calls "animated rap".

"You know how in the UK most of our rapping is just drill and grime? I'm not really on all of that," he says. "I'm on the fun side of things."

As he celebrates his success, the musician shared his top tips to becoming a TikTok phenomenon:

1. You have to stay consistent. People need to see your face every day. Even if they don't want to see you and they hate you, you need to slap it in their face!

2. Do what you enjoy and have fun. I do comedy because it makes me laugh and makes me enjoy myself.

3. Don't take people's opinions too much. I know I'm a good looking guy, but I put my face close to the camera and make myself look so ugly, to make people laugh. They'll say what they're going to say, but I know why I'm doing this and why it works for me.