Are You In ‘Group 7’? The TikTok Trend, Explained

Topline

Millions of TikTok users found out this week they’re in an exclusive club called “Group 7”—which just means they came across the last of seven videos posted by singer-songwriter Sophia James, who made back-to-back posts trying to promote her new song in the hopes one would go viral.

Singer Sophia James created an “exclusive” club on TikTok—”Group 7″—while trying to make her new song find a new audience. (Photo by Michael Tullberg/Getty Images)

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Key Facts

“If you’re watching this video, you are in Group 7,” James said in a TikTok posted last week, telling followers she was conducting a “little science experiment” to figure out what type of video would get the biggest reach on the social media platform.

James’ “Group 7” video struck gold, racking up 20 million views and nearly 3 million likes, while her preceding videos—reaching out to “Group 6,” “Group 5” and so on—only garnered a few thousand likes each.

The seven videos James posted all contained a snippet of her new song, “So Unfair,” and in the second video, she acknowledged the difficulty in reaching new listeners on TikTok, declaring: “It has always been and always will be me versus the algorithm, and today, I’ve decided that I am winning.”

It’s unclear why James’ “Group 7” video went so viral, but her TikTok comments were flooded with thousands of users eager to be a member of the club, with commenters declaring “Group 7” is “the most elite group” and “the hot girl group,” with another joking they’d start beef with “Group 6.”

“So Unfair” has since been used in more than 26,000 TikTok videos from users participating in the trend—some joking they’d hold “Group 7” orientation on Monday and trolling others who aren’t in the group—while some users praised James for her unorthodox marketing tactic.

Celebrities and brands joined in on the trend, including “Shark Tank” judge Barbara Corcoran, who posted a video flexing her arms, captioned: “How it feels waking up in Group 7,” as companies like MTV, Oreo and Hyundai joined the chorus of comments on James’ video.

Did Sophia James Really Beat Tiktok’s Algorithm?

It’s unclear. Cracking the code to TikTok’s algorithm has long been a challenge for artists and creators trying to find their big break. A New York Times report citing internal TikTok documents says TikTok feeds users videos based on an equation that considers a user’s likes and comments and what they spend the most time watching. Users who suddenly found themselves on the “Group 7” side of TikTok likely engaged with James’ video, or another “Group 7” video, and were then shown other similar posts. But it’s not clear why the “Group 7” video in particular went viral, and James has admitted her viral fame hasn’t helped her understand the TikTok algorithm. “In some ways I feel like I’ve learned some things, and in other ways, I’m more lost than when I started,” James told the New York Times on Thursday. She did appear to find success in reaching a new audience: James gained more than 50,000 followers on Tuesday alone, according to SocialBlade, and her song is listed as the No. 8 most popular song on the app this week, according to TikTok’s analytics.

Who Is Sophia James?

James, 26, competed on the 18th season of “American Idol” in 2020. She originally competed under her birth name, Sophia Wackerman, but changed her stage name during the competition to Sophia James. James sang songs like “Burning” by Maggie Rogers and “In My Room” by the Beach Boys, but she was eliminated after making it to the top 11. James has since embarked on a singing career, writing music for the soundtrack to the animated series “Phineas & Ferb,” and releasing her debut album, “Clockwork,” in 2024. Her biggest hit, “Somebody New,” has 25 million streams on Spotify.

What To Watch For

James said on her website she is organizing a meetup for “Group 7” members on Friday in London. “This is the funniest thing I have ever seen and I think you all should meet in real life,” James said.