TikTok’s ‘Niche’ Community Is Creating And Killing Memes At A Rate Never Before Seen, According To Some Frustrated Onlookers

About

TikTok Niche Community, also known as NicheTok, refers to a TikTok^[1] aesthetic and culture that consists of stylized meme compilations and shitposts^[2] that reference multiple fandoms^[3], subcultures and memes specific to TikTok, in that, in order to fully understand or appreciate the videos, one would need a “niche” literacy of TikTok trends and its algorithm. The term “NicheTok” was coined in 2022, and existed as the twin trend of TikTok’s Corecore^[4], among other “-core^[5]” suffix trends on the app, like Pinkcore^[6]. So-called “NicheTokers” used sped-up remixes^[7] and nightcore music^[8] as their TikTok sounds, as well as sad slideshow audios^[9] that romanticized depression and loneliness. Initial NicheTok videos built on the aesthetic foundations of YouTube Poop^[10].

In 2025, the term “niche” and TikTok’s Niche Community slightly shifted when it was influenced by JuggTok^[11] and the JuggTokers’ choice to swap the Heartbreak Emoji^[12] (💔) with the Dead Rose Emoji^[13] (🥀 ) to avoid being “mainstream.” In line with that trend, the defining motive of each Niche Community member was to have a “nicher” taste in memes than any other class of TikTok user. This meant alerting other NickeTokers when one meme had become “mainstream” and it was time to move onto a fresher trend. The cycle from niche to mainstream was accelerated by the group, often intentionally for comedic effect, meaning rapid meme cycles and forced memes^[14], often created with the use of AI tools. Notable Niche Community memes^[15] from 2025 include Niche Fruits^[16], My Mother Ate Fries^[17] and Тотя. ❤️^[18], among many others. Phrasal templates^[19] like, “Hello, Niche Community,” and “How it feels being on X while my classmates are still on Y,” were also essential to the community.

History

Starting in early 2021, video creators on TikTok began compiling seriously-toned movie scenes with meme references in videos that harked on sadness, disorientation and general confusion about the world. One of the earliest known, viral videos of such nature was posted on January 1st, 2021, by TikToker @masonoelle, who used clips ranging from American Psycho^[20] to Charli D’Amelio^[21] in order to portray an oversaturation of content that led to romanticized insanity in the consumer. The video received roughly 47,600 plays and 6,000 likes in two years.

About a year later, on March 18th, 2022, TikToker @highenquiries posted a similar video that used clips ranging from British^[28] filmmaker Adam Curtis to Nikocado Avocado^[29]. The video earned roughly 43,300 plays and 4,400 likes in nine months.

Both of the aforementioned TikToks, however, predate the use of the term NicheTok and its coinciding hashtag “#nichetok,” which later became associated with the video edit style. Between March 2022 and mid-2022, various NicheTok-esque videos surfaced before the term’s coinage.

On July 29th, 2022, TikToker @kurtanglelovesme posted a video that used Breaking Bad^[32] and Better Call Saul^[33] clips. In the video’s description, @kurtanglelovesme used “#nichetok,” thereby being the first known video to reference the term. Over the course of five months, the TikTok received roughly 49,700 plays and 9,400 likes.

Origin

Going into August 2022, TikTokers (such as TikToker @batmanisjustlikemefr) picked up on the usage of “#nichetok” as a way to categorize their edit style and earn engagement.

As stated in former Know Your Meme^[60] contributor Ally Dinning’s editorial, “NicheTok: How To Meme An Aesthetic^[61],” many of the early iterations of NicheTok videos referenced British^[62] culture, specifically using clips from British shows like Peep Show^[63] and The Inbetweeners as well as football^[64] clips from the British Premier League and elsewhere.

One notable August 2022 NicheTok example that used British signifiers was uploaded on August 10th, 2022, by TikToker @ikindalikethings66, who earned roughly 22,400 plays and 4,900 likes in four months.

By late December 2022, “#nichetok” on TikTok had amassed roughly 161.3 million total views.

On February 21st, 2025, TikToker @savo.rl (formerly @ybgtway) posted a video of a guy dancing with a text caption reading, “‘💔’ lowkey starting to become too mainstream. I might just start using ‘🥀,'” gaining over 32,900 likes in a month.

The video was akin to the use of the 💔 emoji by the JuggTok^[84] community on TikTok, which initially gained spread due to the Slide That Shi In Gng 💔^[85] meme.

Use of the word “niche” then trended in JuggTok videos. For instance, on March 19th, 2025, TikToker @lordoldgen posted a “British JuggTok” video, including a large text caption that included the sentence, “Yes, we are more niche than you.” Over six months, the video received roughly 17,700 likes.

On April 18th, TikToker @grewmyhairout posted a video meme in a GIFTok^[107] format, showing Spider-Man^[108] actor Tom Holland^[109] turning his head with the caption, “When I hear a niche brainrot^[110] joke across the class that I thought no one else knew existed,” gaining over 200,900 likes in five months.

Around the same time, a trend of finding “new slang” emerged, notably related to the TS So Kevin^[113] trend, in which TikTokers, a part of the Niche Community, turned the male name Kevin, among other names like Owen, into slang terms.

Heading into mid-2025, members of TikTok’s Niche Community began greeting each other in video meme captions, usually writing, “Good morning Niche Community,” or “Hey Niche Community.” These phrases gained notable traction during the “What Kind of Awesome is This?^[114]” meme.

For example, on June 25th, 2025, TikToker @w.tamenlover shared a “What Kind of Fruit is This?” video that had text overlay reading, “Goodbye niche community, nice knowing you. And hello, mainstream community. It’s a pleasure to meet you all.” Over three months, the video received over 47,500 likes.

Heading into late 2025, various trends were ballooned by TikTok’s Niche Community, notably including the Niche Fruits^[123] trend, which showed AI-generated videos^[124] of fruits being fed small pieces of their respective species.

For instance, on August 16th, 2025, TikToker @dosurface shared a video compilation of the Niche Fruits, writing in a vertical stack of text overlay, reminiscent of JuggTok videos, “Look, it’s the niche fruits again.” The video received over 141,200 likes in a month.

In early September 2025, multiple TikTok memes were spread by the platform’s Niche Community. In some cases, the memes were seemingly astroturfed^[132] by members of the community in order to stay ahead of the “niche” curve.

For instance, on September 14th, 2025, TikToker @jakhuaa11 posted a meme that used a video of Kirk Franklin eating an apple as the background and followed the phrasal template, “How it feels being on X while all of my classmates are on Y.”

The new meme in question was Eggsuka^[133], a Photoshop^[134] edit of the Dexter character Vince Masuka, which had gone viral the previous day, September 13th, via a TikTok with over 24,000 likes at the time.

The old memes in question were Тотя. ❤️^[135], which went viral outside of the Russian^[136] internet^[137] a few days prior, and 67.

TikToker @jakhuaa11’s Eggsuka video received over 64,500 likes in two days.

During the same timeframe, some TikTokers began criticizing the Niche Community’s tendency to rapidly create and end meme trends. Said criticisms also commonly expressed the belief that Niche Community memes were not funny and were forced.

For example, on September 14th, 2025, TikToker @nerf.moe posted a video with a JuggTok vertical-stacked text caption, reading, “Safe to say we’re in another meme depression,” referring to the March 2025 Meme Depression^[145]. “Everybody is speedrunning ‘memes’ which BTW were never funny in the first place, like bro, can anybody explain what’s so funny about Totya? Memes used to be funny, man.” Over two days, the video received over 76,100 likes.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References