Redefining Trending: Why Retailers Need a Better Way to Read TikTok

Everyone talks about what’s “trending on TikTok.” Most of it is noise.

Hashtag views go viral. A creator hits a million likes. A product gets a 15-second spotlight. But here’s the thing: none of those metrics tell you what actually sells.

At Charm, we just rolled out hashtag tracking inside TikTok Shop. Not just views. Not just mentions. Actual product-level sales data tied back to hashtags. And no, your usual social listening tools don’t do this. We’re the only ones showing the real sides behind the trends.

TikTok Shows You What's Trending. Charm Shows You What's Selling.

TikTok’s Creative Center is a great resource for tracking what's rising in popularity, from hashtags to sounds and creators. But it stops at engagement. You can see what’s new, what’s viral hashtags on tiktok, and how many posts a hashtag has.

What TikTok doesn't show is the connection between those trends and what’s actually selling on TikTok Shop.

That’s where Charm steps in. We go a level deeper. Charm’s TikTok analytics track trending hashtags on tiktok and ties them directly to product-level revenue and shop performance. So if you're a brand leader or merchandiser, you’re not just guessing based on what’s getting views, but you’re building strategy based on what’s driving checkouts. It's the difference between watching the wave and riding it to sales.

Why Hashtag Data Matters Now

Unlike traditional social listening platforms, Charm ties trending hashtags on TikTok Shop directly to product-level revenue. We don’t stop at mentions, views, or vibes. 

That’s what this new layer of Charm unlocks. You can now understand:

• Which hashtags are trending (or beginning to trend) on TikTok 
• Which products and shops are using those hashtags 
• How those hashtags are performing in views and actual revenue
• Which creators are helping drive traction
• Which creators and videos are leading to actual product sales

Retailers trying to plan assortments or test product lines can’t afford to chase every viral flash. They need signals that matter, ones that lead to the checkout screen.

What’s Trending (and Selling) Right Now

Here’s what Charm’s data tells us about some of the trends within the Beauty and Personal Care category on TikTok Shop from April to June 2025:

Take #hairtok, for example. From April to June 2025, it generated 834M views and those views led to over $11 million in TikTok Shop sales. That means we’re not just identifying noise, we’re tracking what actually converts.

Or consider #koreanskincare. It brought in fewer views than #hairtok but generated $13 million in sales. That tells us this campaign was even more efficient and driving purchases. 

For a retailer, this information is gold. It tells you not just what people are talking about, but where shoppers are actually spending money right now.

Why This Matters for Retail Strategy

This kind of data flips the script for trend forecasting:

• Merchandising & procurement teams can partner with the right brands and prioritize products backed by sales, not just hype.
• Marketing teams can align creative around high-converting campaigns.
• Executives can validate where influencer and ad dollars should flow, based on actual ROI.

Instead of waiting for quarterly recaps or guessing based on engagement, you get real-time signals that drive revenue.

What Retailers Can Do With This Right Now

Charm isn’t just another trend tracker. We connect the dots between what’s trending via hashtags on TikTok and what’s selling, on the actual platform where consumers are buying.

If you’re a retail operator trying to make fast, informed decisions on TikTok Shop, it’s not enough to know what’s popular. You need to know what’s profitable.

Book a demo with Charm and see what TikTok’s top hashtags are really worth. With our new hashtag tracking inside Charm Analytics, we don’t just show you what’s popular, we show you what sells.