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Mae Stephens goes from Asda to second in TikTok global playlist

Yas Cowan Woman with long dark hair and wearing white top with red glasses sits with her chin in her palmYas Cowan
If We Ever Broke Up is the second most popular track of 2023 on TikTok in the world

A song by a former supermarket worker has been named as the second most popular in the world on TikTok in 2023.

Singer Mae Stephens has also been named as one of the platform's "breakthrough artists of the year" in its annual report, known as Year on TikTok.

She created her account in 2020 and now has 380,100 followers and 8.8m likes on the video sharing app.

Stephens, 20, from Kettering in Northamptonshire, said: "I went from working in an Asda to living my dream."

She said she had been writing songs since the age of 12, but had been working shifts in her local supermarket.

She left the job to concentrate on music full-time after her song If We Ever Broke Up was posted on TikTok on New Year's Day and went viral.

It entered the Official UK Singles Chart at number 45 and climbed up to 13 seven weeks later.

Getty Images Mae Stephens performing on stage in a white top with a flower designGetty Images
Mae Stephens said she was now "living the dream"

If We Ever Broke Up topped TikTok's Global Songs of the Summer list and has now finished in second place in the global list for the year, with 13.3 million video creations on the platform.

"TikTok gave me the chance to achieve my childhood's wildest aspiration," said Stephens.

"Growing from a few followers to such high exposure was such a quirky switch. If you love it enough. do it."

Mae Stephens wearing an orange hat, a pink top and headphones talking into a microphone with BBC Radio Northampton branding in the background
Mae Stephens was a regular on BBC Music Introducing in Northamptonshire

The most popular global track was a speeded-up version of Cupid by the Korean group Fifty Fifty.

Stephens has also been included in TikTok's list of UK and Ireland Breakthrough Artists for 2023 who "have transcended into public consciousness" through chart success, winning awards or sell-out tours.

It has been a busy 2023 for her, as she has also collaborated with The Chainsmokers and Meghan Trainor.

Lewis Capaldi was named by TikTok as the most-viewed UK artist of 2023, just ahead of Sam Smith.

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