Katy Perry has TikTok's Global Song of the Summer for 2026, and the track in question came out fifteen years ago. "The One That Got Away" was released in 2011 as a single from Teenage Dream, and it also tops the platform's US Songs of the Summer list, published on September 1. Music Business Worldwide reported the results.
TikTok says the song soundtracked more than 42 million videos on the platform this summer and drew over 55 billion views. It has spent 21 weeks on the Billboard Global 200 and has now passed 1.8 billion Spotify streams.
"It's surreal to see The One That Got Away having this moment, all these years later," Perry said, adding that you never really know where a song will end up or when someone will find it.
The wider picture is the story. Catalog music has been taking streaming share from new releases for years, and the same pattern has now reached TikTok. Luminate counts anything older than 18 months as catalog, and by that definition the entire US top four is catalog: Mac Miller's "Cinderella" featuring Ty Dolla $ign from 2016 at No. 2, Lenny Kravitz's 1991 track "It Ain't Over 'Til It's Over" at No. 3, and Malcolm Todd's "Earrings" from 2024 at No. 4.
Tracy Gardner, TikTok's global head of music business development, framed it as a community embracing music in all its forms, from emerging artists finding an audience to older tracks reaching a new generation.
The UK list runs older still. "Do You Mind" by Kyla and DJ Paleface, from 2008 and later sampled on Drake's "One Dance", took the top spot, with five of the ten released before 2010. Oasis hold two places with "Wonderwall" and "Champagne Supernova", and TikTok says searches for "Wonderwall" rose 6,800 percent during England's World Cup run. Litmus Music bought Perry's master royalty stake and publishing across five albums, Teenage Dream included, in September 2023. The catalog shift has run through other pop stories logged here, including T-Pain's reasons for a reported $100 million catalog sale and BMG buying Andrew Stockdale's rights.
The facts
- TikTok made "The One That Got Away" its global song of the summer for 2026.
- The song was released in 2011 from Teenage Dream.
- It soundtracked more than 42 million videos this summer.
- Those videos drew over 55 billion views.
- The whole US top four is catalog by Luminate's definition.
- Mac Miller, Lenny Kravitz and Malcolm Todd fill places two to four.
- The track has passed 1.8 billion Spotify streams.
How this checks out
Single source
Reported by a single outlet
Only one outlet has reported it so far, so it stays a single source.
Cited sources 1
Every outlet that reported this, linked to what it published. Equal credits, in alphabetical order.