Hashtags for musicians: fewer, and about the song
Long lists of “the best hashtags for musicians” were written when Instagram allowed 30 per post. It now allows five, YouTube shows three and ignores them all past sixty, and the apps rely more on what is in the video than on tags. Here is how many to use on each app, the four kinds that matter for a music post and example sets you can adapt to your song.
How many hashtags each app allows
| App | What it says (checked 22 October 2026) | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Instagram (Reels and posts) | Up to 5 hashtags per caption, rolled out gradually since December 2025 (it used to be 30) | Use all five only if all five describe the post |
| YouTube and Shorts | Up to 3 may appear by the title; with more than 60, YouTube ignores all of them | Two or three in the description, the most important one first |
| TikTok | We found no fixed number in its Help Center | Start with three to five and test |
What changed is not only the number. Instagram explained its cap by saying targeted hashtags work better than many generic ones. All three apps now decide who sees a video mostly from the video itself and from how people watch it, so hashtags work more like a label than a megaphone: they help the app and the viewer understand what the video is and where it belongs.
The four kinds of hashtags for a music post
Almost every good set for a music clip mixes these four:
- The song or the artist. `#ArtistName` or `#SongTitle`, written the same on every post. It is the only tag nobody else is competing for, and it joins all the clips of a release.
- The genre. As specific as is true: `#indiepop`, `#reggaeton`, `#trap`, `#cumbia`, `#rnb`, `#bossanova`. Fans browse by genre; a precise genre beats `#music`.
- The format. What the viewer is about to see: `#livemusic`, `#acoustic`, `#cover`, `#lyricvideo`, `#studiosession`, `#newmusic`, `#songwriter`.
- The scene or the moment (optional). A city's music scene, a festival, a tour, a challenge you are really part of. Only if it is true for this clip.
Write them in the language your listeners search in. A Spanish-language song can carry `#musicanueva` instead of `#newmusic`, or one of each if your audience is mixed.
Example sets you can adapt
Replace the names and the genre with yours. These are starting points, not magic lists:
| Post | Example set (Instagram, 5) |
|---|---|
| Release day | `#SongTitle` `#ArtistName` `#newmusic` `#indiepop` `#outnow` |
| Clip from a show | `#ArtistName` `#livemusic` `#reggaeton` `#TourName` `#concert` |
| Acoustic or session | `#SongTitle` `#acoustic` `#livesession` `#singersongwriter` `#rnb` |
| Cover | `#cover` `#OriginalSongTitle` `#OriginalArtist` `#acousticcover` `#ArtistName` |
| Lyric video | `#SongTitle` `#lyricvideo` `#lyrics` `#ArtistName` `#trap` |
| Studio or behind the scenes | `#ArtistName` `#studiolife` `#producer` `#newmusiccoming` `#SongTitle` |
For TikTok and Shorts, take two or three from the same set: the song, the genre and the format. On YouTube put the one you most want next to the title first, because YouTube picks up to three to show there.
What to stop doing
- Blocks of thirty tags. On Instagram the caption limit is five now, and Instagram said targeted tags work better than many generic ones.
- `#fyp`, `#viral`, `#foryou`. They say nothing about your music. Use that space for the genre or the format.
- Trending tags that have nothing to do with the clip. YouTube says it removes misleading or unrelated hashtags, and viewers who arrive for something else scroll away fast, which is a bad signal for the video.
- The same five on every post. Keep the song and artist tags fixed and change the format and genre ones to match each clip.
- Hashtags instead of words. The apps also read the caption and what is said or sung in the video. A clear first line (“Live version of Song, out Friday”) helps more than another tag. For that first line and the first seconds on screen, see 30 video hook ideas for musicians.
How to know which ones work
Don't judge a tag by one video. Keep the song tag fixed, change one of the others between similar clips for two weeks, and compare where the views came from in each app's analytics: TikTok and YouTube show traffic sources such as search, and Instagram shows how much of a reel's reach came from people who don't follow you. If a format tag keeps showing up next to clips that are found by new people, keep it.
The bigger lever is still the clip: a strong first second, the chorus early and captions that can be read with the sound off. The full weekly plan is in how to grow on TikTok as a musician and how to promote your music on Instagram.
Hashtags that come with the clip
If you cut your clips with TONTRIA Clips, each one comes with a hook, three titles, a description and a set of hashtags written from what is said or sung in it, in the language of the video. You keep the song and artist tags, trim the rest to fit each app, and paste them with the clip. See titles, descriptions and hashtags for music clips.