What is Group 7 on TikTok? Viral trend explained

A new trend called 'Group 7' has taken over TikTok over the past few days, so much so that it has traveled to other social media platforms such as X as well.

It all started with Sophia James who goes by @sophiajamesmusic on TikTok. She was one of the participants on American Idol Season 18. She recently did an innovative experiment by posting 7 videos on the platform at once.

Sophia said she intended to test which of the clips from the batch garners the most views. Surprisingly, her experiment turned fruitful and the seventh video from her playful observation gained over 12.3 million views as of October 20.

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Group 7 is for the Community ✍🏽⚡️ pic.twitter.com/VxmEUPyLFn

— Group 7 (@Group7den) October 20, 2025

This new viral fad appears to be one of those inside jokes on TikTok that only a select community gets and sometimes gatekeeps. The reason they don't spill all the beans at once or make an effort to explain the joke accurately is engagement farming.

The more unversed users ask for explanations in the comments and make separate posts about the viral word or phrase, the more traction the trend gets.

Similarly with the new 'Group 7' trend, users who have been there since its inception a few days ago kept using the phrase as if it's an exclusive club with limited membership. Netz are now jokingly describing 'Group 7' as an elite, coveted group, and not just anyone can be a part of it.

From promoting a song to creating a viral trend: Sophia James' 'Group 7' campaign explained

Sophia James recently made a short video about receiving a parking ticket which appears to be quite a frequent occurrence for her. She tuned the clip to her new song So Unfair, seemingly in an attempt to promote the track, which gained around 432K views so far.

In a follow-up video captioned "Post number 2" tuned to the same song, Sophia declared war against the TikTok algorithm:

"Always has been and always will be me vs the algorithm and today I've decided that I am winning."

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If you’re in Group 7 you’re definitely seeing this 😎😂 pic.twitter.com/s3SHY4EyE0

— DomiLobo 🏦 (@CJL2823) October 20, 2025

Sophia opened the envelope containing her parking ticket in the next video titled "Post number 3" and said she had to pay $70. Again, her song So Unfair accompanied the post. In the following 3 videos categorized respectively as Group 4, Group 5, and Group 6 had Sophia used the track with a video subtext that read:

"I am posting a bunch of videos and seeing which ones reach the most viewers. This is the fourth post of the batch so you are group 4"

These posts garnered around 720k, 810K, and 1.1M views resepctively. Finally, in the seventh post from the streak titled 'Group 7', Sophia James said:

"If you're watching this video, you are in Group 7. I have posted 7 videos tonight and this is the 7th one. Just this little science experiment to see what video, what kind of video gets the most reach out of the 7."

Sophia added as she laughed at her own antic:

"I don't know what that says about you but you're in Group 7. Welcome."

Sophia James referred to the viewers who watched the 7th video and contributed to its reach as the ones belonging in 'Group 7'. Commenters soon praised her innovative idea and also lauded her strategy to promote her new song.