"Fluffing a Duck" by Kevin MacLeod

Submission 944

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About

"Fluffing a Duck" is a royalty-free song by Kevin MacLeod most often used as background music to set a bright, cheery or comedic mood. The song was released online in 2010 and became notably popularized on TikTok throughout the 2020s as an original sound. In February 2024, the song saw an increase in virality after Universal Music Group removed its music from TikTok, inspiring a dance meme in which TikTokers dance to the song under captions like, "TikTok dances in 2024 now that UMG has removed all the best songs."

Origin

"Fluffing a Duck" was first uploaded to Incompetech^[1] as a royalty-free song on October 31st, 2010. On September 23rd, 2013, it was uploaded to the RoyaltyFreeMusic YouTube^[2] page, with the artist behind the song, Kevin MacLeod, who is well known for his royalty-free songs, uploading it to his own YouTube^[3] channel later on January 30th, 2023, garnering over 922,000 views in a year (shown below).

Spread

The original sound for "Fluffing a Duck" became notably popularized on TikTok throughout the 2020s, garnering over 400,000 uses under its official original sound^[4] by February 2024. The song is most often used as a general backing track for lighthearted, comedic videos.

On January 11th, 2024, Vulture^[5] published an interview with MacLeod in which he talks about "Fluffing a Duck" being used at the 2024 Golden Globes awards (shown below).

TikTok Dances In 2024 Trend

In February 2024, TikTokers began using the song in dance videos after UMG removed their music from the app, resulting in some of the most popular music (including songs by artists like Taylor Swift) leaving the platform. While it's unconfirmed who started the trend, on February 2nd, 2024, TikTokers^[6]^[7] @havenlough and @nianaguerrero posted videos dancing to "Fluffing a Duck," garnering over 11 million views and 82.4 million views respectively in four days (shown below, left and right).

On February 4th, TikToker^[8] @macface523 posted a video dancing to the song, captioned, "Song is lowkey fire🔥," garnering over 1.5 million views in two days. On February 5th, Business Insider^[9] published an article on the song's popularity.