We Counted the Hashtags on 5,416 Top YouTube Videos. Here's What They Use

CrestlineSocial Team — Fri, 30 Oct 2026 05:11:30 +0000

Originally published on CrestlineSocial, where the full 50-niche table lives and gets refreshed monthly.

We looked at the top YouTube search results for 50 niche hashtags, from #fitness to #woodworking, and counted every hashtag on the videos and Shorts that came back. In total that's 5,416 videos. The headline: 55% of them carry at least one hashtag, the niche's own tag is the most-used tag in every single niche, and the generic tags people argue about (#viral, #fyp, #trending) show up far less than you'd expect.

Key points

55% of the 5,416 top videos use hashtags. It ranges from 20% in #investing to 88% in #drawing.
In all 50 niches, the niche keyword itself is the most-used tag, on a median 82% of the tagged videos.
#viral appears in the top tags of 25 niches, #fyp in 23 and #trending in 21, but each is used by only a handful of videos per niche.
Craft and visual niches tag the most; finance and phone-tech niches tag the least.
Data refreshed from the same source as our hashtag generator, so you can check any keyword yourself.

How we collected the data

For each of 50 niche keywords we ran a signed-out YouTube search for the hashtag (for example #baking), took the first few pages of results (videos and Shorts together, about 100 per niche), and extracted every hashtag in each video's title and description snippet. We then counted, per niche, how many videos used each tag. Tags that are platform noise (#shorts, #youtubeshorts, #subscribe) were dropped, and we excluded the sample for any niche where the niche tag itself appeared on fewer than two videos. Searches were run from the United States on 30 October 2026.

Two limits worth stating. Search results favour popular videos, so this describes what successful videos do, not what the average upload does. And a description snippet is truncated, so videos that bury hashtags at the end of a long description are undercounted.

How many top videos use hashtags?

2,982 of 5,416, or 55%. That's a lower share than most "always add hashtags" advice implies. The spread between niches is wide:

Lowest		Highest
#investing	20%	#drawing	88%
#crypto	22%	#art	86%
#iphone	22%	#hair	86%
#realestate	27%	#woodworking	85%
#android	28%	#diy	83%

The pattern is consistent: hands-on, visual niches (drawing, hair, art, woodworking, DIY) tag heavily, which fits a Shorts-driven feed where hashtags double as topic labels. Money and phone-tech niches tag the least; their top results skew to longer videos from established channels that rely on titles and chapters instead.

Is the niche keyword always the top tag?

Yes, in all 50 niches. On a median 82% of tagged videos, the single most common tag is the niche word itself. The second tag is usually a close synonym or the parent topic: #gym under #fitness, #art under #drawing, #outdoors under #camping, #cooking under #recipe. That's the practical rule: one exact tag for the topic, one broader parent, then specifics.

Do #viral, #fyp and #trending actually show up?

They're common across niches but thin within each one. #viral makes the top-tag list in 25 of 50 niches, #fyp in 23, #trending in 21. Yet in a typical niche each of those is on 5 to 15 videos out of roughly 60 tagged ones. In other words, most top videos in a niche don't use them. We can't say whether they help or hurt from this data; we can say they're not what the top results have in common.

The full table: top tags by niche

Niche	Videos sampled	With hashtags	Own tag	Next most used
#ai	132	33%	88%	#chatgpt, #funny, #viral, #aiart, #comedy
#android	157	28%	64%	#tech, #samsung, #apple, #techtok, #iphone
#art	83	86%	86%	#drawing, #artist, #digitalart, #illustration, #painting
#asmr	100	52%	94%	#asmrvideo, #asmrsounds, #explore, #trending, #relax
#baking	89	73%	88%	#recipe, #cookies, #dessert, #cooking, #food
#camping	95	80%	99%	#outdoors, #bushcraft, #survival, #forest, #useful
#cars	80	72%	53%	#car, #viral, #automobile, #toys, #bmw
#cats	117	54%	56%	#cat, #funny, #kitten, #catvideos, #funnycats
#cleaning	111	72%	69%	#cleanwithme, #cleaningmotivation, #cleantok, #howto, #cleaningtips
#coding	97	42%	83%	#programming, #python, #javascript, #lowcode, #ai
#comedy	109	59%	83%	#funny, #standupcomedy, #trending, #viral, #relatable
#cooking	77	68%	75%	#food, #recipe, #asmr, #funny, #dinner
#crypto	125	22%	74%	#bitcoin, #xrp, #trading, #binance
#diy	115	83%	83%	#craft, #art, #squishy, #handmade, #diycrafts
#dogs	108	61%	52%	#dog, #puppy, #funny, #goldenretriever, #husky
#drawing	78	88%	81%	#art, #howtodraw, #sketch, #artist, #tutorial
#fashion	98	82%	89%	#style, #ootd, #trending, #outfitideas, #outfit
#finance	122	47%	88%	#money, #wealth, #investing, #business, #podcast
#fitness	99	66%	82%	#gym, #workout, #motivation, #trending, #bodybuilding
#fortnite	105	55%	91%	#gaming, #fortniteshorts, #fortniteclips, #epicpartner, #halobt
#gaming	101	68%	88%	#fortnite, #games, #funny, #gameplay, #ps5
#gardening	97	55%	74%	#garden, #plants, #harvest, #gardeningtips, #agriculture
#guitar	122	55%	85%	#guitarist, #music, #guitartutorial, #guitartone, #guitarcover
#gym	95	68%	86%	#fitness, #workout, #motivation, #gymmotivation, #transformation
#hair	110	86%	82%	#hairstyle, #hairtutorial, #curlyhair, #hairtok, #haircare
#hiking	122	37%	78%	#outdoors, #hike, #hikingadventures, #backpacking, #camping
#homedecor	141	48%	56%	#interiordesign, #diy, #home, #viral, #trending
#investing	106	20%	76%	#money, #stocks, #finance, #wealth, #trading
#iphone	144	22%	55%	#apple, #iphoneduo, #tech, #iphone18pro, #unboxing
#makeup	89	73%	85%	#beauty, #makeuptutorial, #skincare, #fyp, #halloween
#math	101	56%	65%	#maths, #mathematics, #school, #education, #multiplication
#minecraft	110	37%	76%	#jj, #minecraftshorts, #animation, #gaming
#motorcycle	94	65%	92%	#biker, #bikelife, #funny, #harleydavidson, #automobile
#music	118	59%	71%	#song, #viral, #dance, #trending, #love
#parenting	110	61%	81%	#momlife, #parentingtips, #funny, #parents, #gentleparenting
#photography	95	65%	81%	#creative, #streetphotography, #camera, #photo, #ideas
#piano	124	51%	81%	#pianotutorial, #music, #funny, #pianocover, #tutorial
#podcast	138	45%	87%	#funny, #comedy, #lolpodcast, #yolanda, #ninjasarebutterflies
#python	102	40%	73%	#coding, #programming, #snake, #got7, #갓세븐
#realestate	148	27%	50%	#realtor, #dubai, #luxury, #rental, #nyc
#recipe	113	65%	88%	#food, #cooking, #viral, #trending, #easyrecipe
#roblox	100	57%	93%	#robloxshorts, #funny, #stealanegg, #robloxanimation, #memes
#running	106	54%	84%	#runner, #run, #runningtips, #fitness, #workout
#skincare	81	54%	80%	#skincareroutine, #beauty, #skincaretips, #skin, #glassskin
#study	131	47%	89%	#studywithme, #studyvlog, #studymotivation, #studytips, #motivation
#tech	90	60%	94%	#apple, #technology, #iphone, #smartphone, #iphoneduo
#travel	89	76%	96%	#explore, #trip, #vacation, #nature, #adventure
#vegan	104	38%	62%	#veganfood, #plantbased, #food, #veganrecipes, #recipe
#woodworking	97	85%	91%	#diy, #wood, #tools, #tips, #handmade
#yoga	141	54%	88%	#motivation, #fitness, #viral, #mobility, #trending

What to do with this

Lead with the exact niche tag. It's the one thing every niche's top videos share.
Add the parent topic and one or two specifics. #recipe → #food, #cooking, #easyrecipe. Three to five tags covers what the top videos do.
Don't count on #viral or #fyp. Use them if you like, but the top results mostly don't.
Check your own keyword. Our TikTok hashtag generator and Instagram hashtag generator run this same count live for any keyword, with the number of top videos using each tag.

If you're using this to plan a YouTube channel, our guide to YouTube tags and hashtags covers the difference between the two, and YouTube's own rules for hashtags. And if a new channel needs its first push, see our YouTube views packages.

Reuse this data

You're welcome to quote or reproduce these tables with a link to this page. Email support@crestlinesocial.com if you want the raw per-video counts.

Hashtag study FAQ

Does this mean hashtags make videos rank?

No. It shows what top-ranked videos have in common, not what caused the ranking. YouTube says hashtags mainly help people find videos on a topic.

Why YouTube rather than Instagram or TikTok?

YouTube publishes search results without a login, so the count can be repeated by anyone. Instagram and TikTok don't expose hashtag data publicly.

How often will you refresh it?

The hashtag generators refresh each keyword every few hours. We plan to re-run the 50-niche table monthly.

DEV Community: CrestlineSocial Team