The Mop Dance / Mop the Ocean

About

The Mop Dance is a dance trend created by rappers Tisakorean, Kblast and Huncho Da Rockstar and set to their song "The Mop" which was popularized on TikTok throughout the 2020s. In 2023, the dance inspired the Mop the Ocean trend, where users perform it over a caption using the phrasal template, "mop the ocean or X," X being something less desirable than mopping the ocean.

Origin

On November 10th, 2019, rapper Tisakorean posted his song "The Mop" to YouTube,^[1] garnering over 350,000 views in four years (shown below, left). At the start of the video, he and two others do "the mop dance," in which they hold one hand over the other as if gripping a mop and move their arms side-to-side as if mopping. On November 30th, YouTuber^[2] Jmoney1041 posted a video featuring Tisakorean set to the song where they do the dance, garnering over 33 million views in the same span of time (shown below, right).

On December 9th, Tisakorean posted an official music video for the song to YouTube,^[3] garnering over 11 million views in four years (shonw below).

Mop, Mop, Mop, Mop, Mop, Mop, Don't Stop, Mop (Rock Out)
Mop (Ayy)
Mop (Say What?)
Mop (What?)
Don't Stop, Mop, Mop

Spread

The dance became increasingly popular on TikTok throughout 2020. For example, on January 19th, 2020, TikToker^[4] @itzgraape posted a video doing The Mop during lunch at high school, garnering over 1.1 million views in three years (shown below, left). On February 22nd, TikToker^[5] @coreyscherer posted a video doing the dance, garnering over 800,000 views in the same span of time (shown below, right).

On February 28th, YouTuber^[6] One Challenge posted a video compiling various examples of the trend on TikTok, garnering over 700,000 views in three years (shown below).

Mop the Ocean Trend

In late 2023, TikTokers re-popularized the song through a series of videos where they do the dance over the phrasal template "mop the ocean or X," with X being something less desirable to them than mopping the ocean. It is unclear who started the trend, but some of the earliest examples were posted in late November of that year. For example, on November 29th, 2023, TikToker^[7] @s.tevie._ posted a video doing the dance with an actual mop, garnering over 4.5 million views in two weeks (shown below).

On December 7th, TikToker^[8] @bethany_.marie posted a video doing the dance, garnering over 9.3 million views in a week (shown below, left). On December 10th, TikToker^[9] @alessiya_frias_13 posted a version that gained over 3.5 million views in four days (shown below, right).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References