SoundCloud names likes as a recommendation input in two of its own documents, and publishes no weighting for them in either.
The specific one is Related tracks, which SoundCloud says are "selected by an algorithm that returns recommendations through a network of relations and interactions on SoundCloud (for example a user liked a track, a user followed another user, a track is reposted etc.)". A like is given as an example of the relations that network is built from.
The second is the Terms of Use, which says recommendations are "based on numerous parameters, including how you use and interact with the Platform (for example, your likes, comments and play durations); how other users (such as people you follow or who follow you) use and interact with the Platform", and names surfaces including "More of What you Like" and "Artists You Should Follow". Likes are on the list; the list is unordered and carries no weights.
SoundCloud also says its Popular tracks ranking includes "engagement data from the past 90 days" only, and that it renamed the feature from Top tracks "since overall play counts on tracks are not the only metric that feed into the underlying algorithm". In that ranking, then, engagement other than plays is read, and only engagement from the last 90 days is read.
What this does not do. SoundCloud publishes no exchange rate between likes, plays, reposts and comments, so any multiplier you have read is invented. It publishes no chart threshold or window. Its Amplify programme, which feeds the Buzzing playlists, matches tracks to listeners on "autoplay, user activity, and listening history", which SoundCloud says "naturally weeds out bots" — purchased engagement is not a route into it. And while likes sit on SoundCloud's own list of inputs, nothing SoundCloud publishes tells you what a like from an account you did not earn is worth on that list. Treat it as one input, not a lever.