15 most watched videos in YouTube history

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

The list includes 14 music videos and one children's cartoon.

YouTube went live in 2005. In the same year, the first video with a million views appeared on the site - a Nike ad featuring the football player Ronaldinho. In 2012, PSY's Gangnam Style music video was released, which was the first to reach a billion views.

But the video for the song of the Korean artist has long been not the most popular in the video service, although it still holds the bar. Below are the 15 most watched videos in YouTube history.

15. Major Lazer, DJ Snake, MØ - Lean On

Lean On is an electronic dance track that has reached number one on the charts in many countries, including Australia, the Netherlands and Finland. The song also reached the top of the US and UK charts.

Most of the video was filmed in the Indian state of Maharashtra. But the filming of individual shots was carried out in Stockholm.

14. Enrique Iglesias, Dessemer Bueno, Gente de Zona - Bailando

13. OneRepublic - Counting Stars

The song Counting Stars is very close to Bailando. It was the first OneRepublic music video to reach a billion views on YouTube. The video is also included in the list of 30 videos with the most likes.

12. Ed Sheeran - Thinking Out Loud

Ed Sheeran is one of the most popular artists not only on YouTube, but also, for example, on Spotify. In this video, he dances with a participant in the American show So You Think You Can Dance. According to some reports, Sheeran had to train five hours a day for several weeks while on tour.

11. Taylor Swift - Shake it Off

The words Haters gonna hate immortalized Shake it Off and turned the song into a worldwide hit. Some even believe that this is the very track that gave rise to a popular phrase, but in fact it originates from at least the old Playas Gon’Play track by the American R&B group 3LW.

10. Katy Perry - Roar

Roar is a fairly standard pop song, which nevertheless ended up on the first lines of the charts in several countries at once. When the song came out, fans accused Perry of copying Sara Barellis's Brave track. The latter, however, did not file charges of plagiarism.

9. Pinkfong - Baby Shark Dance

A children's song about the shark family has gone viral thanks to Korean educational project Pinkfong. This version of the song begins with bars from "Symphony No. 9" by Czech composer Antonín Dvořák, which are reminiscent of the music from the movie Jaws.

8. Maroon 5 - Sugar

This video is the most innovative on the list. The group teamed up with the director of the comedy "Crashers" David Dobkin. Together they traveled throughout Los Angeles, unexpectedly burst into weddings and stunned the newlyweds with their appearance.

So the clip turned out. At each wedding, only one person knew that a group would come, but which one was not announced.

7. Justin Bieber - Sorry

It was not the once popular Baby Bieber that made the top 15, but his 2015 hit Sorry. However, despite the fact that the song is quite memorable, the video for it does not deserve special attention. The video consists entirely of monotonous dances on a white background.

6. PSY - Gangnam Style

The track has become a real phenomenon. He hit the first lines of the charts in 30 countries, the dance moves from the video were performed by world leaders and sports stars. And UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called the song "an impetus for world peace." PSY's next creation, Gentleman, turned out to be far less popular.

5. Bruno Mars, Mark Ronson - Uptown Funk

Sounding like 80s funk, Uptown Funk was the most popular song in the US for 14 weeks. The track has won two Grammy Awards and one BRIT Awards.

This song was also accused of plagiarism. There have been five different lawsuits against Mars and Ronson. Two of them were settled out of court, and as a result of one, the official list of singers for the song expanded significantly. Two more cases are still pending.

4. "Masha and the Bear" - "Masha plus porridge"

The 17th episode of the children's animated series "Masha and the Bear" is the most popular non-music video on YouTube, and also the fourth in this list. In this episode, an overly active girl made a lot of porridge and fed her to everyone she could.

3. Wiz Khalifa, Charlie Puth - See You Again

The Fast and Furious 7 soundtrack track commemorates Paul Walker, the star of the hit film franchise. Walker died in a car accident in 2013 while filming was still in progress. In the remaining scenes, Paul was replaced by his brothers Caleb and Cody.

2. Ed Sheeran - Shape of You

Ed Sheeran became the only performer with two videos on the list. Shape of You is a pop song with expressive Jamaican motives. The musician features American dancer Jenny Peguski and former sumo wrestler Yamamotoyama Ryuta in the video.

1. Luis Fonsi, Daddy Yankee - Despacito

Reggaeton hit Despacito soared to the top of the charts in 47 countries and reached the top 10 in six more. This is the first Spanish-language recording to reach the top position on the US charts. The previous one was Macarena in 1996.

The video for the song gained a billion views faster than the others - in just 97 days. It took Gangnam Style five months.