YouTube was created in 2005, with the first-ever video – Me at the Zoo – being uploaded on 23 April 2005. Since then approximately 1.3 billion people have set up YouTube accounts. In 2018, people watch nearly 5 billion videos each day. People upload 300 hours of video to the site every minute. According to the research of Pexeso, music only channels have 4.3% of YouTube’s overall content but still, it makes 11% of the views.
On the other hand, most subscribed YouTube channels fall under entertainment and gaming categories. This younger generation of internet users agreed to YouTube as the most trusted social media platform in the world. Eager to know which is the most viewed video on Youtube, then this article will explain the top 10 most viewed YouTube videos of all time.
Top 10 most viewed YouTube videos
- Katy Perry — Roar (3.01 billion)
- Maroon 5 — Sugar (3.13 billion)
- Justin Bieber — Sorry (3.25 billion)
- PSY — Gangnam Style (3.52 billion)
- Mark Ronson — Uptown Funk ft. Bruno Mars (3.78 billion)
- Masha and the Bear — Recipe for Disaster (4.42 billion)
- Wiz Khalifa — See You Again ft. Charlie Puth (4.43 billion)
- Pinkfong — Baby Shark Dance (4.61 billion)
- Ed Sheeran — Shape of You (4.63 billion)
- Luis Fonsi — Despacito ft. Daddy Yankee (6.64 billion)
10. Katy Perry — Roar (3.01 billion)
Katy Perry’s Roar as the lead single for her 2013 album, “Prism” The lyrics focus on standing up for yourself and self-empowerment. The song was a huge success. Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) was certified this song as Diamond and she is the first artist to have three Diamond Awards.
9. Maroon 5 — Sugar (3.13 billion)
Sugar was recorded by Maroon 5 for their fifth studio album, “V.” It was released as a single on January 14, 2015. It would be the biggest hit from that year if it also joined by Justin Bieber’s Sorry and W. Khalifa’s See You Again. This video song was peaked at Number 2 position on the US Billboard 100.
In the video, Maroon 5 has genuinely crashed the weddings shown across Los Angeles. The production team worked with wedding planners to find suitable wedding scenes for the video. The band found it a fantastic experience. Some of the grooms got cold feet and had to be talked into allowing the activity to take place. Everybody loved the surprise, however. Adam Levine stated, “It was an out of body experience. I had no idea I would be affected by the overwhelming reactions we received from the couples and guests.”
8. Justin Bieber — Sorry (3.25 billion)
It’s no surprise that Justin Bieber appeared in the top 10 most-watched YouTube videos. Sorry comes from Justin Bieber’s fourth studio album, “Purpose” and it was released on October 23, 2015. The sorry song hits 3.25 billion views on YouTube and selling 10 million copies in 2016 alone and topped the charts in 13 countries. Justin Bieber became the second musical artist to achieve a 1 billion views video on YouTube by his Baby song.
The reason for the success of this particular Sorry song is Biber, recruit lively dancers from New Zealand’s ReQuest Dance Crew and makeover with colorful outfits and lively dance moves to make up for the potentially depressing lyrics.
7. PSY — Gangnam Style (3.52 billion)
In YouTube’s video history, Psy’s Gangnam Style was one of the unexpected mega-hit video songs and it becoming the very first YouTube video viewed more than a billion times.
Psy’s official YouTube account uploaded this video on July 15, 2012. Within three months, that is on November 24th that year, Gangnam Style overtook Justin Bieber’s record views of 803,700,000 and ranked number 1 spot on YouTube. This song has stayed in #1 position for an incredible 1,689 days. This video has few more YouTube records such as the most rated video until February 2017, most liked video until August 2016 and most discussed video on Social Media.
6. Mark Ronson — Uptown Funk ft. Bruno Mars (3.78 billion)
UpTown Funk was recorded by British record producer, Mark Ronson, along with American singer/songwriter, Bruno Mars. It was released as a single on 10 November 2014. This song was spent consecutive of 14 weeks at Number 1 on the US Billboard 100 and also reached 1st position in the charts in many other countries.
UpTown Funk became the second best selling single track of 2015 and it also won two Grammy Awards.
5. Masha and the Bear — Recipe for Disaster (4.42 billion)
Recipe for Disaster is by far the most unusual video on this list and mainly its not a music video. It’s the most popular non-music video of all time on YouTube. This particular video is a Russian version technically called Маша и Медведь (Masha and The Bear) – Маша плюс каша. This video is one of the episodes from the Russian CGI-animated TV show for kids, Masha and the Bear.
This show is more popular outside its home country Russia. This channel’s many episodes are high views on YouTube videos. Netflix and NBCUniversal also broadcast as collective episode formats. Get Movies, the YouTube channel that uploaded Recipe for Disaster episode and increased their viewers count just from this one specific video.
4. Wiz Khalifa — See You Again ft. Charlie Puth (4.43 billion)
Wiz Khalifa and Charlie Puth’s See You Again is tie-up with Furious 7 to its promotion which is the first video on this list to movie tie in the list. It serves as a tribute to Paul Walker, the former Hollywood star of the Fast Saga who died in 2013.
See You Again was stood YouTube’s Number 1 position from July 10 to August 4, 2017, that finally broke “ PSY’s Gangnam Style” top rank record. Just only 25 days, until Despacito made its premiere on YouTube and crossed the See You Again’s views. It was also the most liked video between August 26, 2016, and July 25, 2017, and it became the 2nd video to pass the 2 billion view mark and right now it’s one of only five videos viewed more than 4 billion times. It also has the record for the most-streamed track in a single day on Spotify in the US.
3. Pinkfong — Baby Shark Dance (4.61 billion)
Baby Shark is a children’s song about a family of sharks which is originated from a campfire song or chant. This most popular Baby Shark video is labeled Baby Shark Dance. Baby Shark Dance, produced by Korean pop manufacturer Pinkfong. This song earned more than 4.6 billion views worldwide. This version of the song has encouraged an online dance craze and it also referred to as Baby Shark Challenge.
2. Ed Sheeran — Shape of You (4.63 billion)
Ed Sheeran’s “Shape of You” song was uploaded on 30th January 2017, after that this song made it to Number 1 on the singles charts of 44 countries. At the end of 2017, it topped the Billboard Year-End Hot 100 Singles of that year. This song was also nominated for Best Pop Solo Performance at the 60th Annual Grammy Awards.
It holds records as the third-fastest video to reach a billion views and is the second-fastest to reach 2 billion and 3 billion views as well. Ed Sheeran has also performed a cameo role in an episode of “Game of Thrones.” after this song’s huge success.
1. Luis Fonsi — Despacito ft. Daddy Yankee (6.64 billion)
In an American owned video platform and dominated by English-speaking content, its very surprise that Spanish song was ranked top of all-time YouTube Videos views. Most of the people don’t understand (except for Spanish) song lyrics, but everyone loved this song. Featuring Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee, Despacito video was uploaded on January 12, 2017, and now it stands on the number one position with about 6.64 billion views.
The song topped the charts of 47 countries and entered the Top 10 in ten other countries. This was the first song to top the Billboard 100 in Spanish in 20 years. Surprisingly, Justin Bieber released a remix version of this song, where he sang some lines in English, but it didn’t reach much rather than helped the original’s YouTube performance.
I hope you all like this content. By upcoming years, the position may change. So now sit calm, watch and enjoy the top highest viewed YouTube videos.
