Let’s be honest, YouTube reinvents itself every day. For over 15years, the massive platform has been the reason behind the success of several artists. Gone are the days when the most-watched videos tended to go viral. With changing times, YouTube evolved and now every music fan is aware of the fact that for a music video to go viral, it requires millions of views.
Entering into YouTube’s exclusive billion views club is a dream that almost every artist cultures and in recent years many artists have broken records by crossing the set benchmark. With that, let’s take a look at YouTube’s 10 Most-Watched Music Videos of all times.
- Despacito” – Luis Fonsi feat. Daddy Yankee (7 billion views)
Release date: January 12, 2017
Well, there was a time when everyone thought that nobody could beat the popularity of the Gangnam style. And, yet here we are. Despacito’s breakthrough hit in 2017 proved that YouTube’s popularity is ever-increasing. The Spanish song took no time to consume the global market and soon became a global phenomenon. Sung in Spanish by Puerto Rican singer Luis Fonsi, the music video was an instant crowd-pleaser.
It topped the charts of around forty-seven countries and was the first song to get its entry into the Billboard 100 in Spanish in over 20 years.
Despacito was the first-ever YouTube video to have achieved the milestone of both three and four billion views and went ahead to become YouTube’s All-time Number 1 spot in August 2017.
- Shape of You” – Ed Sheeran (5 billion views)
Release date: 6 January 2017
There was a time when o matter where you went, there always seemed to be Ed Sheeran’s songs being played. In 2017, Ed Sheeran released a blockbuster hit named Shaped of You as a digital download and included it in his third studio album as well.
Shape of You made it to Number 1 on the singles charts of around 44 countries and also topped the Year-end Hot 100 singles in 2017. The song was nominated for Best Solo Pop Performance at the 60th Annual Grammy Awards. The video received over 750 million views to date and is also one of the first videos to reach over 1 billion views on YouTube.
- See You Again” – Wiz Khalifa feat. Charlie Puth (4.7 billion views)
Release date: March 10, 2015
This was the video that completely shattered Gangnam style’s record and remained at the Number One position I YouTube from July 10 to August 4 in 2017. The song was written as a tribute to the late actor Paul Walker and was also commissioned as the theme for the movie Furious 7.
See You Again enjoyed 12 weeks at the top of the US Billboard 100 and soon reached the Number One position in few countries. The video holds records for being the most-streamed track in a single day on Spotify in the US. In 2015, it was the best selling song in the world.
- Uptown Funk” – Mark Ronson feat. Bruno Mars (3.9 billion views)
Release date: 10 November 2014
Recorded by British record producer, Mark Ronson along with American singer-songwriter, Bruno Mars, the song spent 14 consecutive weeks at the Number 1 spot on the US Billboard 100. It also reached Number 1 in the charts in other countries.
The song won 2 Grammy Awards including the Record of the Year award and in 2015; it became the second best-selling single. The video gathered over 2.8 billion views to date.
- Gangnam Style” – PSY (3.8 billion views)
Release date: December 21, 2012
Sounds weird, but Gangnam Style was an unexpectedly massive hit to be released on YouTube. The music video shows Psy poking fun at the style of Seoul’s Gangnam-gu and claims to be focused on a flashy district with high expectations, high rents, and a high-end lifestyle.
The song soon overtook Justin Bieber’s hit record to receive over 803700000 views to fetch the Number 1 position on YouTube and stayed there for over 1689 days.
Gangnam Style is the first-ever record to reach 1 billion views on YouTube. It is also the most rated video until February 2017 and also the most liked one until August 2016. The song holds the record for being the fastest video to reach 1 billion views.
- Sorry (PURPOSE: The Movement)” – Justin Bieber (3.3 billion views)
Release date: October 22, 2015
No matter how much unbelievable it sounds but yes, Justin Bieber has a song on YouTube’s Top 10. Bieber is one of the most prominent symbols visible on YouTube and even if he doesn’t have more videos in that range but does secure positions 23 and 24 in the charts.
Sorry, that comes from Bieber’s studio album Purpose topped the charts n 13 countries. In 2016, people bought over 10 million copies of the track.
The song was mainly intended to be a lyric video but became the main one soon thereafter. Sorry became the fifth-fastest YouTube video to have reached 1 billion views and also the fourth fastest to reach 2 billion views.
- Sugar – Maroon 5 (3.3 billion views)
Release date: January 13, 2015
Sugar peaked at Number 2 on the US Billboard 100.
The video shows Maroon 5 crashing weddings in Los Angeles and trusts us when we say, it was not staged. Maroon 5 crashed the weddings being shown in the video. Each groom was given some prior notice ad they agreed to let an unnamed yet famous band play at their wedding. Overall it was an amazing experience for the band and everybody surely loved the experience as they had no idea who was playing at the wedding.
- “Roar” – Katy Perry (3.1 billion views)
Release date: August 10, 2013
There is hardly any person who has not seen the Katy Perry video for Roar. Watching Katy Perry in a jungle populated with wild animals was surely an eye-catcher. Roar comes as the lead single from her album Prism and the lyrics mainly focus on standing up for self-empowerment. The song was quickly certified as Diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America, which made her the first-ever artist to have three Diamond Awards under her cover.
The fictional video shows Katy adapting to a jungle lifestyle after she had survived a plane crash and even tames a tiger.
The elite music video received over one billion views on YouTube and in 2015; Katy Perry became the first artist to have had two music videos under her name that exceeded the milestone.
- “Thinking Out Loud” – Ed Sheeran (3.1 billion views)
Release date: September 24, 2014
Recorded by English singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran for his second studio album, Thinking Out Loud spent almost 19 weeks within the Top 40 in the UK before it finally peaked at the Number 1 spot in November 2014. The song is Sheeran’s second number-one single to have reached there.
In June 2015, Thinking Out Loud became the first single that pent one full year in the UK Top 40, and in 2015 it became the first song to have been streamed 500 million times on Spotify.
- “Counting Stars” – OneRepublic (3 billion views)
Release date: June 14, 2013
Coming from American pop rock band OneRepublic’s third studio album Native, Counting Stars reached the Number 1 spot in several countries including Canada, and the UK. The song features the band performing on a gloomy floor, with scenes of people in a religious revival service, dancing along with the tunes of the song, before one person falls from the top floor to join the band.
The mega-hit song received over three billion views on YouTube and is the first-ever music video being released by a group to have received that amount of views.