The 15 Most Viewed YouTube Videos Ever
The most-viewed YouTube videos of all time each account for over 2 billion clicks. But which YouTube videos are the most successful ever?
In this, we list the top 15 most-viewed YouTube videos of all time. And while not all of them will appeal to you, they’re worth watching to see what’s big on YouTube.
15. LooLoo Kids—Jonny Jonny, Yes Papa
Number of views: 2.82 billion
The first of three videos for kids that make the list of the most-viewed YouTube videos of all-time is LooLoo Kids’ Jonny Jonny, Yes Papa.
The song has its origins in Kenya. It was first uploaded to YouTube by a nursery rhyme channel in 2009, but it was the 2016 version by LooLoo Kids that worked viral—mainly thanks to Twitter.
14. Enrique Iglesias—Bailando
Number of views: 2.83 billion
The first reggaeton song on the list is Bailando by Enrique Iglesias. Although Iglesias also published the song in English and Portuguese, it is the Spanish-language account that has garnered the most attention.
Indeed, it was the first Spanish-language video on YouTube to collect more other than 1 billion views.
13. Taylor Swift—Shake It Off
Number of views: 2.88 billion
“Haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate.”
That single lyric immortalized Shake It Off, turning it into a worldwide hit, composing an endless sea of memes, and even obtaining a shoutout on The Big Bang Theory from Sheldon Cooper.
12. Ed Sheeran—Thinking Out Loud
Number of views: 2.92 billion
Ed Sheeran is one of the most popular artists on Spotify, and his success has clearly changed over to YouTube.
The video features Sheeran doing a ballroom dance with a candidate from US show, So You Think You Can Dance. Prior to firing, the singer had to learn the basic moves. He reportedly reached for five hours a day for rare weeks while on tour.
11. OneRepublic—Counting Stars
Number of views: 2.93 billion
This 2013 hit from the American band OneRepublic hit the whole one in 12 countries around the world upon its discharge, including the US, the UK, Mexico, Poland, Canada, Brazil, and Israel.
It was the first video by a band to reach 1 billion views on YouTube.
10. Katy Perry—Roar
Number of views: 3.02 billion
Katy Perry’s Roar is a middle-of-the-road pop song that failed to number one in several countries.
Upon release, many fans blamed the song of copying Sara Bareilles’ track, Brave. Bareilles
she jumped down the furor.
9. Maroon Five—Sugar
Number of views: 3.14 billion
The video for Maroon Five’s Sugar is the most innovative on this list. The band partnered with Wedding Crashers director David Dobkin and traveled around Los Angeles to surprise couples at their marriages.
The video is entirely genuine. For each wedding stressed, only one attendee knew about the surprise band, and they were not told the band’s personality.
8. Justin Bieber Sorry
Number of views: 3.25 billion
Bieber’s only song in the top 15 isn’t the once-popular Baby. Instead, it’s his 2015 hit, Sorry.
Fair warning, the song is catchy, but the video is tragically bad (unless you like constant dance movements and have a fashion sense from the mid-1990s). We imagine lots of people wish they could delete this video from YouTube. Luckily,
7. Psy—Gangnam Style
Number of views: 3.53 billion
You knew it was coming, didn’t you? Along with the song in the top slot (no peeking), it’s arguably one of just two videos in the top 15 that’s been a bona fide global event.
It was the whole one in 30 counties, world leaders and sports stars made the dance moves, and United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, said it was a “force for world peace.” Psy even met with Ki-moon at the UN headquarters in New York.
Number of views: 3.79 billion
Drawing heavily on the sounds of the 1980s funk music, Uptown Funk was the number one song in the U.S. for 14 consecutive weeks. In the end-of-year awards programs, it picked up two Grammys and a Brit.
Sadly, it’s another song that’s remained firm by accusations of plagiarism and copyright infringement; Ronson and Mars have been sued on five separate occasions. Two of the cases were settled out of court, one appeared in more artists being added to the track’s official list of songwriters, and two cases are still ongoing at the time of summarizing.
5. Masha and The Bear—Recipe for Disaster (Ep. 17)
Number of views: 4.23 billion
Um, what? You weren’t expecting that, were you? We definitely weren’t.
Masha and The Bear—Recipe for Disaster (Episode 17) is the most viewed non-music video on YouTube and is fifth in the all-time list.
The animated kids’ show—which is originally in Russian but has been called into many languages—tells the story of Masha and her pet bear as they try to stay out of trouble. In this event, Masha cooks too much porridge and fixes her forest homeland in danger.
4. Wiz Khalifa—See You Again ft. Charlie Puth
Number of views: 4.44 billion
See You Again was written for the movie Furious 7 and is meant as a tribute song for the franchise’s deceased former star, Paul Walker.
The movie was in the middle of filming when Walker died in a car accident in 2013. Walker’s colleagues, Caleb and Cody, were used as stand-ins to make filming the excellent scenes.
3. Ed Sheeran—Shape of You
Number of views: 4.64 billion
Ed Sheeran joins Katy Perry as the other artist with two videos on the list. The Shape of You is a pop song that draws heavily on Jamaican dancehall music. It lasted the whole of one in 34 countries.
2. Pinkfong—Baby Shark Dance
Number of views: 4.67 billion
Baby Shark started life as a campfire song by Eren Newton. The Pinkfong version—created by a knowledge company in South Korea—was uploaded in late 2015 and immediately went viral.
It was an immediate hit among parents and young children and is now the most-viewed educational video of all-time.
1. Luis Fonsi—Despacito ft. Daddy Yankee
Number of views: 6.65 billion
Luis Fonsi’s reggaeton hit Despacito was another global megahit. The song sank to number one in 47 countries and made the Top 10 in a further six. It enhanced the first Spanish-language record to go to number one in the US since Macarena managed the feat in 1996.
The song also set a record for the quickest song to reach one billion views, taking just 97 days. In opposition, it took Gangnam Style five months to achieve the same stage.
