Despacito – The Most Watched YouTube Video of All Time
We've mentioned the nice symmetry between music and YouTube before. As in, YouTube is the most used music service and YouTube's most popular video category is music (and by a mile).
But when we found out that Despacito had become the most watched video of all time in just seven months we simply couldn't resist digging a little deeper into the data.
– p11
And critically, people are not really going to YouTube to find some new tunes. They put on stuff that they already know and like. Also, as the Verge rightly points out – as streaming music continues to become the music consumption method of choice, the numbers will only continue to grow bigger and records will keep shattering.
Knowing that streaming is growing and quick – a huge part of the YouTube audience is young, from Latin America and looking for hits – doesn't make Despacito's success so wild, right?
Knowing All This: What Do You Think YouTube's Top 200 of All Time Looks Like?
If you were to say the list is dominated by young, #teaminternet, often latin-leaning, pop megastars perfectly forming the head part of the long tail curve, you'd be exactly right.
This YouTube channel autogenerates a top 500 list of the most viewed YouTube videos of all time. We're only doing the top 200, because it keeps the information more manageable. If you want the full top 500 – tweet loudly.
Just to make sure we all understand the scale of things here, in 200th place of the most viewed YouTube video is Beyoncé's "One of the best videos of all time!" 'Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)' which at the time of writing has 598,065,365 views. That's almost 600 million for those who find numbers confusing. It is also Beyoncé's only entry. In short, these numbers are crazy.
Enough biz talk, let's look at names.
Can you call who's number one?
Just remember, you gotta say it out loud for it to count.
The Era of Music Streaming is Here
Paid music streaming subscription has managed something amazing, and that is increasing revenues in the recording music industry – which famously have been spiralling down for over a decade now. They're calling 2016 a turning point for the industry.
Spotify leads the way, but other key players are Apple Music, Deezer, Google Play, and Amazon. It's therefore quite easy to forget that the actual biggest music service is none of the above.
It's YouTube.
YouTube is the most used music service:
82% of all YouTube visitors use it for music. More people use YouTube to consume music they already know than to discover new content.
– IFPI, 2016
For many users it's important that YouTube is truly free, for example those who are too young to have a credit card, or live in a country the music streaming services haven't reached yet.
A substantial amount of traffic to YouTube comes from outside of the US, with Latin America there at the forefront which sometimes accounts for 40% of all traffic on the platform.
Charlie Puth
002: See You Again with Wiz Khalifa
032: We Don't Talk Anymore ft Selena Gomez
Chris Brown
170. Loyal ft Lil Wayne, Tyga
198. International Love with Pitbull
DJ Snake
012. Lean On with Major Lazer ft MØ
161. Turn Down for What with Lil Jon
Drake
039. Hotline Bling
091. Work ft Rihanna
Ed Sheeran
011. Shape of You (+155. Lyric video)
020. Thinking Out Loud
Eminem
033. Love The Way You Lie ft Rihanna
073. Not Afraid
Fifth Harmony
025. Work from Home ft Ty Dolla $ign
030 Worth It ft Kid Ink
Iggy Azalea
068. Problem with Ariana Grande
118. Fancy ft Charlie XCX
Jason Derulo
127. Wiggle ft Snoop Dogg
172. Swalla ft Nicki Minaj & Ty Dolla $ign
Jennifer Lopez
059. On The Floor ft Pitbull
166. Adrenalina with Wisin ft Ricky Martin
Juicy J
015. Dark Horse with Katy Perry
151. 23 with Mike WiLL Made-IT ft Wiz Khalifa, Miley Cyrus
Lil Wayne
170. Loyal with Chris Brown ft Tyga
186. I'm the One with DJ Khaled ft Justin Bieber, Quavo, Chance the Rapper
Major Lazer
012. Lean On with DJ Snake ft MØ
122. Cold Water ft Justin Bieber & MØ
Maroon 5
009. Sugar
168. One More Night
One Direction
097. What Makes You Beautiful
181. Drag Me Down
Pharrell Williams
080. Happy
185. Safari with J Balvin ft BIA, Sky
PSY
003: Gangnam Style (+ 157. version ft. Hyuna)
058. Gentleman
Twenty One Pilots
064. Stressed Out
112. Heathens
Ty Dolla $ign
025. Work from Home with Fifth Harmony
172. Swalla with Jason Derulo ft Nicki Minaj
Sean Paul
031. Rockabye with Clean Bandit ft Anne-Marie
092. Cheap Thrills with Sia
Wiz Khalifa
002: See You Again ft Charlie Puth
151. 23 with Mike WiLL Made-IT ft Miley Cyrus, Juicy J
Zion & Lennox
139: Otra Vez ft J Balvin
167: Subeme La Radio with Enrique Iglesias ft December Bueno
Adele
016. Hello
051. Rolling in the Deep
090. Someone Like You
The Chainsmokers
019. Closer ft Halsey
113. Don't Let Me Down ft Daya
188. Something Just Like This ft Coldplay
Coldplay
125. Hymn For The Weekend
135. Paradise
188. Something Just Like This ft The Chainsmokers
Ellie Goulding
028. Love Me Like You Do
049. Burn
159. I Need Your Love with Calvin Harris
Miley Cyrus
093. Wrecking Ball
129. We Can't Stop
151. 23 with Mike WiLL Made-IT ft Wiz Khalifa, Juicy J
Ricky Martin
046. Vente Pa'Ca ft Maluma
083. La Mordidita ft Yotuel
166. Adrenalina with Wisin ft Jennifer Lopez
Sam Smith
099. I'm Not The Only One
102. La La La with Naughty Boy
131. Stay With Me
The Weeknd
048. Starboy ft Daft Punk
057. The Hills
116. Can't Feel My Face
Taylor Swift
007. Shake It Off
013. Blank Space
060. Bad Blood ft Kendrick Lamar
137. You Belong With Me
Sia
026. Chandelier
092. Cheap Thrills ft Sean Paul
109. Elastic Heart ft Shia LaBeouf & Maddie Ziegler
149. Titanium with David Guetta
Nicky Jam
045. Hasta el Amanecer
067. El Perdón with Enrique Iglesias
095. Travesuras
114. El Amante
David Guetta
056. Hey Mama ft Nicki Minaj, Bebe Rexha & Afrojack
124. Play Hard ft Ne-Yo, Akon
149. Titanium ft Sia
158. Bad with Showtek ft Vassy
Daddy Yankee
001. Despacito with Luis Fonsi
070. Andas En Mi Cabeza with Chino y Nacho
071. Shaky Shaky
150. Limbo
196. La Rompe Corazones ft Ozuna
Enrique Iglesias
008. Bailando ft December Bueno & Gente De Zona
067. El Perdón with Nicky Jam
153. Duele El Corazon ft Wisin
165. El Perdedor ft Marco Antonio Solís
168. Subeme La Radio ft December bueno, Zion & Lennox
Calvin Harris
022. This Is What You Came For ft Rihanna
052. Summer
054. How Deep Is Your Love ft Disciples
142. We Found Love ft Rihanna
159. I Need Your Love ft Ellie Goulding
Shakira
023. Chantaje ft Maluma
029. Waka Waka (This Time for Africa)
076. La Bicicleta with Carlos Vives
098. La La La (Brazil 2014) ft Carlinhos Brown
117. Can't Remember to Forget You ft Rihanna
Pitbull
059. On The Floor with Jennifer Lopez
084. Timber ft Ke$ha
119. Rain Over Me ft Marc Anthony
175. Give Me Everything ft Ne-Yo, Afrojack, Nayer
198. International Love ft Chris Brown
Ariana Grande
062. Side to Side ft Nicki Minaj
067. Problem ft Iggy Azalea
079. Bang Bang with Jessie J ft Nicki Minaj
096. Break Free ft Zedd
144. Focus
Bruno Mars – 6 Songs
005. Uptown Funk with Mark Ronson
047. The Lazy Song
082. Just The Way You Are
104. That's What I Like
120. 24K Magic
163. Grenade
Maluma – 7 songs
023. Chantaje with Shakira
045. Ricky Martin Vente Pa' Ca with Ricky Martin
073. El Perdedor
110. Sin Contrato
112. Felices los 4
130. Cuatro Babys ft Noriel Bryant Myers, Juhn
138. Borro Cassette
J. Balvin – 7 Songs
034. Ay Vamos
088. 6 AM ft Farruko
128. Ahora Dice with Chris Jeday ft Ozuna Arcángel
139. Otra Vez with Zion & Lennox
145. Ginza
185. Safari ft Pharrell Williams, Bia & Sky
193. Si Tu Novio Te Deja Sola ft Bad Bunny
Nicki Minaj – 7 Songs
056. Hey Mama with David Guetta ft Bebe Rexha & Afrojack
062. Side To Side with Ariana Grande
079. Bang Bang with Jessie J ft Ariana Grande
127. Beauty And A Beat ft Justin Bieber
156. Anaconda
164. Super Bass
173. Swalla with Jason Derulo ft Ty Dolla $ign
Katy Perry – 9 Songs
010. Roar
015. Dark Horse ft Juicy J
069. Firework
078. Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)
134. Wide Awake
160. Hot N Cold
176. Part Of Me
183. This Is How We Do
199. The One That Got Away
Rihanna – 9 Songs
022. This Is What You Came For ft Calvin Harris
033. Love The Way You Lie ft Eminem
066. Diamonds
091. Work ft Drake
117. Can't Remember to Forget You ft Shakira
142. We Found Love ft Calvin Harris
177. Stay ft Mikky Ekko
178. What's My Name? ft Drake
192. Only Girl (In The World)
.... and finally Justin Bieber has 10 Songs in YouTube's Top 200
004. Sorry
021. What Do You Mean?
024. Baby ft Ludacris
044. Love Yourself
054. Never Say Never ft Jaden Smith
081. Where Are Ü Now with Skrillex and Diplo
122. Cold Water with Major Lazer and MØ
127. Beauty And A Beat ft Nicki Minaj1
171. Boyfriend
188. I'm the One with DJ Khaled ft Quavo, Chance the Rapper, Lil Wayne
It's probably safe to call it: Justin Bieber is the king of YouTube, which is also the most listened to music service.
As of the time of writing, he's got 31,031,588 subscribers and has accumulated 15,961,618,597 views from just his Vevo channel, which doesn't include his breakthrough video uploaded in 2008, on his non-vevo channel.
That's over 31 million subscribers, and almost 16 billion views. If YouTube-using Bliebers were a country it'd be about the size of Malaysia. Blieberland would have substantially higher populations than countries such as Australia, the Netherlands, about three times the population of Sweden – and only be about 5 millions short of the population of the original homeland, Canada.
but because we checked, here's link to the playlist on Spotify