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YouTube is an American video-sharing website headquartered inSan Bruno, California. The site indicates view counts of each uploaded video, making it possible to keep track of the most viewed, many of which continue to exist while others are no longer available on the site. Although the most-viewed were initiallyviral videos uploaded by amateur content creators, such as "Evolution of Dance" and "Charlie Bit My Finger", they have increasingly becomemusic videos produced on behalf of professional recording artists. SinceLady Gaga's "Bad Romance" in 2009, every video that has reached the top of the "most-viewed YouTube videos" list has been a music video.
In November 2005, aNike advertisement featuring Brazilian football playerRonaldinho became the first video to reach 1,000,000 views.[1] The billion-view mark was first passed byGangnam Style in December 2012. On January 13, 2022,Pinkfong's "Baby Shark" became the first video to hit 10,000,000,000 views.[2]
Views represent how many times a video is watched. To ensure that traffic is coming from actual humans and not scripts or other deceptive methods, YouTube has a secret algorithm to separate legitimate views from illegitimate ones, and only legitimate views are included in the view count.[3] Specifically, to count as a legitimate view, a user must intentionally initiate the playback of the video and play at least 30 seconds of the video (or the entire video for shorter videos). Additionally, while replays count as views, there is a limit of 4 or 5 views perIP address during a 24-hour period, after which point, no further views from that IP are counted until the 24-hour period expires.[4][5]
Top videos
The following table lists the top 30 most-viewed videos onYouTube, with each total rounded to the nearest 10 million views, uploader, and publication date. Note that some videos may not be available worldwide due toregional restrictions in certain countries.[6]
An early metric of a video's popularity was the so-called Billion-View Club, denoting videos which had succeeded in reaching over 1 billion views since their initial upload.[55]
In December 2012, "Gangnam Style" became the first video to reach one billion views.[32] By June 2015, only "Baby" had also managed to pass this threshold, but, by October 2015, a total of ten videos had done so,[55] and the number grew further to over 400 in 2024.[56]
Older videos that pre-dated the launch of YouTube in 2005 but were added later to pass a billion views are as follow:
"November Rain" byGuns N' Roses became the first video made prior to 2005, YouTube's foundation year, to reach this threshold by July 2018.[57]
"Numb" byLinkin Park was the first 2000s video predating YouTube to reach 1 billion views in November 2018.[58]
"Bohemian Rhapsody" byQueen was the first 1970s video (and pre-1990s video) to reach 1 billion views in July 2019.[59]
"Sweet Child o' Mine" by Guns N' Roses was the first 1980s video to reach 1 billion views in October 2019.[60]
With numerous videos readily clearing one billion views by 2018, more interest has been on two- and three-billion-views-and-higher metrics. In May 2014, "Gangnam Style" became the first video to exceed two billion views.[33] "Despacito" became the first video to reach three billion views in August 2017,[12] four billion in October 2017,[13] five billion in April 2018,[14] six billion in February 2019,[15] and seven billion in October 2020.[16] "Baby Shark Dance" became the first video to reach eight billion views in February 2021, nine billion views in July 2021, and ten billion views in January 2022.[8] As of March 2025, it has more than fifteen billion views.
As of May 2023[update], thirteen videos have exceeded four billion views, eight of which exceed five billion views, five of which exceed six billion views, and two of which exceed eight billion views. "See You Again" became the second video to reach three billion views in August 2017,[24] followed by "Gangnam Style" in November 2017.[34] "Shape of You" became the second video to reach four billion views in January 2019,[28] followed by "See You Again" in February 2019.[25] "Baby Shark Dance" became the second video to reach five billion views in April 2020,[61] followed by "Shape of You" in October 2020. "Baby Shark Dance" became the second video to reach six billion views in July 2020, and seven billion views in October 2020.
The majority of these videos in the Billion-View Club have been commercialmusic videos by popular artists, but the list has included oddities, typically programs aimed at children. Such videos include two episodes of the Russian animated cartoonMasha and the Bear, a version of "The Wheels on the Bus" by the British animation studioLittle Baby Bum, and "Johnny Johnny Yes Papa" from children's stations LooLoo Kids andChuChu TV.[62] Various versions of the song "Baby Shark" in total amassed more than five billion views by January 2019, with the original version posted byPinkfong having exceeded two billion views previously.[63] The original "Baby Shark" video by Pinkfong is now the most viewed video on the site. On October 29, 2020, Baby Shark surpassed 7 billion views, and on November 2, 2020, it passed Despacito to become the most viewed video on YouTube. On February 23, 2021, Baby Shark surpassed 8 billion views, becoming the first video to do so. On July 20, 2021, Baby Shark surpassed 9 billion views, becoming the first (and currently only) video to do so. On January 13, 2022, Baby Shark became the first (and currently only) video to surpass 10 billion views.[8]
On July 14, 2022, YouTube made a special playlist and video celebrating the 317 music videos to have hit 1 billion views and joined the "Billion Views Club".[64][65]
On April 1, 2024, the communications appDiscord incorporated a short trailer video into their in-appApril Fools' Day prank regardingloot boxes. The video automatically looped for anyone with Discord open, even if the notification had not been opened yet. This had the inadvertent effect of massively increasing the trailer's view count, causing it to reach a billion views in less than 24 hours and becoming the most-viewed video in that timeframe on the platform, surpassingGrand Theft Auto VI's trailer which gained over 90 million views in a single day.[66][67] The video later had its view count adjusted to the low millions.[citation needed]
Historical most-viewed videos
The following table lists the videos that became YouTube's most-viewed video, from October 2005 to the present.
Current record of days held (⁂)
Former record of days held (*)
Indicates the video has since been removed from YouTube or set to private (‡)
*The approximate number of views each video had when it became YouTube's most-viewed video.
Timeline of most viewed videos (October 2005 – August 2025)
Other milestones
YouTube announced that cumulative views of videos related toMinecraft, some of which had been on the platform as early as 2009, exceeded 1 trillion views on December 14, 2021, and was the most-watched video game content on the site.[121]
and the second video to reach 8 billion views on November 6, 2022.[17] It is YouTube'smost liked video with over 52 million likes as of January 2024[update].
^"See You Again" surpassed "Gangnam Style" as the most viewed video on July 10, 2017.[22] It was the second video to reach 2 billion views on September 3, 2016[23] and 3 billion views on August 6, 2017;[24] the third to reach 4 billion views on February 7, 2019; and the fourth to reach 5 billion views on March 7, 2021.[25] It is the thirdmost liked video with over 42 million likes as of January 2024[update].
^"Shape of You" was the second video to reach 4 billion views on January 7, 2019;[28] the third to reach 5 billion views on October 1, 2020; and the fifth to reach 6 billion views on May 23, 2023.[29]
^ab"Gangnam Style" surpassed "Baby" as the most viewed video on November 24, 2012.[31] It was the first video to reach 1 billion views on December 21, 2012,[32] and 2 billion views on May 30, 2014;[33] the third to reach 3 billion views on November 25, 2017; and the eighth to reach 4 billion views on March 4, 2021.[34]
^"Baby" became to first video to reach 500 million views on March 28, 2011.[70][71]
^"Bad Romance" became the first video to reach 200 million views on May 9, 2010.[74][75]
^Approximately ten million views per month as of 2007.[84]
^"Music is My Hot Hot Sex" became the first video to reach 100 million views on March 11, 2008.[89] The uploader then deleted the video four days later, and "Evolution of Dance" regained its status as the most-viewed video.[87]
^"Evolution of Dance" became the first video to reach 20 million views on June 5, 2006 and the first video to reach 50 million views on June 7, 2007, and received approximately five million views per month.[89] It is the only video on this list to hold the No. 1 spot on more than one occasion.
^"Pokémon Theme Music Video" became the first video to reach 10 million views on May 6, 2006.[94] It was removed from YouTube in June 2007 for copyright infringement.[95]
^"Phony Photo Booth" became the first video to reach 5 million views on February 8, 2006.[94] It was removed from YouTube in February 14–18, 2006 for terms of use violation.[103][104][105]
^"Ronaldinho: Touch of Gold" became the first video to reach 500,000 views on November 3, 2005;[112][94] first video to reach 2 million views on December 12, 2005.[94] It was removed from YouTube in July–August 2009 for copyright infringement.[113][114]
