“What are the most popular YouTube videos of all-time?”
That’s what came to mind this morning, especially since videos are a powerful tool for online marketing.
What can these top videos teach us?
First, how do you find the top videos of all time?
The best way I found was to go to YouTube.com and search for “video”. Then click “Filters” in the top-right and click “View Count” under the “SORT BY” column on the far right.
Here’s an easy link to that result: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=video&sp=CAM%253D
Here are the top 3:
#3 “Wiz Khalifa – See You Again ft. Charlie Puth [Official Video] Furious 7 Soundtrack”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgKAFK5djSk&pp=ygUFdmlkZW8%3D
This is an emotional music video that’s a tribute to the Fast & Furious franchise star Paul Walker. Walker died as a passenger in a high-speed car accident.
The movie “Furious 7” came out around 17 months after Walker’s death. It features scenes shot before Walker’s death.
Combine a huge film franchise with a star dying during filming with a great song and you get 6.1 billion views and counting.
#2 “Ed Sheeran – Shape of You (Official Music Video)”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGwWNGJdvx8
I can’t say why this video has 6.2 billion views since I’m not an Ed Sheerhan fan. But music videos dominate the top videos list.
The top 23 here are all music videos with #1 and #23 being kids songs and the rest being pop music (duh. That makes sense since pop means popular).
But if you want to delve into the mystery of why this is #2, check out this Reddit thread:
https://www.reddit.com/r/popheads/comments/671pck/discussion_can_anybody_actually_explain_the/
#1 “Baby Shark Dance | #babyshark Most Viewed Video | Animal Songs | PINKFONG Songs for Children”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqZsoesa55w&pp=ygUFdmlkZW8%3D
Oh my! Number 1. Even I couldn’t escape the power of the “Baby Shark Dance”. I don’t have kids, but the baby shark still sunk its teeth into me.
I was watching “Josh Gates Tonight” during “Shark Week” on the Discovery Channel and he played the “Baby Shark Dance” video.
This must’ve been back in 2020, a couple years after the Baby Shark video was released.
How does one explain this video being the undisputed views champ with 14,145,914,073 views and counting???
I guess you combine a catchy tune, fascinating animation, the allure of sharks and babies, and children probably replaying the video over and over and over and over again.
I’ll let this Reddit thread delve into other ideas of why it’s so popular: https://www.reddit.com/r/OutOfTheLoop/comments/lz9d96/whats_the_deal_with_the_baby_shark_song/
No wonder MTV was so powerful for my Generation Xers. Music videos combine the power of the written word, the sounds of instruments and voices, and enticing visuals.
Now we can watch any music video on demand without MTV. That’s why you can’t find music videos on MTV anymore. All I can find are reality shows and movies…
But I just learned about another channel called MTV Live. They amazingly show music videos and special performances.
I kept scrolling down and all I could find were music videos topping the rankings. I thought maybe some funny cat video or real shark attack video would rank somewhere. Oh well.