When you think about how much of a prominent fixture YouTube is in our daily lives, it makes you wonder how we ever got by before the platform existed. In this day and age, YouTube is more than just a space for entertainment ⏤ it’s a source for news and information. Want to know how to install your bed frame or change a lightbulb or make a pie crust? YouTube it. Like Google, the word is synonymous with action, and 122 million people “YouTube it” every day. That’s two billion people every month.
But before YouTube was a verb, it was a little getaway where people could luxuriate in 360p quality videos, dial-up connection, and some of our favorite music videos of the 2000s. Music videos (and TV and movie clips) were initially some of the most-watched videos on the platform, so naturally it makes sense that a music video was the first video to ever reach a billion views.
Which video reached a billion views first?
While it may not seem like a big deal anymore, reaching a billion views was once a huge milestone. “Gangnam Style” by PSY was the first to cross that threshold in 2012, and the sensationalized K-pop song with its cowboy-style, horse-dance-move exploded all over the globe. The song held the spot for most-watched video for a solid three years until a young boy by the name of Justin Bieber came along and took its spot. In 2015, “Baby” was the second video ever to reach a billion views.
10 more videos reached a billion views by the end of 2015, and suddenly the milestone lost its significance. But before we stopped caring about a measly one billion views, “Gangnam Style” broke another record and became the first video to ever reach two billion views.
In 2017, a new music video exploded onto the market and reeled us in with its addicting beat and suave lyrics. “Despacito” by Luis Fonsi featuring Daddy Yanky became the first video ever to reach three billion views. The music video went even further and reached four billion views in 2017, then five in 2018, six in 2019, and seven billion views in 2020.
Not until 2021 did another video come along and knock “Despacito” off its throne, and that was “Baby Shark Dance” with a whopping eight billion views. Like “Despacito,” the addicting children’s song climbed higher with nine billion views and then an incredible 10 billion views in January 2022.
So how many YouTube videos are in the Billion View Club?
The list is quite extensive now, with a total of (are you sitting down?) 376 videos with a billion or more views. As was the case back in 2012, a majority of these videos are music videos, but as you’ll see with our top 10 list below, a good number of them are children’s lullabies and sing-alongs, like CoComelon, a YouTube channel devoted to nursery rhymes. (CoComelon currently has 18 videos with over one billion views).
That being said, music videos and children’s sing-alongs aren’t the only two types of videos racking up billions of views. With the advent of more and more content creators, people are churning out viral videos left and right, perhaps none more so than children’s content creators with videos that teach other kids the alphabet, colors, or societal niceties.
Per Insider, YouTube pays its content creators between $2 and $12 per 1,000 views. The content creators with over a billion views, well, we don’t need to do the math for you… Needless to say, YouTube has transformed from a place of entertainment to a place of employment for many.
Curious to know which Billion View Club videos have the most views? Check out our list below.
What are the top 10 videos on YouTube with over a billion views?
Four out of the 10 videos listed below are commercial music videos released by mainstream artists. The other six are sing-alongs and nursery rhymes that prove more parents are handing their iPads to their kids to keep them entertained, occupied, and most importantly, educated (maybe even a little distracted).
There’s a reason these are the most-viewed videos of all time. Any one of them can have you glued to your screen for an unsensible amount of hours. Good luck not getting hooked.
10. “Uptown Funk” ft. Bruno Mars (Official Video) – 4,480,852,426 views
9. Masha and the Bear – 4,485,867,496 views
8. “Phonics Song with TWO Words” – 4,493,233,353 views
7. “Learning Colors – Colorful Eggs on a Farm” – 4,556,917,152 views
6. “Bath Song” – 5,054,334,677 views
5. “See You Again” ft. Charlie Puth (Official Video) – 5,431,302,746 views
4. “Shape of You” (Official Music Video) – 5,634,309,339 views
3. “Johny Johny Yes Papa” – 6,208,393,180 views
2. “Despacito” ft. Daddy Yankee – 7,764,517,970 views
1. “Baby Shark” Dance – 10,275,374,094 views
Whether you’re bobbing your head to “Uptown Funk,” wishing you never heard of “Baby Shark,” or singing along to “Despacito,” YouTube has brought billions of people from all across the globe together in a global appreciation of entertainment.
As the platform continues to be a daily fixture in our lives, we can expect to see more videos climb the ladder to the Billion View Club. History has shown us that any of the ones listed above could be replaced by the next viral sensation. It’s hard to imagine parting ways with our current reigning champ (apologies for getting that one stuck in your head), but in the world of YouTube, anything is possible. Plus, if the past is any indication of the future, we’ll soon be celebrating the next big milestone: The Trillion View Club.
