List of most-viewed YouTube videos

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YouTube is an American video-sharing website headquartered in San Bruno, California. Although the most-viewed videos were initially viral videos, such as "Evolution of Dance" and "Charlie Bit My Finger", the most-viewed videos were increasingly related to music videos. Since Lady 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. Some of the previously most-viewed videos are no longer available on the site.
In November 2005, a Nike advertisement featuring Brazilian football player Ronaldinho became the first video to reach 1,000,000 views. The billion-view mark was first passed by Gangnam Style in December 2012. On January 13, 2022, Pinkfong's "Baby Shark" became the first video to hit 10,000,000,000 views.
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. 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 per IP address during a 24-hour period, after which point, no further views from that IP are counted until the 24-hour period expires
== Top videos ==
The following table lists the top 30 most-viewed videos on YouTube, with each total rounded to the nearest 10 million views, uploader, and publication date. Note that some videos may not be available worldwide due to regional restrictions in certain countries.
Video name 	Uploader 	Views
(billions) 	Date 	 	 	
 	 	 	 	 	 	
"Baby Shark Dance" 	Pinkfong Baby Shark - Kids' Songs & Stories 	14.03 	June 17, 2016 	 	 	
"Despacito" 	Luis Fonsi 	8.36 	January 12, 2017 	 	 	
"Johny Johny Yes Papa" 	LooLoo Kids - Nursery Rhymes and Children's Songs	6.86 	October 8, 2016 	 	 	
"Bath Song" 	Cocomelon - Nursery Rhymes 	6.58 	May 2, 2018 	 	 	
"Shape of You" 	Ed Sheeran 	6.18 	January 30, 2017 	 	 	
"See You Again" 	Wiz Khalifa 	6.15 	April 6, 2015 	 	 	
"Wheels on the Bus" 	Cocomelon - Nursery Rhymes 	5.83 	May 24, 2018 	 	 	
"Phonics Song with Two Words" 	ChuChu TV Nursery Rhymes & Kids Songs 	5.66 	March 6, 2014 	 	 	
"Uptown Funk" 	Mark Ronson 	5.13 	November 19, 2014 	 	 	
"Learning Colors – Colorful Eggs on a Farm"	Miroshka TV 	5.05 	February 27, 2018 	 	 	
"Gangnam Style" 	Psy 	5.02 	July 15, 2012 	 	 	
"Masha and the Bear – Recipe for Disaster" 	Get Movies 	4.57 	January 31, 2012 	 	 	
"Dame Tu Cosita" 	Ultra Records 	4.53 	April 5, 2018 	 	 	
"Axel F" 	Crazy Frog 	4.28 	June 16, 2009 	 	 	
"Sugar" 	Maroon 5 	3.99 	January 14, 2015 	 	 	
"Counting Stars" 	OneRepublic 	3.95 	May 31, 2013 	 	 	
"Roar" 	Katy Perry 	3.94 	September 5, 2013 	 	 	
"Baa Baa Black Sheep" 	Cocomelon - Nursery Rhymes 	3.93 	June 25, 2018 	 	 	
"Lakdi Ki Kathi" 	Jingle Toons 	3.86 	June 14, 2018 	 	 	
"Waka Waka (This Time for Africa)" 	Shakira 	3.83 	June 4, 2010 	 	 	
"Sorry" 	Justin Bieber 	3.76 	October 22, 2015 	 	 	
"Thinking Out Loud" 	Ed Sheeran 	3.72 	October 7, 2014 	 	 	
"Humpty the train on a fruits ride" 	Kiddiestv Hindi - Nursery Rhymes & Kids Songs 	3.70 	January 26, 2018 	 	 	
"Dark Horse" 	Katy Perry 	3.66 	February 20, 2014 	 	 	
"Shree Hanuman Chalisa" 	T-Series Bhakti Sagar 	3.65 	May 10, 2011 	 	 	
"Perfect" 	Ed Sheeran 	3.65 	November 9, 2017 	 	 	
"Let Her Go" 	Passenger 	3.59 	July 25, 2012 	 	 	
"Faded" 	Alan Walker 	3.57 	December 3, 2015 	 	 	
"Girls Like You" 	Maroon 5 	3.55 	May 31, 2018 	 	 	
"Lean On" 	Major Lazer Official 	3.53 	March 22, 2015 	 	 	
As of January 18, 2024 	As of January 18, 2024 	As of January 18, 2024	As of January 18, 2024	As of January 18, 2024	As of January 18, 2024	As of January 18, 2024
== Billion-View Club ==
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.
In December 2012, "Gangnam Style" became the first video to reach one billion views. By June 2015, only "Baby" had also managed to pass this threshold, but, by October 2015, a total of ten videos had done so, and the number grew further to over 200 in February 2022. Considering older videos that pre-dated YouTube's creation in 2005 but were added later:
* "November Rain" by Guns N' Roses became the first video made prior to YouTube's creation to reach this threshold by July 2018.
* "Numb" by Linkin Park was the first 2000s video predating YouTube to reach 1 billion views in November 2018.
* "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen was the first 1970s video (and pre-1990s video) to reach 1 billion views in July 2019.
* "Sweet Child o' Mine" by Guns N' Roses was the first 1980s video to reach 1 billion views in October 2019.
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. "Despacito" became the first video to reach three billion views in August 2017, four billion in October 2017, five billion in April 2018, six billion in February 2019, and seven billion in October 2020. "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. As of May 2023, it has more than twelve billion views.
As of May 2023, 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, followed by "Gangnam Style" in November 2017. "Shape of You" became the second video to reach four billion views in January 2019, followed by "See You Again" in February 2019. "Baby Shark Dance" became the second video to reach five billion views in April 2020, 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 commercial music videos by popular artists, but the list has included oddities, typically programs aimed at children. Such videos include two episodes of the Russian animated cartoon Masha and the Bear, a version of "The Wheels on the Bus" by the British animation studio Little Baby Bum, and "Johnny Johnny Yes Papa" from children's stations LooLoo Kids and ChuChu TV. Various versions of the song "Baby Shark" in total amassed more than five billion views by January 2019, with the original version posted by Pinkfong having exceeded two billion views previously. The original 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.
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"