The fastest video to reach 3 billion views on YouTube is "Despacito" by Luis Fonsi ft. Daddy Yankee, achieving this milestone in approximately 203 days, significantly faster than other early billion-view hits like "Shape of You" or "See You Again".
"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.
'Die With A Smile' by Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars — 351 days 2. 'BIRDS OF A FEATHER' by Billie Eilish — 424 days 3. 'As It Was' by Harry Styles — 588 days 4. 'Blinding Lights' by The Weeknd — 809 days.
Surpassing "Flowers" later in 2023, the fastest to reach 1 billion overall is now the “explicit version” of “Seven” by Jung Kook (South Korea, b. Jeon Jung-kook) feat. Latto (USA, b. Alyssa Stephens), which reached the milestone on 30 October 2023, 109 days following its worldwide release on 14 July 2023.
'As It Was' by Harry Styles surpassed 4 billion streams on Spotify, becoming his first song to reach this milestone. It is now the fourth most-streamed song in Spotify history and holds the record as the fastest song to reach 4 billion streams.
The Minecraft community has crushed one trillion views on YouTube. Celebrate this huge milestone with a look back at some of the biggest moments in Minecraft history.
"Hello" also broke the record for shortest time to reach one billion YouTube views (87 days). The music video for the song received seven nominations at the 2016 MTV Video Music Awards, including Video of the Year and Best Female Video.
“Gangnam Style” by South Korean musician PSY became the first YouTube video to reach 1 billion views.
This is a crazy milestone making Blinding Lights the first song in history to reach 5 billion streams on Spotify.
As of early January 2026, The Weeknd is generally considered #1 on Spotify for monthly listeners, but Taylor Swift is the most-streamed artist in Spotify's history and often leads overall popularity, with Bruno Mars recently hitting a historic 150 million monthly listeners. The #1 spot can change daily, but The Weeknd currently leads in recent monthly listeners, while Bad Bunny remains a top contender, and Taylor Swift dominates overall historical streams.
“The Tortured Poets Department” is the fastest album in history to reach 2 billion streams on Spotify, with only 17 days and half.
The #1 YouTuber in the world by subscriber count is MrBeast (Jimmy Donaldson), holding the top spot as an individual creator with over 450 million subscribers, surpassing the music label T-Series, which is the most-subscribed overall channel when including companies like T-Series, Cocomelon, and SET India. He's known for large-scale stunts, cash giveaways, and philanthropy, becoming the biggest individual personality on the platform in recent years.
"Die with a Smile" saw great commercial success, becoming the longest-reigning daily number-one song in Spotify history, the most viral track of 2024, the fastest track to surpass 3 billion streams on the platform, and Spotify's most-streamed song of 2025.
The "30-second rule" on YouTube refers to the critical first moments of a video, where creators must hook viewers within about 30 seconds to get them to keep watching, as YouTube registers meaningful engagement after this mark, impacting visibility and watch time. It's a key focus for audience retention, with strategies involving dynamic editing (B-roll, angles), emotional hooks, and clear value propositions, but it's distinct from copyright myths about using 30-second music clips.
Taylor Swift had 26.6 billion streams on Spotify in 2024, making her the platform's top global artist for the second year in a row, driven by her Eras Tour and album releases like The Tortured Poets Department.
The #1 richest YouTuber in the world is MrBeast (Jimmy Donaldson), consistently topping lists with an estimated net worth often cited over $500 million, potentially reaching $1 billion, driven by viral content, massive giveaways, and successful business ventures like Feastables and MrBeast Burger, making him the highest-earning creator globally.
MrBeast recently celebrated reaching 100 million subscribers, prompting a reflection on his first subscriber, Roggan Minoggan, who subscribed in 2011. Minoggan created his YouTube account in 2006 and was the first to support MrBeast's initial channel, Beast5YT.
100 Million YouTube Subscribers was first achieved by Pewdiepie, one of YouTube's most legendary creators, and then by T-Series, a media company based in India.
There's no single "number 1 artist of all time" as it's subjective, but Leonardo da Vinci often tops lists for visual art due to masterpieces like the Mona Lisa, while The Beatles are frequently cited as the best-selling music group ever, and Michael Jackson or Elvis Presley are often named as top solo music artists by sales and influence. Modern metrics like Spotify streams point to artists like Bad Bunny or Taylor Swift for recent dominance.
To estimate your streaming royalties, use a simple formula: Royalties = Number of Streams × Average Payout Rate. For example, if you have 500,000 streams on Spotify and the average payout is $0.004 per stream, your estimated royalties would be: 500,000 × $0.004 = $2,000.