The most viewed song on YouTube, and overall, is "Baby Shark Dance" by Pinkfong, with over 16 billion views, making it the first video to surpass 10 billion views and holding its record as the top video globally. The next most viewed are Luis Fonsi's "Despacito" and various children's songs like "Johny Johny Yes Papa" and "Wheels on the Bus," highlighting the massive audience for kids' content on the platform.
The #1 most-viewed song on YouTube is "Baby Shark Dance" by Pinkfong, with over 16 billion views, followed by "Despacito" by Luis Fonsi and "Wheels on the Bus" by Cocomelon. For streaming services like Spotify, The Weeknd's "Blinding Lights" is the most-streamed song of all time.
The #1 most viewed video on YouTube is "Baby Shark Dance" by Pinkfong, with over 15 billion views, far surpassing other popular videos like "Despacito" and "Wheels on the Bus," with the top videos consistently being children's songs and music videos.
It became a global phenomenon, clocking up more than 16 billion views - YouTube's most watched video ever. That song was the incredibly catchy Baby Shark.
The centerpiece of the YouTube Roblox Museum celebrates the incredible 1 trillion views milestone.
“Gangnam Style” by South Korean musician PSY became the first YouTube video to reach 1 billion views. By the end of 2012, the song had topped music charts in more than 30 countries around the world. #song4theweekend #PSY #GangnamStyle #musichistory #music.
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.
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.
"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.
Martin has written the second-most number-one singles on the chart, behind only Paul McCartney (32), having surpassed John Lennon (26) with his 27th number one in March 2024. Many of Martin's hits were used in the 2019 jukebox musical & Juliet.
The song “One Sweet Day,” by Mariah Carey, which she recorded with Boyz II Men, holds the longest- running number one song in history.
1 billion YouTube views can earn anywhere from a few thousand dollars (for Shorts) to several million (for long-form videos), with estimates often falling between $250,000 and $5 million, heavily depending on the Cost Per Mille (CPM) and viewer engagement, with gaming/music potentially earning $0.50-$1/1000 views and high-engagement content seeing higher rates. The wide range is due to factors like viewer location, ad types, video niche, and if it's a YouTube Short (which pays much less) versus longer content.
Top artists globally
The richest YouTuber in the world is Jimmy Donaldson, known as MrBeast, with estimated net worths ranging from $500 million to over $1 billion and reported earnings exceeding $700 million in 2025, thanks to his massive YouTube presence, business ventures like Feastables, and ventures such as Beast Games on Amazon Prime. He leads a list of high earners that includes Jeffree Star, Logan Paul, and Anastasia Radzinskaya (Like Nastya), who also generate significant wealth from branding, merchandise, and other entertainment projects.
Most viewed YouTube videos of all time 2025
"Baby Shark Dance" currently has over 16 billion lifetime views on YouTube.
The YouTube Partner Program requires 4,000 watch hours within a 12-month evaluation period, showing consistent viewer engagement. Private, unlisted, or deleted videos don't count toward watch hours. Only Shorts views from the Shorts shelf apply to the 10 million goal.
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.
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.
There's no single "Top 1" Minecraft player, as skill varies by category (PvP, Speedrunning, Building, Redstone), but top contenders include Kelawesome (tournaments/PvP), Feinberg (knowledge/speedrunning), Hackingnoises (speedrunning), and legendary figures like Technoblade, known for dominant PvP, while Dream is famous for manhunts and skill, and Marlowww/Parrot ranks high on PvP leaderboards like MCTiers. The best player depends on whether you value PvP dominance, building, technical skill, or overall game sense.
The number one streamed song of all time, primarily on Spotify, is "Blinding Lights" by The Weeknd, having surpassed 5 billion streams and holding the top spot over other massive hits like Ed Sheeran's "Shape of You" and The Weeknd's "Starboy".
The YouTube Partner Program is a comprehensive partner program available to Creators, delivering support, monetization opportunities and more. Once you're in the program, you can start earning money from ads on long-form videos, ads between short-form videos and from YouTube Premium subscribers watching your content.
Yes, you can watch deleted YouTube videos if they're archived or cached. Tools like the Wayback Machine or Google Cache often store snapshots of videos or their pages. You might also find reuploads on other platforms. It's not guaranteed, but these methods work about 40% of the time based on user reports.