The video with the most views in the first 24 hours on YouTube is BTS's "Butter" Official MV, achieving 108.2 million views, while the non-music record belongs to the Grand Theft Auto VI Trailer 1, with over 90.4 million views. Both records are held by Guinness World Records, with "Butter" setting the overall record and GTA VI setting the non-music video record in late 2023/early 2024.
The most viewed YouTube music video in 24 hours was viewed 108,200,000 times, and was achieved by BTS (Republic of Korea) with the video titled "BTS (방탄소년단) 'Butter' Official MV," on 22 May 2021.
Butter – BTS (108.2M views)
Released in May 2021, Butter still holds the crown as the most-viewed video in YouTube's history within the first 24 hours. It reached 108.2 million views in just one day and became the fastest video to ever hit 100 million views, crossing the mark in only 21 hours.
The #1 most viewed video on YouTube is "Baby Shark Dance" by Pinkfong, with over 16 billion views, significantly surpassing other popular videos like "Despacito" and "Wheels on the Bus". This children's song and dance video, released in 2016, became a massive global phenomenon due to its catchy tune and colorful animation, making it the first YouTube video to reach 10 billion views.
The most YouTube subscribers gained in 24 hours is 19,729,827 and was achieved by Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal), on 21 August 2024. Multiple Guinness World Records title holder, Cristiano Ronaldo, added to his list of accolades by achieving this title.
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.
The number one YouTube channel by subscriber count is MrBeast (Jimmy Donaldson), who surpassed Indian music network T-Series in early 2025 and now leads with over 450 million subscribers, known for massive stunts, giveaways, and philanthropy. T-Series remains a strong second, followed by children's content creators like Cocomelon, making MrBeast the top individual creator on the platform, according to data from late 2025 and early 2026.
“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.
"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.
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.
The first "YouTuber" was Jawed Karim, one of YouTube's co-founders, who uploaded the platform's first video, "Me at the zoo," on April 23, 2005, making him the first person to post content on the site, which marked the beginning of user-generated video sharing.
Record-breaking videos prove what happens when early momentum is overwhelming. Butter by BTS reached 108 million views in a single day. Pink Venom by BLACKPINK pulled more than 90 million. Even Rockstar's GTA VI trailer reached 92 million.
On average, YouTube pays around $0.01 to $0.03 per view. This means that for every 1,000 views, a YouTuber can expect to earn between $10 and $30. However, this is just an estimate, and the actual amount can be higher or lower.
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.
All-Time Fastest Music Videos to One Billion Views
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 centerpiece of the YouTube Roblox Museum celebrates the incredible 1 trillion views milestone.
1. MrBeast – 459 million subscribers.
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.
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.
Top artists globally