Top 10 Most Viewed Videos On YouTube All Time

YouTube is by far the most popular video streaming service in the world. In fact, it accounts for 11% of all Internet traffic. The platform is host to a wide variety of videos ranging from comedy to art films and compilations but by far the most popular clips on the site are music videos. Gone are the days when viral videos like Charlie bit my finger could crack the top 10 list from one-hit wonders to establish pop stars. Today we're counting down the top 10 most viewed videos on YouTube. 

10. Shake It Off 

Taylor Swift singles shake it off is an anthem of self-acceptance and self-reliance. Shake it off debuted at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for the week ending September 6-2014 becoming Swift's second number-one single in the United States and the twenty-second song to debut at number one in the charts history. The song won favorite song at the 2015 People's Choice Awards and also received nominations for record of the year song of the Year and Best Pop solo performance at the 2015 Grammy Awards. According to Billboard it's Swift's biggest Hot 100 hit today staying on the chart for 50 consecutive weeks. The music video was directed by Mark Romanek and shot in June 2014 over three days in Los Angeles. The clip explores the idea of creating identity through dance as Swift can be seen dancing in an assortment of styles accompanied by some of the world's best dance crews. It has a lot of professional dancers in an and me trying to awkwardly keep up. She told the BBC in one scene I kind of find my own people that I like dancing with and the people I fit in with so he picked all these fans from Instagram and Twitter and invited them to a place they had no idea what was gonna happen it currently has 2.7 4 billion views making it the number 10 most watched video of all time.

9. Roar 

Katy Perry's 2013 single roar is a song about having pride in self transformation the song was a commercial success topping charts in Australia Austria Canada Ireland Israel Lebanon New Zealand Scotland Slovenia South Korea the United Kingdom and the US by the end of 2013 roar had sold nine point nine million units globally roar has sold over 6 million copies in the US over 1 million in the UK and was Australia's best-selling single of 2013 with 560 thousand copies sold within the year the music video follows Perry as she suffers a plane crash with her vapid boyfriend who was quickly eaten by animals while Perry remains unscathed it was directed by Grady Hall and Mark Coetzee in film the Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden apparently the wild animals and colorful set made for an entertaining video because the song currently has 2.7 5 billion views on YouTube fresh off a controversial Superbowl halftime performance.

8. Sugar

Maroon 5 is still an extremely popular band almost two decades into their career though the song was penned by an anonymous songwriter named Mike Posner it's meant to mirror lead singer Adam Levine's engagement to his wife commercially sugar peaked at number two on the US Billboard Hot 100 and became the band's third top-ten single from V an eighth consecutive top ten entry. Sugar is the 68th song in history to score at least 20 weeks in the top ten of the Hot 100. The music video is based on the movie wedding crashers the Ben walks into a series of venues seemingly unnoticed and sets up their performance equipment behind a curtain on stage the curtain drops and we see a shocked bride and groom attempting to process the fact that Maroon 5 is playing at their wedding the video filmed by wedding crashers director David Dobkin was an immediate success gaining at least a million views an hour for the first month after its release the song is currently sitting in the number 8 spot with more than 2.8 billion views at one point.

7. Love Yourself

Justin Bieber had three of the top ten videos on YouTube now his sole representation is the 2015 banger sorry written for his ex-girlfriend Selena Gomez the song is meant to be an apology for childish behavior the song was actually written by Justin Tranter who's also the mind behind hits by Selena and other artists like Nick Jonas commercially the song topped the charts of 13 countries it spent seven weeks at number one on the Canadian Hot 100 in three weeks at number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 sorry was replaced by the third single love yourself on the chart On February 13 2016 making Bieber the 12th act in the Hot 100 's history to succeed itself at number one he also accomplished the same feat in the UK becoming the third act ever to self replace at the top of the list globally the song became one of the best-selling digital music releases with over 10 million in sales in 2016 alone memorably Bieber is nowhere to be found in the highly successful music video instead it focuses on an all-female group of dancers who perform an elaborately choreographed dance routine to the song it currently has three billion views making it number seven on our countdown.

6. Gangnam style

Psy's Gangnam style is not only the sixth most-watched video on YouTube it's also the first k-pop song to break through to an international audience the song has been revered for its catchy chorus and hilariously oddball music video the video was premiered on July 15th, 2012 in the music video site pokes fun at the style of souls Gangnam-gu a flashy district with high rents high expectations and a focus on the high status lifestyle in December 2012 the music video was the first to hit 1 billion views on YouTube it's currently the oldest video in the top 10 proving it has the staying power beyond its novelty appeal and we can thank t-pain at least in part for the video success it was the first prominent American figure to get behind the video in 2012 this was soon followed by Britney Spears Katy Perry Tom Cruise, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and William Gibson who have either commented about or share the video with their fans via Twitter the video currently has 3.28 billion views. 

 5. Masha and the Bear (Recipe for Disaster)

This is a strange one Masha and the bear recipe for disaster is the only video in the top ten that's not a music video so how did this popular Russian children's cartoon become the fifth most watched video of all time. It's worth putting the popularity of this video into perspective recipe for disaster has been viewed more times than Adele's music video for hello it's been viewed more times than any bieber music video and it's been viewed more than twice as many times as the next highest ranking Masha and the bear episode Masha and the bear which is produced by Moscow based Anna McCord animation studio is loosely based on the children's folk story of the same name the show which debuted in 2009 relays the adventure of a mischievous little girl named Masha and a retired circus bear who keeps her out of trouble though the series was conceived as a local project tailored to the Russian audience according to Anna McCord managing director Dmitry Levesque. Oh it has huge international appeal about two-thirds of anima chords YouTube's royalties come from views outside Russia the Vaiko set in 2016 essentially Masha and the bear plays into a huge international trend wherein parents put on YouTube videos for their kids instead of traditional television YouTube has turned into a sort of on-demand babysitter and Masha and the bear is proof that kids like what they're seeing the video currently has 3.43 billion views.

4. Uptown Funk 

Uptown funkis the lead single from Mark Ronson's 2015 album uptown special it features vocals from Bruno Mars and is one of the biggest selling songs of all time uptown funk spent 14 consecutive weeks at number one the US Billboard Hot 100 seven non-consecutive weeks at number one on the UK Singles Chart and topped the charts in several other countries including Australia Canada France Ireland and New Zealand it became the second best-selling single of 2015 in the fifth best-selling single of all time the song won two Grammy Awards including record of the year and the Brit Award for British single of the year it's music video stars Ronson Mars and Mars his backing band the hooligans dancing in a city straight and accumulated three point four six billion views on video-sharing website YouTube as of December 2018 making it the fourth most viewed YouTube video of all time the song originated from a liquid Mars and his band were playing on tour Mark Ronson told Billboard magazine when we head on that opening line we knew that we had the seat of this really exciting idea I pushed myself much more than I have on anything else in the past Ronson explained that when he and Bruno first came up with the instrumental track in a few lines of what would become the hit song uptown funk the room was filled with electricity that electricity is still palpable more than four years later. 

3. See You Again

Wiz Khalifa and Charlie Puth wrote see you again as a promotional track for movie Furious 7 they intended the song to be a tribute to Paul Walker the star of The Fast and Furious franchise who tragically passed away before the movie's release. The song was immediately identified as a huge hit in the making and it didn't take long to rise on the chart and become the second number one for Khalifa in the first four Puth who became a household name. Thanks to his part in the nostalgic melancholy track the song went on to rule the hot 100 for a dozen weeks tying as the fourth longest-running leader in US history. It also tied with Eminem's lose yourself as the longest-running hip hop number one in Billboard history the music video is relatively somber it begins with a shot of a cliff top at sunset followed by Khalifa walking down a highway road poof is then shown singing the chorus whilst playing a piano located between two cars Khalifa's rap verses and poof singing the second chorus and bridge are interspersed with footage from Furious 7. The video was the most watched on YouTube for one month of 2017 and was briefly the most liked on the site it currently has 4 billion views.

2. Shape of You

2017 was a breakout year for Ed Sheeran he had a record-smashing album a hit song and a duet with Beyonce but as it turns out his highest grossing song was almost handed off to someone else. That's right Sheeran initially felt that shape of you was not a good fit for the album and almost sold it to another pop star. As he did with Justin Bieber's love yourself in the end. It's good he held onto the song because the now his most distinctive track shape of you peaked at number one in the single start of 34 countries including the US Billboard Hot 100 as well as the UK Australian and Canadian singles charts it stayed at number one for a record-tying 16 consecutive weeks on the Canadian Hot 100 as well as 14 non-consecutive weeks in the UK Singles Chart on December 10th 2018 the song became the first song to 2 billion streams making it the most streamed song on Spotify it was the best-selling song of 2017 in the UK shape of you was also the best-selling digital song worldwide with combined sales and track equivalent streams of twenty six point six million units as for the video it currently has 4.6 billion views making it the second most viewed video of all time. the story follows Sheeran and his love interest Jenni Bukowski who you may recognize from Fresh Prince of bel-air the video was shot on location in Seattle.

1. Despacito

Louis Fonsi 2017 mega-hit Despacito is one of the highest-grossing songs of all time in the video has almost 6 billion views on YouTube making it by far the most watched of all time the video was filmed in the La Perla neighborhood of Fonzie's native Puerto Rico. It stars the 2006 Miss Universe Zuleyka Rivera whom Fonsi described as a Latina powerhouse. Fonsi stated that the music video celebrates Latin American culture saying that movement dancing and rhythm are engraved into his bones. It's unclear exactly what made Desposito's such an earworm in 2017 but he shows no sign of slowing down even as Fonsi has begun to release new music commercially the song topped the charts of 47 countries and reached the top ten and six others making it both Fonsi and daddy Yankees most successful single to date in the United States. It became the first song primarily in Spanish to top the Billboard Hot 100 since Macarena in 1996 subsequently tying the longest-reigning number one in the Billboard Hot 100 with 16 weeks as well as becoming the longest reigning number one on the Hot Latin Songs chart with 56 weeks. It also became the first Latin song to receive a diamond certification by the Recording Industry Association of America.