Which music video has the most views on YouTube? You’re probably not going to like the answer, but nor will it come as much of a surprise.

The inescapable titan that is “Baby Shark Dance” by Pinkfong! continues to be the most-watched music video on YouTube. It’s just hit 10 billion streams.

The infuriatingly catchy song and accompanying cartoon has been number one since November 2020. Not only is it the most popular video set to music, but “Baby Shark” is also the most-viewed video on YouTube ever.

“Baby Shark” is the first YouTube video to reach 10 billion views. Capitalising on the success of the animation, there’s also been a Nickelodeon TV show and merchandise based around the song.

But the South Korean children’s tune hardly counts as a traditional mainstream music video. The second most-viewed music video – and, if you’re a stickler, the music video with the most views, is “Despacito” by Luis Fonsi ft. Daddy Yankee, with 7.7 billion views and 47 million likes.

“Johny Johny Yes Papa” by LooLoo Kids is number three, helped by going viral on Twitter due to its sheer strangeness; Mozart would be aghast. At number four comes Ed Sheeran’s relentless earworm “Shape of You.” “See You Again” by Wiz Khalifa ft. Charlie Puth is number five, a tribute to the late Paul Walker.

What makes a music video a runaway success? There could be factors like the catchiness of the song, the production values of the video, the popularity of the artist, and seemingly random viral popularity driven either by the bizarreness of the video or the content’s comedic value. As well as generating royalties for the artist, streams of YouTube videos also count towards official music charts like Billboard.

Please do enjoy the top five most-viewed music videos on YouTube below, and gift them even more streams.

1. “Baby Shark Dance” – Pinkfong!

2. “Despacito ft. Daddy Yankee” – Luis Fonsi

3. “Johny Johny Yes Papa” – LooLoo Kids

4. “Shape of You” – Ed Sheeran

5. “See You Again ft. Charlie Puth” – Wiz Khalifa

We all remember when “Gangnam Style” by Psy held the top YouTube spot, dominating for over four and a half years. What will be the next viral sensation to climb the YouTube charts – and will it be a slickly produced music video, or another cheesy cartoon?

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