Review the Top Viral Videos of All Time Here

This is the second iteration of my Superlative Viral Videos of All Time listing, and I didn't realize how challenging it would be to revisit this list.

In just two years, much has changed. The rapid rise of TikTok prompted Instagram to introduce Reels in August 2020, for example. YouTube introduced Shorts in India in September 2020, and in the US in March 2021.

The digital video industry's attention is at present stuck on curt-course videos — those with a duration from 15 seconds to one minute — instead of the demographics of the audiences on these social video platforms.

Currently:

• 25% of TikTok users are 10-nineteen, 22.iv% are twenty-29, and 21.7% are thirty-39.
• 22.9% of Instagram users are 18-24 and 31.v% are 25-34.
• 77% of YouTube users are fifteen-25 and 77% are 26-35.

In addition, 72.vi% of YouTube'south user base of operations is male, while 56.5% of Instagram's and 61% of TikTok'south user base is female person.

Then, should you focus on the platform that your target audience prefers or the content that speaks to what they're passionate about?

The Viral Video Mural is Changing

Continued TV was the fastest-growing screen amidst YouTube viewers in 2020.

In fact, Tara Walpert Levy reported recently that over 120 million Americans streamed YouTube or YouTube TV on their TV screens in December 2020.

And increasingly, people are choosing to lookout their favorite content with others.

According to Talk Shoppe, 57% of Americans say they spotter YouTube videos on TV screens with others. So, this new screen could become an fifty-fifty bigger game-changer than the appearance of mobile devices was a decade ago.

On the other hand, some changes have been more evolutionary.

Ii years ago, 23 out of the top 25 videos with the most views of all fourth dimension were music videos, with "Luis Fonsi – Despacito ft. Daddy Yankee" at the top of the list with vi.i billion views.

Today, if I selected the top twoscore videos with the most views of all time, all you lot would see is a list of YouTube videos consisting of a mix of children's content, like this Infant Shark video with 8.8 billion views.

I still remember that "views" is not an accurate measure of "virality," at least not by itself.

For example, YouTube says a "view" is counted when someone watches thirty seconds of your video advertising (or the elapsing if it'due south shorter than 30 seconds) or interacts with the advertizing, whichever comes outset.

Facebook and Instagram say a "view" is counted subsequently someone watches just 3 seconds of a video of whatsoever length.

And TikTok says a "view" is counted as soon as the video starts playing in someone'southward feed.

That'south why the Global Video Measurement Alliance says, "View count doesn't cut information technology anymore."

Plus, views can be bought.

At present, I'thou not talking virtually illicitly purchasing views from a third party to artificially inflate your view count. I'grand talking about using advertising to promote your content.

Hey, this 2d option is perfectly legit – in fact, YouTube and Facebook encourage it in order to make sure your target audience sees your videos.

In July 2006, 63 meg people worldwide visited YouTube.com, co-ordinate to the kickoff comScore data published nigh the video-sharing site. Today, over 2 billion logged-in users visit YouTube each calendar month.

Then, whatever listing of the height viral videos of "all time" is going to be heavily tilted in favor of videos that were uploaded in more recent years.

That'due south why my listing beneath of the top forty viral videos of all time excludes children'south content as well equally major label music videos.

My list besides uses engagements – a combination of likes, shares, and comments – every bit well as views to ensure that videos have "gone viral" the old-fashioned way: They earned it.

Finally, the very showtime video, "Me at the zoo," was published on May 29, 2005.

I've chosen that equally my starting point and then selected two or three of the top viral videos from each of the succeeding years to requite content creators and video marketers an thought of how the process of "going viral" has mutated over time.

Hopefully, this will provide you with xl useful, valuable, and applied lessons that you can apply this month, this week, or tomorrow in your own video marketing strategy.

Year one: May 29, 2005 to May 28, 2006

I of the first viral videos that helped to put YouTube on the map was Lazy Dominicus.

Uploaded in Dec 2005, information technology was a homemade copy of the Saturday Nighttime Live skit, The Chronicles of Narnia Rap.

So, how popular was this video?

Well, David Itzkoff of The New York Times reported back and then that Lazy Sunday racked up 1.two million views in its first x days.

And LeeAnn Prescott of Hitwise reported in December 2005 that visits to YouTube had shot upward 83% since the video had been uploaded – and had passed visits to Google Video. (And the rest is history.)

Past the finish of January 2006, Prescott reported, "Since my post last month on YouTube and the SNL Chronicles of Narnia rap, YouTube has continued to gain market share confronting other video search sites, and since surpassing Google Video, information technology has besides surpassed Yahoo! Video Search."

And so, Lazy Lord's day was removed from the video-sharing site in February 2006.

In a post on the YouTube weblog, the YouTube staff explained: "NBC recently contacted YouTube and asked the states to remove Saturday Night Live'due south Lazy Lord's day: Chronicles of Narnia video.

We know how popular that video is but YouTube respects the correct of copyright holders. You lot can still watch SNL's Lazy Lord's day video for free on NBC's website."

Ironically, Sabbatum Night Live re-uploaded Lazy Sunday to its YouTube channel in August 2013, seven-and-a-half years after it was removed.

Why did they exercise that and what lesson can you acquire from this? Well, copyright owners can monetize their videos on YouTube.

Yes, they have to carve up their advertising revenue with YouTube. But, it seems reasonable to assume that someone at NBC finally figured out that SNL could make more money by letting advertisers run ads against Lazy Sunday on YouTube besides equally on NBC's website than they would get by standing to hoard their video content on their ain site, which gets significantly less traffic.

Another video that went viral in YouTube'south first yr was Evolution of Dance. Uploaded by Judson Laipply in April 2006, information technology has 309 million views and 1.6 1000000 engagements, according to Tubular Labs information.

Now, it should accept even more views and engagements, but this video was blocked in the U.S. for several years on copyright grounds because it contains content from Warner Music Group (WMG).

So, why did they do that and what lesson can you learn from this?

Well, using YouTube's Content ID system, copyright owners can choose to monetize a video and share revenue with the uploader. Or, they can cake a whole video from being viewed.

So, WMG didn't seem to want to share squat with Laipply for a number of years.

Merely, and so the multinational entertainment and record label conglomerate either decided that some revenue was better than none or suddenly started to intendance what I had written ii years ago when I discovered that Evolution of Dance had been blocked.

In either instance, don't presume that you tin can freely sample a song under the "fair use" principle. And if you lot desire to include some music or sound furnishings in your videos, without having to negotiate licenses with each copyright owner, then apply the YouTube Audio Library to find high-quality audio tracks, which are royalty-free.

Twelvemonth 2: May 29, 2006 to May 28, 2007

One of the top viral videos from YouTube'south 2nd year was ' Chocolate Rain' Original Vocal by Tay Zonday. Uploaded in April 2007, information technology has 130 million views and 1.7 million engagements.

Here's the backstory. The video was originally posted on 4chan.org, where Zonday's breathe-abroad-from-the-mic move was mocked and tons of parody videos were made in response.

Merely, Chocolate Rain didn't go viral until July 2007, when YouTube simultaneously featured all of the parody and response videos on its home page.

Okay, what lessons can we learn from this viral video with its anarchistic lyrics and delivery?

Well, even if you are mocked by the cocky-appointed tendency-setters, you lot tin can still become the last express mirth when you are invited on Jimmy Kimmel Alive and so go on to get "paid a hefty, hefty fee" when your video becomes office of a promotional campaign for Ruby-red Chocolate Diet Dr. Pepper.

One of the other summit viral videos from YouTube's 2nd year is Charlie bit my finger – again!

Uploaded in May 2007, it has 886 million views and 2.vii one thousand thousand engagements.

Howard Davies-Carr, Harry and Charlie's father, lives in the U.Chiliad. He uploaded the video to YouTube so that it could be watched by the boys' grandfather, who was living in the U.S.

Subsequently it inadvertently went viral, he chose to monetize the video by allowing ads to run next to it. In 2011, it was reported that the Davies-Carr family had made over £100,000 in advertising revenue from the video.

The coin from the viral video was enough to enable the family to purchase a new house.

And here's the latest update: An NFT of the "Charlie bit me" meme was just auctioned off on May 23, 2021, for $760,999.

So, the viral video may shortly be deleted, which would "really hurt" anyone who wants to learn lessons from history more than Charlie's seize with teeth "really hurt" Harry's finger.

Yr three: May 29, 2007 to May 28, 2008

A couple of funny cat videos went viral during YouTube'due south third year, giving the video-sharing site an undeserved reputation that it is still trying to overcome today.

One of these was Charlie Schmidt's Keyboard Cat! – THE ORIGINAL!

This video was uploaded in June 2007 and has 62.5 one thousand thousand views and i.i million engagements.

This video features a tabby, which appears to play a melody on a keyboard. At present, seen on its own, information technology makes very little sense.

But when technical editor Brad O'Farrell found the footage and placed it at the end of another video, it spread like wildfire.

"Play him off, Keyboard Cat" became a way to signal information technology was time to wrap it upwardly afterward an awkward situation or sideslip-and-fall blooper.

Keyboard Cat mashups added a impact more applesauce to already absurd situations, similar a man falling off a treadmill or Miss Teen South Carolina flubbing her geography.

Combine that with the Internet's penchant for cats, and a craze is born.

However, other videos in different genres were also going viral during this time period.

This includes LEAVE BRITNEY Lone! by Chris Crocker, which got 50.7 million views and 657,000 engagements.

The video is now unavailable because Crocker airtight his YouTube account in September 2015.

Many people mistakenly call back that the only videos that become viral are ones featuring animals, babies, and dancing. Well, this isn't necessarily true.

Year 4: May 29, 2008 to May 28, 2009

At present, I recognize that my next example features a cute kid, which undercuts the assertion that I've but made.

Nevertheless, David Later Dentist is still worth including in my list of the top viral videos of all fourth dimension.

Uploaded in January 2009, information technology has 140 million views and 547,000 engagements.

And what'due south the backstory? Well, David DeVore Sr. took the video of his son, David Jr., in May 2008. For the next seven months, he but shared the video with family unit and friends. And so he uploaded it to YouTube to brand it easier to share.

David Sr. has said, "Due to the limit YouTube has for the number of emails y'all can send the link to for private sharing, I chose to make information technology public thinking no one would remember it was as funny every bit we did. Shows you what I know."

The video went viral and the DeVore family was shortly invited to bring together the YouTube Partner Program, which enabled them to monetize "David After Dentist."

According to Time, "…it's paying off: the DeVores have fabricated nearly enough to cover David's (eventual) college education."

What lessons does this teach marketers?

First, slice-of-life videos can go viral. Who wouldn't share a video that features a child who asks, "Is this real life?"

Second, if YouTube invites you lot to include 1 of your more unforgettable videos in its Individual Video Programme, just say, "Yes."

Now, let me share a powerful example of a viral video from YouTube's fourth year that doesn't include funny cats, beautiful kids, or one-time dance moves: Susan Boyle – Singer – Britain'due south Got Talent 2009.

Uploaded in April 2009, this video had 96 one thousand thousand views every bit of August 2010, when the prune was removed from U.k.'south Got Talent channel due to a copyright merits by Alain Boublil Music Ltd.

Yet, there are still copies on YouTube. This includes Susan Boyle – Britains Got Talent 2009 Episode ane – Saturday 11th April | HD High Quality, which has 252 million views and 1.1 1000000 engagements.

So, what'southward the lesson in viral videos featuring Susan Boyle?

Dr. Karen Nelson-Field conducted rigorous research on this topic at the University of South Australia'southward Ehrenberg-Bass Plant for Marketing Scientific discipline. And she published her findings in "Viral Marketing: The Science of Sharing."

Nelson-Field reported, "When a video included a creative story of personal triumph, information technology was shared more than other creative devices" (including baby/immature child, creature, and dancing/singing)…

She added, "Interestingly, despite being a more applicative creative device for ensuring sharing success, personal triumph is rarely displayed in viral video content. In our sample of 800 videos, it appeared in less than 3 percent of all videos."

She concluded, "Personal triumph, therefore, represents the best opportunity for marketers."

Year 5: May 29, 2009 to May 28, 2010

In YouTube'south fifth twelvemonth, one of the more than memorable viral videos was JK Wedding Entrance Dance.

Uploaded in July 2009, it has 102 million views and 510,000 engagements.

Okay, so this video features dancing. And, the adjacent one includes a homo on a horse, which is an animate being.

Of form, I'yard talking most Old Spice | The Human being Your Man Could Olfactory property Like. Uploaded in February 2010, it has 59.vii million views and 261,000 engagements.

Now, maybe I don't demand to point out the obvious, but this viral video is an advert.

In fact, it was part of a entrada that consisted of eight YouTube videos, which tallied a full of 98.7 million views and 337,000 engagements.

And the campaign was for an everyday hygiene detail, so who would have guessed that it would go viral?

But, that's not all. In July 2010, Noreen O'Leary and Todd Wasserman of Adweek reported that monthly sales of Old Spice Body Launder had increased 107% afterwards the campaign.

So, are in that location any other lessons to learn? Well, this viral video features a "talking head."

That'south the derogatory term given to TV commercials that consist of a pitchman extolling the virtues of a production. Now, many agency people argue that talking heads aren't "artistic."

But, as David Ogilvy said in his archetype book, Ogilvy on Advertising, "When I write an advertizement, I don't want you to tell me that y'all detect it 'creative.' I desire y'all to observe it so interesting that you purchase the production." Amen.

Yr 6: May 29, 2010 to May 28, 2011

Another viral video that doesn't feature animals, babies, or dancing is the BED INTRUDER SONG!!!

Uploaded in July 2010 by Schmoyoho, it has 150 million views and ane.3 one thousand thousand engagements.

What tin marketers larn from the about-watched video of 2010? Well, the Gregory Brothers took the quirky tv set interview that Antoine Dodson gave after his sister's attempted attack and turned it into a chart-topper for Motorcar-Tune the News.

The next viral video features singing. It'due south Rebecca Blackness – Friday.

Originally uploaded in March 2011 to Ark Music Mill's channel, that version got more than 166 million views before it was removed from YouTube in June 2011 due to legal disputes betwixt ARK Music and Black.

Still, the "official version" that was uploaded to Rebecca'south channel in September 2011 has 153 1000000 views and 2.2 million engagements.

And so, what's the backstory on this video? Well, it didn't go viral in March until sites like BuzzFeed and Reddit posted it as "the worst song always."

That's correct, Rebecca Black'south pop canticle went viral solely considering people were making fun of her.

Just Jeremy Scott, the co-founder of CinemaSins, thinks we all got trolled hard.

In March 2011, he wrote in Tubular Insights, "Nosotros've been set upwardly and manipulated – played like a second-hand guitar. Not past Black, mind you – I remain fairly convinced that she'due south just a normal 13-year-former. I call up the real puppet primary here is Ark Music Factory."

He added, "Ark Music Factory is the company that produced the video, and I think they made this whole thing happen. To be clear: I think they knew the song was bad… I think they uploaded it anyway… and I think they set well-nigh using social bookmarking and social media sites to specifically gain the video some views based on its poor quality."

At present, he admitted at the fourth dimension, "I don't have any proof… obviously. Only I do have enough of ruddy flags and circumstantial evidence."

This included:

• The video was initially on Ark Music Mill's aqueduct, not Rebecca Black'south.
• This video was picked by the Net as the ane to mock on the same day.
• Ark'due south website had imprint ads to buy their artists' songs on iTunes.
• People oftentimes game curated sites for marketing purposes.

So, what lessons can you learn from this?

Well, at that place are 5,542 parodies and remixes of Rebecca Black's "Friday" on YouTube with a total of 815 meg views and ix.viii million engagements.

So, even if y'all're skeptical of Scott's theory, you should yet carefully consider his determination: "The adage that 'in that location's no such thing as bad publicity' has never been more truthful than it is today… If yous think marketing companies aren't savvy enough to know that and endeavour to capitalize on it – even to the point of mocking the thing they're charged with promoting – then you're pretty naive."

Twelvemonth seven: May 29, 2011 to May 28, 2012

Now, the adjacent viral video from YouTube's seventh year was made by a little-known non-turn a profit. It's KONY 2012.

Uploaded in March 2012, it has 103 million views and one.8 million engagements. (This video is age-restricted and but bachelor on YouTube.)

The incredible success of this xxx-infinitesimal video demonstrates how a relatively unknown entity can notwithstanding make a global impact in social media with powerful content and a savvy marketing strategy.

What lessons can y'all learn from its success?

In July 2007, Mary Madden, a Senior Research Specialist for the Pew Internet & American Life Project, had said, "Immature adults are the most 'contagious carriers' in the viral spread of online video."

And in March 2012, a new report on the viral KONY 2012 video by Lee Rainie, Paul Hitlin, Marking Jurkowitz, Michael Dimock, and Shawn Neidorf for the Pew Research Center constitute the aforementioned pattern.

According to Pew's report, those 18 to 29 years onetime were much more likely than older adults to have heard a lot near the KONY 2012 video. And they were also much more probable than older adults to accept learned about it through social media, rather than traditional news sources.

In add-on, younger adults were more than twice as likely equally older adults to have watched the video itself on YouTube or Vimeo. And so, this should be your target audience, too.

In May 2012, Uncle Drew | Chapter 1 | Pepsi Max went viral. Featuring Kyrie Irving in disguise, this video got 57.seven million views and 239,000 engagements.

At present, this video doesn't await like an ad, does information technology? And according to the video's description, "Pepsi MAX went to a pick-up game in Bloomfield, NJ, pretending to shoot a documentary on a basketball game actor named 'Kevin.' When his Uncle Drew came into the game, some magical things happened."

And even if you aren't a Brooklyn Nets fan, you can learn some useful, valuable, and applied lessons about creating a parody/one-act skit/prank that goes viral but by watching Uncle Drew.

Yr 8: May 29, 2012 to May 28, 2013

Now, I realize that you probably think I'g excluding all music videos from this list, but if you lot go back and re-read what I actually said, information technology just "excludes major label music videos."

Why am I quibbling over what'due south excluded?

Because I really, really wanted to include the next viral video in this listing. It'southward PSY – GANGNAM Manner ( 강남스타일) Yard/5.

Uploaded in July 2012, it has 4.1 billion views and 27.2 million engagements.

Every bit Kevin Allocca, YouTube trends manager, said in a post on the Official YouTube Blog, "This year, Korean Pop music transcended boundaries and took the world by storm."

And as Chris Atkinson added in a post on Tubular Insights, "This is a gigantic breakaway striking because, yeah, the song is catchy, merely the video has everything you want: lunacy, hot girls, and a funky trip the light fantastic toe."

On the other hand, Pigeon Real Beauty Sketches | Y'all're more beautiful than yous think (3mins) doesn't feature a funky trip the light fantastic.

This enlightening video went viral in Apr 2013 and has 69.vi million views and 189,000 engagements.

Equally the video's description says, "In one of the most famous Dove films, Real Beauty Sketches explores the gap between how others perceive usa and how we perceive ourselves. Each adult female is the subject of 2 portraits drawn by FBI-trained forensic artist Gil Zamora: one based on her own clarification, and the other using a stranger's observations. The results are surprising…"

Why did this video become viral?

Well, Susan Wojcicki, the CEO of YouTube, wrote an op-ed in Adweek that said,

"These video ads don't just generate impressions, they go out impressions. Women ages 18-34 are twice equally likely to call up highly of a brand that made an empowering advertising and nearly fourscore pct more probable to like, share, comment, and subscribe afterwards watching one. We as well ran ad recall studies on viii of the campaigns on the Empowering Ads Leaderboard, and all performed in the summit 25 percent of their categories, with nigh in the peak 10 percentage."

Wojcicki too asked, "And then, if empowering ads are so effective, why are we only seeing them at present?"

She said,

"Partly because women are beingness chosen upon to annunciate to women. Despite the disappointing fact that only 11 per centum of creative directors are women, half of the creatives responsible for the empowering ads on our Leaderboard were women. With women expected to control two-thirds of consumer spending in the U.S. over the next decade, creative agencies would be wise to empower women non but in their video ads but in their own ranks."

Year ix: May 29, 2013 to May 28, 2014

Here's another music video that wasn't created by a major characterization. It'south Ylvis – The Play tricks (What Does The Play a trick on Say?) [Official music video Hd].

Uploaded in September 2013, it has 1 billion views and eight.8 million engagements.

At present, if I demand to defend my inclusion of this music video, and then I can betoken to Allocca'south postal service on the Official YouTube Blog, which listed "What Does The Play a joke on Say?" as the peak Trending Videos for 2013 instead of one of the Top Music Videos for the year.

Why did this video go viral? Well, it features music that kids might similar, people dressed in animate being costumes, and lots of funky dancing. Simply, maybe that's just a strange coincidence.

On the other hand, two other viral videos from YouTube's ninth yr don't feature any of that.

The first is GoPro: Backflip Over 72ft Canyon – Kelly McGarry Red Bull Rampage 2013. Uploaded to the GoPro channel on YouTube Oct. 22, 2013, this sports video shows Kelly McGarry flips a 72-human foot-long coulee gap at Ruby-red Bull Rampage 2013 to earn 2nd place.

The video has 208 million views and 2.4 meg engagements.

The second is First Osculation. As the video's clarification says, "We asked 20 strangers to osculation for the commencement time…"

Uploaded in March 2014, information technology got 149 meg views and 666,000 engagements.

Here's the backstory: WREN, a relatively unknown make outside of fashion circles, took the industry by tempest, and showed how a small make with limited resources could create i of the most talked-about marketing campaigns of the year.

Merely a month after its release, Showtime Kiss had increased website traffic past fourteen,000% and sales by xiii,600 pct.

Neat. Non bad at all.

Year 10: May 29, 2014 to May 28, 2015

One of the viral videos from YouTube'due south tenth year is Always #LikeAGirl.

Uploaded in June 2014, information technology got 69.7 million views and 382,000 engagements.

As the video'southward description says, "Using #LikeAGirl as an insult is a hard knock confronting any adolescent girl. And since the residuum of puberty'southward really no picnic either, it's piece of cake to encounter what a huge impact information technology can have on a girl's cocky-conviction."

The description too quotes Lauren Greenfield, the filmmaker, and director of the #LikeAGirl video. She says, "In my work equally a documentarian, I have witnessed the confidence crunch amongst girls and the negative affect of stereotypes first-hand."

She adds, "When the words 'like a girl' are used to mean something bad, it is profoundly disempowering…. I am excited to be a part of the motion to redefine 'similar a girl into a positive affidavit."

But, July and August of 2014 volition long be remembered for the Ice Bucket Challenge, which involved pouring a bucket of ice water over your head to promote awareness of ALS, also known every bit Lou Gehrig'due south affliction, and to encourage donations to inquiry.

One of the videos that went viral was Bill Gates ALS Water ice Bucket Challenge. It's worth noting that Gates accustomed Mark Zuckerberg'due south ALS Ice Saucepan Challenge.

Uploaded to the Pecker Gates channel on YouTube on Aug 15, 2014, the video got 37.i million views and 800,000 engagements.

Information technology'due south likewise worth noting that the Ice Bucket Challenge raised over $220 1000000 worldwide.

Another video that went viral during YouTube's tenth year is x Hours of Walking in NYC as a Woman.

Uploaded in October 2014 by Rob Bliss Creative, a viral video agency, it has 50.4 one thousand thousand views and 161,000 engagements.

This viral video also generated 448 response videos, which got a total of 215 million views and 2.5 one thousand thousand engagements.

This included 10 Hours of Walking in NYC as a Woman in Hijab, which got 18.9 million views and 238,000 engagements. And, equally nosotros've all been told, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

Year 11: May 29, 2015 to May 28, 2016

In YouTube's eleventh year, it's worth noting that one of the videos that went viral was YouTube Rewind: At present Sentinel Me 2015 | #YouTubeRewind.

Celebrating the videos, people, music, and moves that made 2015 memorable, the video featured 89 YouTube stars. (Blinding flash of the obvious: This is a certain-burn down way to assist a video go viral.)

It got 154 million views and 3.four million engagements.

And at present for something completely different.

Who would have guessed that one of the videos that went viral during this twelvemonth would be ' Obama out:' President Barack Obama's hilarious terminal White Business firm correspondents' dinner speech.

And who would accept guessed that it would accept been uploaded by Global News in April 2015 and go along to get 50.8 meg views and 566,000 engagements?

Here's the backstory: As President Obama was getting set to exit office, he didn't hold dorsum in his final speech at the White House correspondents' dinner, firing barbs at himself, Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, Ted Cruz, Bernie Sanders, and Justin Trudeau.

Obama said, "If this textile works well, I'yard going to use it at Goldman Sachs next year. Earn me some serious Tubman'southward."

Hey, there are lots of lessons that content creators and video marketers tin can learn from this guy. Obama's 2008 presidential campaign team was named #ane in the Fast Visitor 50.

The magazine said, "This year'south most successful startup took a skinny kid with a funny proper noun and turned him into the well-nigh powerful new national make in a generation."

Fast Company added, "The team has become the envy of marketers both in and out of politics for proving, among other things, but how constructive digital initiatives can be."

Another video that went viral the following calendar month has inverse the viral video mural as we know information technology. Uploaded by Candace Payne to her Facebook page in May 2016, the video was initially called, "It's the elementary joys in life…" There, it got 180 meg views and 2.nine million engagements.

Then, a version was uploaded to YouTube, where it was named, LAUGHING CHEWBACCA MASK LADY (FULL VIDEO). There, information technology got 13 million views and 158,000 engagements.

Altogether, 1,561 videos of the "Chewbacca Mask" adult female or lady were uploaded to YouTube (678), Facebook (458), Instagram (307), Twitter (117), and Twitch (i).

They got a full of more 200 meg views and over 4.7 million engagements. Simply, the lion's share of both views and engagements were on Facebook, not YouTube.

And, what lesson can literally anybody in the social video industry learn from that?

Well, shortly after Payne'due south video went viral, Facebook started making moves to become "video first" in July 2016, according to United states Today.

And shortly after that, Mark Zuckerberg started talking upwards Facebook'southward "video first" strategy in November of that year, according to USA Today.

The process of going viral started mutating in unexpected directions. Coincidence? I think not.

Year 12: May 29, 2016 to May 28, 2017

Up to this point in time, YouTube content creators had relied on their imagination to create great content that might unexpectedly get an intense psychological response similar happiness, exhilaration, amazement, inspiration, hilarity, warmth, or surprise. They wanted to trigger viewer motivation to not only scout simply likewise to like, comment on, and share their video.

A skillful example is Samsung Bharat Service (SVC) – About Watched Video in 2017 – Nosotros'll take care of you, wherever you lot are.

The video's clarification says, "This video shows a story of how a young Samsung Engineer undaunted by rough terrain, attends to a customer complaint in a remote hilly area. His efforts assist bring upward smiles on the faces of a grouping of children, for whom their Samsung Goggle box is the medium to celebrate their special moment."

Uploaded to the Samsung India channel on Dec. thirty, 2016, this four-minute-long video has 212 one thousand thousand views and 217,000 engagements.

From this point on, many (simply not all) YouTube content creators could as well leverage the large base of subscribers that many (but not all) YouTube influencers had built over the years.

They could borrow a page out of the YouTube creator playbook, which shared the know-how developed past a generation of YouTube content creators to develop content strategies that would resonate with 21st-century consumers.

And upwards to this point in fourth dimension, YouTube content creators had relied on advertizing to monetize their views and engagements – earning 5 figures per year at first and and then half-dozen figures per year on YouTube.

But, from this point on, many (but non all) YouTube influencers started creating sponsored videos for brands, ofttimes making a lot more coin.

For example, check out Ping Pong Flim-flam Shots 3 | Dude Perfect.

Uploaded to Dude Perfect's YouTube aqueduct in April 2017, which has 56.ii meg subscribers, this sponsored video for Oreo got 308 million views and seven million engagements.

Up to this signal in time, viral videos had been uploaded to YouTube first and then shared to Facebook and other social media.

But from this point on, many (but not all) videos that went viral started existence uploaded to both platforms simultaneously.

And upwards to this point in time, many viral videos had featured personal triumph, a babe/young child, a parody/comedy skit/prank, dancing/singing, an creature, or another creative device.

Merely from this point on, many (simply non all) videos could go viral by providing useful, valuable, and applied tips, tricks, and hacks.

For example, check out Become clever with your ataxia…and these 7 system hacks!

Uploaded to Blossom's Facebook folio in May 2017, which has 56.v 1000000 subscribers, it got 451 million views and 16 meg engagements.

Year xiii: May 29, 2017 to May 28, 2018

The demand to build a big base of subscribers in order to increase the odds of having your videos "go viral" has prompted some (but non many) brands to start acting every bit if they were media companies.

Instead of creating "hero" content once or twice a yr, they started creating "hub" content once or twice a week.

What'due south "hero" content?

Well, information technology's the kind of content that you lot want to push button to a big, broad audience. Yous know, your Super Bowl moment. A brand might take but one hero moment in a yr, such as a product launch or an industry tent-pole event.

For example, YouTube continues to create hero content because it continues to piece of work.

YouTube Rewind: The Shape of 2017 | #YouTubeRewind historic the videos, people, music, and memes that made 2017 memorable.

So many content creators were featured in the video that the description couldn't include all their names. The video got 238 million views and 5.6 million engagements.

Hub content, on the other hand, is the kind of content that you develop on a regular basis to give a fresh perspective on your target'south passion points. This content is uploaded once or twice a week.

For instance, check out Door in the Sky. Uploaded to Red Balderdash's Facebook page in November 2017, which has 49 million subscribers, information technology got 264 one thousand thousand views and 5.vii million engagements.

But, that'south just the tip of the iceberg.

Blood-red Bull uploaded 2,484 videos to its Facebook folio from May 29, 2017, to May 28, 2018.

It also uploaded 1,883 videos to its Instagram business relationship and another 581 videos to its YouTube channel during that period.

And these 5,302 videos got a combined total of more than than 3.5 billion views (that's billion with a "b") and 158.8 million engagements over 365 days.

And 106 of these videos got more a million views and 100,000 engagements.

These are viral videos past anyone's definition. And, on boilerplate, Red Bull is creating more than than two of them a week.

Want an Instagram example of hub content? So, check out @kingjames takes it and wins it with the Tissot Cablegram Beater! #ThisIsYourTime.

Uploaded to the NBA's Instagram business relationship in May 2018, which has 35.ii million subscribers, this sponsored video for luxury watch make Tissotgot 3.9 one thousand thousand views and 807,000 engagements.

But, we're just scratching the surface. The NBA uploaded 133 sponsored videos to Instagram from May 29, 2017 to May 28, 2018.

It also uploaded 170 sponsored videos to Facebook and two sponsored videos to YouTube, which earned 267.4 million views and 29.9 1000000 engagements over 365 days.

Just 112 of these sponsored videos got more than a 1000000 views and 100,000 engagements. So, these are also viral videos by the definition that we've been using.

On average, the NBA is creating more than two of them a week. And if you consider that the regular season begins in belatedly October and the playoffs finish in early June, and then the NBA's sponsored videos are going viral nearly three to four times a calendar week when basketball game games are actually being played.

Year 14: May 29, 2018 to May 28, 2019

This brings u.s.a. to the final yr that I wrote most two years agone. In my earlier article, I asked a rhetorical question: "Practice you really need your videos to go viral in order in order to generate results these days?"

With 20/20 hindsight, I would like to ask for a mulligan. Information technology turns out that rumors of the death of viral videos were greatly exaggerated.

For case, many industry observers – including me – mistakenly idea that the so-chosen Facebook Apocalypse of January 2018 signaled the death of viral videos on that platform.

Hey, even Adam Mosseri, who was so the Caput of News Feed for Facebook, said at the fourth dimension, "Because space in News Feed is express, showing more posts from friends and family and updates that spark conversation means we'll bear witness less public content, including videos and other posts from publishers or businesses."

Merely, despite the apocalyptic prognostications of manufacture observers, 10 tricks y'all didn't know y'all could practice with your food!, which was uploaded to Flower'south Facebook folio on Sept. 18, 2018, however managed to become 489 meg views and x.iv meg engagements.

Although this content is no longer available, MetDaan Mode posted a video entitled, 10 tricks you didn't know you could practise with your food! , to Facebook on April 9, 2021.

And then, yous can get an thought of why this genre of content went viral.

Meanwhile, 2019 turned out to be the breakout year for TikTok. For instance, on Feb. 19, 2019, Caleb Cutler uploaded "Nutrient Surgery" to his TikTok account.

His video near surgery on a assistant went viral and got 6.5 million likes.

Meanwhile, the virtually liked creator video of the year on YouTube was aptly titled, Make This Video The About Liked Video On YouTube.

Uploaded by MrBeast on January. xvi, 2019, it has 90.vi one thousand thousand views and 18.4 meg engagements.

Now, if y'all think that TikTok has forced me to modify my ranking criteria, then you're right.

The (global) ranking of this collective effort to create the most liked video on YouTube is based on "likes" of videos uploaded in 2019, excluding videos from artists, brands, media companies, and children'southward content.

Hey, Ralph Waldo Emerson in one case wrote, "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of fiddling minds."

Besides, along with the almost liked creator video of the yr, MrBeast also had i of the peak trending videos of year, and i of the nearly viewed YouTube channels of the twelvemonth, making his presence and impact impossible to ignore.

And, ultimately, he used that influence to bring the YouTube customs together – through ultra-charitable challenge videos, and a massive creator collaboration, #TeamTrees.

Within the first week of launching the entrada with Marking Rober, over 3,800 videos were uploaded with the #TeamTrees tag, every bit creators around the world joined the effort to enhance $20 million to plant 20 million trees.

Yr xv: May 29, 2019 to May 28, 2020

On April 9, 2020, the Ohio Section of Health uploaded Flatten The Curve – Social Distancing Works to their Facebook page.

Their video got 123 one thousand thousand views and i.viii meg engagements.

On May 22, 2020, Jordy Wilson uploaded Current of air wave to his outdoorkindaguy account on TikTok. Featuring "Lose Control" by Meduza, Becky Hill, and Goodboys, the viral video got 27.eight million likes.

As I mentioned in my post, Meridian-Trending 2020 YouTube Videos Demonstrate Longer Is Stronger, the average length of the acme-trending YouTube videos was eighteen:33 final twelvemonth and the median length was between 15:43 and 17:13.

And then, short-form videos may exist the bright shiny object, but don't count out longer-form content.

In fact, the #2 tiptop-trending video last yr, Lawn Squirrel Maze 1.0- Ninja Warrior Class, was 21:39 long.

The description says, "Squirrels were stealing my birdseed and so I solved the problem with mechanical engineering science :)"

Uploaded to Marker Rober's channel on YouTube on May 24, 2020, this educational video has 76.eight meg views and 2.iv million engagements.

Twelvemonth 16: May 29, 2020 to May 28, 2021

Information technology's worth noting that the top-trending 2020 video, eight:46 – Dave Chappelle, was 27:xx long.

Chappelle says in the video's description, "Normally I wouldn't show y'all something so unrefined, I promise you sympathise."

This is not a special simply rather an impromptu purging of feelings and thoughts delivered by Chappelle during his show in Ohio on June vi, 2020, shortly after George Floyd'south death.

Uploaded to Chappelle's Netflix is a Joke aqueduct on YouTube June 11, 2020, this enlightening video has 30.3 million views and 997,000 engagements.

Meanwhile, Bella Poarch officially created the most-liked video on TikTok in August 2020.

Her lip-syncing video, Bella does One thousand to the B, got a whopping l one thousand thousand likes for simply bopping her head to "Soph Aspin Send" by Millie B.

Of class, prank videos like SHE WAS SUNBATHING 🤣 (PARODY), continue to be popular, twelvemonth in and year out.

Uploaded by Julius Dein to Facebook on Dec. 16, 2020, this video is 3:17 long. And it got 733 meg views and 4.1 million engagements.

What Lessons Can You Learn From the Peak twoscore Viral Videos of All Time?

So, what valuable lessons can content creators and video marketers have away from examining the videos that have gone viral over the past couple of years?

Many of the cardinal trends were spotted in July 2019 past the Google/Insight Strategy Group, which asked 12,000 people worldwide what they had watched in the last 24 hours.

Their answers were reported in an interactive feature on Think with Google entitled, What the world watched in a day.

The participants, ages 13 to 64, watched a wide variety of content, ranging from traditional media to online video.

This included YouTube (78%), Subscription VOD (45%), Facebook (43%), cablevision Television set (39%), Instagram (33%), satellite TV (28%), network websites (28%), and Snapchat (12%).

The survey asked people to choose their No. 1 reason to lookout man from a list of twenty reasons and establish the following results:

1. Helps me relax and unwind.
2. Teaches me something new.
3. Allows me to dig deeper into my interests.
4. Makes me laugh.
5. Relates to my passions.
6. Is inspiring.
7. Makes me forget nigh the world effectually me.
8. Keeps me in-the-know.
9. Addresses social bug that are of import to me.
10. Has loftier production quality.
11. Helps me be efficient.
12. Is on a network or platform I like.
13. Is easy to watch on-the-go.
14. Doesn't require my full attention.
15. Reminds me of my life.
16. Takes me back to some other time in my life.
17. Has its finger on the pulse of culture.
18. Created by people like me.
19. Makes me experience part of a community.
20. Has famous actors.

Right there, you lot have a long list of means that a video's content can tap into your target audience's personal interests and passions before you get to the network or platform that information technology'southward on.

In other words, content is however King. The platform is – at best – a Businesswoman.

In fact, the ability to help people dig into their interests was twice as important as beingness on a preferred network or platform. And it was four times more of import than featuring famous actors.

Then, yep, trends in the digital video marketing business organization mostly don't motility in a straight line. Some tendencies and fashions alter. Other movements and things don't. And still, other developments and crazes unexpectedly move sideways.

Simply, if in that location is one over-arching lesson can you lot learn from reviewing the top 40 viral videos of all time, then it is: Create content worth sharing.

Yes, you can upload it to dissimilar platforms.

Yep, y'all can make it in longer or shorter formats.

And, yes, your audience may picket it on a variety of unlike devices.

If you desire lots of people to assist your video get viral by sharing information technology with all of their friends, family unit, and colleagues, then create content that helps them relax and unwind, teaches them something new, allows them to dig deeper into their interests, makes them express joy, relates to their passions, is inspiring, makes them forget about the earth around them, keeps them in-the-know, or addresses social issues that are important to them.

In short, 2-thirds of what makes a video go viral is content that speaks to what they're passionate about. Merely 1-third is the platform that they adopt.

Now, that'southward a valuable lesson that's worth learning, whether you lot're a content creator or a video marketer.

More than Resource:

• seven Reasons Why Content Needs Amazing Images, Videos & Visuals
• xviii Must-See Video Marketing Secrets & Insights
• YouTube News, Plus Trends, Techniques, and Guidelines

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All screenshots taken by author, June 2021

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Source: https://www.searchenginejournal.com/top-viral-videos-all-time/302343/

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