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A “Furious 7” soundtrack smash, late-night celebrity shenanigans and a giant ball pool: these were the most watched and talked-about videos on YouTube in 2015.
The hugely popular video-sharing site has revealed its official top trending videos of the year while launching a new Trending tab that shows you what’s currently hot. The annual list is compiled by YouTube, based on the amount of time viewers spent watching, sharing, commenting and liking each video.
In total, the top 10 videos were watched for over 25 million hours.
The big trend in the list is the rise of TV clips — specifically, clips from late-night US chat shows in which celebrities play wacky games with hosts Jimmy Fallon, James Corden and Jimmy Kimmel. Those challenges include celebs reading out abusive tweets aimed at them by members of the public, and the lip-sync battle, in which celebs mime to music.
Also included is the Super Bowl ad for video game Clash of Clans: Revenge featuring Liam Neeson. It’s interesting that most of the videos are made by big brands — ads, TV clips, music videos — but the list also includes feel-good user-generated content from YouTube stars such as Tianne King, Roman Atwood and the Slo Mo guys.
Without further ado, here’s the top 10 most watched, shared and talked-about videos, according to YouTube:
- Silento — Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae) #WatchMeDanceOn by Tianne King
- Clash of Clans: Revenge (Official Super Bowl TV Commercial) by Clash of Clans
- Crazy Plastic Ball Prank! by RomanAtwood
- Love Has No Labels | Diversity & Inclusion by Ad Council
- Lip Sync Battle with Will Ferrell, Kevin Hart and Jimmy Fallon by The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
- Justin Bieber Carpool Karaoke by The Late Late Show with James Corden
- 6ft Man in 6ft Giant Water Balloon by The Slow Mo Guys
- Golden boy Calum Scott hits the right note | Audition Week 1 by Britain’s Got Talent
- Dover Police DashCam Confessional (Shake it Off) by Dover Police
- Mean Tweets — President Obama Edition by Jimmy Kimmel Live
Music videos are one of the most popular things on YouTube. In the year that Taylor Swift’s “Shake it Off” and “Blank Space” both topped 1 billion views, rocketing to the heights of the all-time YouTube music video chart, the top 10 trending videos were collectively played for a total of more than 37,000 years of viewing. Included in the list is Swift’s “Bad Blood”, which electrified social media with its glittering cavalcade of actresses, models and singers.
Also included in the chart is the video for Sia’s “Elastic Heart”, featuring the distinctive dance stylings of troubled movie star Shia LeBeouf, and the long-awaited “Hello” by Adele, making the list despite only being released in late October.
Here’s the chart run-down, led by Wiz Khalifa with a video that’s been viewed over 1.2 billion times:
1. Wiz Khalifa — See You Again ft. Charlie Puth [Official Video] Furious 7 Soundtrack
3. Ellie Goulding — Love Me Like You Do (Official Video)
4. Major Lazer & DJ Snake — Lean On (feat. MØ) (Official Music Video)
5. Taylor Swift — Bad Blood ft. Kendrick Lamar
6. David Guetta — Hey Mama (Official Video) ft Nicki Minaj, Bebe Rexha & Afrojack
7. Sia — Elastic Heart feat. Shia LaBeouf & Maddie Ziegler (Official Video)
8. Fifth Harmony — Worth It ft. Kid Ink
10. Silentó — Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae) (Official)
YouTube music videos continue to be controversial as many fans come to the video-sharing site to listen to music for free rather than paying elsewhere. This year YouTube launched a new music app that includes a paid option, but seriously, who’s going to pay for YouTube?
More on YouTube
- Meet the YouTube Music app. This tune may ring a bell…
- ‘We tell Spotify no, YouTube does it anyway’: The music industry’s love-hate relationship with YouTube
- Generation YouTube: Today’s fastest-rising stars aren’t coming out of Hollywood
Music videos make up the majority of the chart of all-time most-watched videos. The most watched video on YouTube is Psy’s “Gangnam Style”, which has been watched a whopping 2.4 billion times since it was released in 2012. The Korean rapper is followed by Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber, Wiz Khalifa and Katy Perry. The highest-charted non-music video of all time is “Wheels on the Bus” at number 11, created by YouTube channel Little Baby Bum, which serves up animated nursery rhymes in long videos so that parents don’t have to keep pressing the play button.
As these charts show, individual videos by established stars tend to be most popular. But if we’re looking at numbers of subscribers to a channel, user-generated content balances out the official channels of stars like One Direction, Rihanna and Katy Perry. The most popular YouTube channel is Swedish gamer PewDiePie, followed by Chilean comedian HolaSoyGermán and US sketch comedy duo Smosh.
