Official YouTube Blog: zeitgeist

What were we watching this year? Let’s rewind 2011.

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

One hundred years into the future, when our great-grandkids look back to what was capturing the world’s imagination on YouTube in 2011, what will they make of us? Will they still be delighted by babbling babies? Will they still be “so excited” about the weekend? And will they be any closer to understanding the mystery of the space-traveling toaster pastry cat?

Check out YouTube.com/Rewind for a timeline of this year's most popular videos and events and to see what the world watched in 2011.

Today, we rewind through the videos and channels that absorbed our collective global attention this year. To compile these lists, we looked at global view counts of popular videos uploaded throughout this year, and, in some instances, we aggregated views across multiple versions of the same video. 2011 was a year of amazing new channels and new stars being discovered, awesome creativity, and of course, Rebecca Black. It was also a year of powerful news stories playing out on YouTube, as people witnessed and documented uprisings and natural disasters, touching personal moments and moments of protest.

In total, there were more than 1,000,000,000,000 (one trillion) playbacks on YouTube this year (yep, count ‘em, 12 zeroes). That’s about 140 views for every person on the earth. More than twice as many stars as in the Milky Way. And if I had a penny for every … OK, you get my drift, it’s a big number.

So to all of you who picked up a guitar and sang a love song, held your camera phone high above a protesting crowd, danced along to “Friday” or just forgot the webcam was on, thank you. You make YouTube what it is, and we can’t wait to hear your stories next year.

Without further ado, your most-viewed videos of 2011.

Most viewed YouTube videos globally (excluding videos from major music labels)
(playlist)

Rebecca Black - Friday (OFFICIAL VIDEO)

Ultimate Dog Tease

Jack Sparrow (feat. Michael Bolton)

Talking Twin Babies - PART 2 - OFFICIAL VIDEO

Nyan Cat [original]

Look At Me Now - Chris Brown ft. Lil Wayne, Busta Rhymes (Cover by @KarminMusic)

The Creep (feat. Nicki Minaj & John Waters)

Maria Aragon - Born This Way (Cover) by Lady Gaga

The Force: Volkswagen Commercial

Cat mom hugs baby kitten

Most viewed YouTube channels globally (excluding channels from major music labels)

machinima

Most watched videos from major music labels globally (playlist)

Some highlights from other categories:

Zach Wahls Speaks About Family was the most-watched political video
Japan Earthquake: Helicopter aerial view video of giant tsunami waves was the most-watched news video
25 Ways to Wear a Scarf in 4.5 Minutes! was the most watched “how-to” video
iPhone 5 Concept Features was the most-watched science/technology video
Immortals was the most-watched movie trailer
Mountain Biker gets taken out by Buck was the most-watched sports video

You can also check out the most-viewed videos of the year in fashion, beauty, sports, gaming, travel, fitness, food, science, tech reviews, family, pets, and wedding proposals.

Kevin Allocca, YouTube Trends Manager, recently watched “Miracle on 42nd Street.”

A big YouTube winner in the year of Google search

Thursday, December 15, 2011

YouTubeGoogle’s Zeitgeist siteKevin Allocca, YouTube Trends Manager, recently watched "YouTube Challenge: I gave my kids a terrible present."

Double rainbows, annoying oranges and bed intruders: the year on YouTube

Sunday, December 12, 2010

It’s time to rewind back through the YouTube videos that people in the U.S. and around the world were watching and searching for in 2010. These lists of most-watched videos reflect the people, places and events that captured our collective attention and imagination throughout the year. During 2010, you all watched more than 700 billion YouTube videos, and uploaded more than 13 million hours of video. We met a bunch of new faces, some new words and phrases entered our shared lexicon, and we celebrated as some new YouTube partners hit the big time with millions of views. Remember these moments?

It started with a crime scene and ended up on the Billboard chart: when Antoine Dodson met the Auto-tune the News guys, a viral hit was made.

Columnist Dan Savage took to YouTube to respond to a spate of suicides by gay teenagers by launching the “It Gets Better” project to send messages of hope to bullied gay teens. The campaign went viral, with everyone from President Obama to Pixar employees taking part.

The next Justin Bieber? That was the buzz, as this performance by 13-year-old Greyson Chance went viral and led to a record deal for this sixth grader from Edmond, Okla.

He’s an orange and, yeah, he’s pretty annoying. And that’s been the key to this channel’s meteoric rise in 2010: in less than one year, more than 1 million people have signed up for a regular dose of wise-cracking citrus.

Paul “Yosemite Bear” Vasquez’s emotive footage of a spectacular rainbow in Yosemite National Park caught the attention of a few pop culture sites and comedian Jimmy Kimmel, whose tweet helped make this clip and the “double rainbow” one of the most beloved memes of 2010.

And now, the moment you’ve all been waiting for … here are the most-watched videos of 2010, compiled based on the view counts of videos uploaded during 2010. In some instances we aggregated totals across multiple versions of the same video to find the most-watched clip that really set YouTube on fire this year.

Globally, as of November 2010, the most-watched YouTube videos (excluding major label music videos) were:

BED INTRUDER SONG!!! (now on iTunes)

TIK TOK KESHA Parody: Glitter Puke - Key of Awe$ome #13

Greyson Chance Singing Paparazzi

Annoying Orange Wazzup

Old Spice | The Man Your Man Could Smell Like

Yosemitebear Mountain Giant Double Rainbow 1-8-10

OK Go - This Too Shall Pass - Rube Goldberg Machine version

THE TWILIGHT SAGA: ECLIPSE - Trailer

Jimmy Surprises Bieber Fan

Ken Block's Gymkhana THREE, Part 2; Ultimate Playground; l'Autodrome

And globally, as of November 2010, the most-watched major label music videos were:

Justin Bieber - Baby ft. Ludacris

Shakira ft. Freshlyground - Waka Waka (This Time for Africa) (The Official 2010 FIFA World Cup Song)

Eminem - Love The Way You Lie ft. Rihanna

Eminem - Not Afraid

Rihanna - Rude Boy

Justin Bieber - Never Say Never ft. Jaden Smith

Justin Bieber - Never Let You Go

Lady Gaga - Alejandro

Justin Bieber - Somebody To Love Remix ft. Usher

Lady Gaga - Telephone ft. Beyonce

The most-searched for queries on YouTube during the year show what was on our collective minds as 2010 played out. Like Google Zeitgeist, these lists reveal the interests, issues and entertainment that connected us.
January - haiti
February - luge
March - eclipse trailer
April - ipad
May - eminem not afraid
June - shakira waka waka
July - double rainbow
August - bed intruder
September - halo reach
October - whip my hair
November - firework

For more reminders of the people, places and events that played out on YouTube during 2010, visit youtube.com/rewind or check out YouTube Trends for more detailed lists.

Mia Quagliarello, Community Manager, recently watched “Zeitgeist 2010: The Year in Review.”

Official Blog

What were we watching this year? Let’s rewind 2011.

A big YouTube winner in the year of Google search

Double rainbows, annoying oranges and bed intruders: the year on YouTube

Labels

Archive

Feed