YouTube has completely changed the way the world consumes content. Every day, cooking tips, film trailers, how-to-videos, educational videos, music albums and more-billions of videos are uploaded and watched. But one question always raises eyebrows: which is the most watched video on YouTube? The answer is not as obvious as you may think, and the history of this answer is even more fascinating.
Which is the Most Watched Video on YouTube?
The video with the highest number of views on YouTube is a video by Pinkfong, a South Korean educational entertainment company, named Baby Shark Dance. As of 2025 data by Statista, this video has reached an incredible 16.22 billion views, becoming the first and the only video in the history of YouTube to exceed 10 billion views.
What Is the Video About?
Baby Shark Dance is a nursery rhyme that talks of the family of sharks, the Baby Shark, Mommy Shark, Daddy Shark, and Grandma and Grandpa Shark. The song is catchy, colourful and extremely simple and that is why children all over the world fell in love with it instantly.
The video was uploaded on June 18, 2016 and within a couple of years, it took over the internet.
Who Held the Record Before?
Before the Baby Shark Dance video, the most popular video on YouTube was Despacito by Luis Fonsi featuring Daddy Yankee. When the song was released in 2017, it made a number of records. Before Despacito, the top watched video was “Wheels on the Bus” which is also a nursery rhyme.
Source: Statista
What Does This Tell Us?
Baby Shark has shown that you do not need to spend a lot of money or use a famous face to become an internet winner, sometimes a simple video like Baby Shark Dance can claim the top spot. An innocent, cheerful and familiar content can reach everywhere in the world.
It is also indicative of the unbelievable strength of YouTube as a medium through which a South Korean children song can become a worldwide sensation.
