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What were we watching this year? Let’s rewind 2011.
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
IGNentertainment
RayWilliamJohnson
expertvillage
BlueXephos
smosh
realannoyingorange
roosterteeth
thelonelyisland
barelypolitical
Most-watched videos from major music labels globally (
playlist
)
Jennifer Lopez - On The Floor ft. Pitbull
LMFAO - Party Rock Anthem ft. Lauren Bennett, GoonRock
Bruno Mars - The Lazy Song [Official Video]
Nicki Minaj - Super Bass
Pitbull - Give Me Everything ft. Ne-Yo, Afrojack, Nayer
Pitbull - Rain Over Me ft. Marc Anthony
Jessie J - Price Tag ft. B.o.B.
LMFAO - Sexy and I Know It
Katy Perry - E.T. ft. Kanye West
Katy Perry - Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)
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
.
Posted by Kevin Allocca, YouTube Trends Manager
(Cross-posted from the
YouTube Blog
)
Labels
accessibility
41
acquisition
26
ads
131
Africa
19
Android
58
apps
419
April 1
4
Asia
39
books + book search
48
commerce
12
computing history
7
crisis response
33
culture
12
developers
120
diversity
35
doodles
68
education and research
144
entrepreneurs at Google
14
Europe
46
faster web
16
free expression
61
google.org
73
googleplus
50
googlers and culture
202
green
102
Latin America
18
maps and earth
194
mobile
124
online safety
19
open source
19
photos
39
policy and issues
139
politics
71
privacy
66
recruiting and hiring
32
scholarships
31
search
505
search quality
24
search trends
118
security
36
small business
31
user experience and usability
41
youtube and video
140
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