The 15 Most-Watched YouTube Videos of All Time

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15. Baa Baa Black Sheep (2018) – 4.74 billion views

Nobody is watching this because it is some creative milestone. The reason Baa Baa Black Sheep got this huge is much simpler: it is short, familiar, and made for very young kids who will sit through the same thing again and again without getting tired of it. That matters a lot on YouTube, where repetition can turn a basic nursery rhyme into a monster hit. Cocomelon also benefits from being one of the biggest children’s channels on the platform, so once parents click one video, more of them keep coming. This is less about cultural impact than sheer replay value, which is often what drives the biggest numbers in kids content. | © Cocomelon - Nursery Rhymes

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14. Shree Hanuman Chalisa (2011) – 5.22 billion views

This one belongs in a very different category from the usual viral YouTube giants. Shree Hanuman Chalisa is not sitting at billions of views because of memes, chart success, or some clever video concept. It built that audience through habit, faith, and everyday use, which is a much steadier source of traffic than the average pop hit gets. People come back to it for prayer, reflection, and routine, sometimes daily, and that kind of repeated listening adds up in a massive way over time. That also explains why its numbers look so unusual next to music videos and children’s clips: the audience is not chasing novelty, it is returning for a purpose. | © T-Series Bhakti Sagar

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13. Dame Tu Cosita (2018) – 5.36 billion views

A lot of giant YouTube hits are easy to explain, but Dame Tu Cosita is one of those reminders that the internet also rewards nonsense. The song is catchy, the dancing alien is instantly recognizable, and the whole thing feels like it was made to be clipped, shared, and passed around as a joke. That does not mean people were deeply invested in the music or the artistry behind it. In many cases, they clicked because it looked weird, because their kids wanted it, or because it had already become a meme they kept seeing everywhere. Sometimes billions of views come from admiration. Sometimes they come from people staring at the same strange thing together. | © Ultra Records

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12. Learning Colors – Colorful Eggs on a Farm (2018) – 5.42 billion views

There is nothing mysterious about why this one blew up. Videos like Learning Colors – Colorful Eggs on a Farm are built around the kind of simple visual repetition that works extremely well for toddlers, especially when parents want something easy, harmless, and educational enough to justify putting it on. It is not famous because it broke into the mainstream the way a hit song does. It got there because kids will watch content like this over and over, and YouTube is very good at feeding them more of the same. That may not sound glamorous, but it is one of the clearest paths to massive view counts on the platform. | © Miroshka TV

11. Axel F (2009) – 5.75 billion views

Plenty of people remember Crazy Frog less as a beloved act than as an inescapable annoyance, and that is part of the story here. Axel F took a catchy older melody, attached it to a loud cartoon mascot, and became the kind of thing people clicked whether they liked it or not. Some came for nostalgia, some for the joke, and some because the character had already become internet shorthand for a very specific kind of chaotic early-online humor. It is not one of YouTube’s biggest videos because it is subtle or sophisticated. It is here because it is obnoxious, memorable, and impossible to confuse with anything else. | © Crazy Frog

10. Uptown Funk (2014) – 5.76 billion views

Unlike some of the stranger entries on this list, this one makes perfect sense. Uptown Funk was a genuine mainstream phenomenon, the sort of song that took over radio, parties, weddings, commercials, and basically any place that needed a safe crowd-pleaser. The video did exactly what it needed to do without overcomplicating the pitch: it sold style, attitude, and Bruno Mars’ charisma. That is a big reason the track held on for so long after the initial release wave passed. People did not just watch it once because it was new. They kept coming back because the song stayed useful in everyday life for years. | © Mark Ronson

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9. Gangnam Style (2012) – 5.86 billion views

For a while, Gangnam Style felt like the internet’s center of gravity. The song was catchy, the dance was easy to recognize, and the video knew exactly how ridiculous it wanted to be without losing its grip as a pop hit. That combination mattered, because plenty of songs go viral for a week and then vanish, while this one turned into a real global event. It also arrived at a time when YouTube still felt less predictable, so watching a Korean pop track dominate the whole platform had a genuine shock factor. The view count is massive because it was not just popular. It was a moment people felt they had to be part of. | © Psy

8. Shape of You (2017) – 6.67 billion views

Not every entry this high needs a complicated explanation, and Shape of You definitely does not. It is one of those songs built for maximum reach: easy hook, clean rhythm, broad appeal, and almost no barrier to casual listening. Even people who were never big Ed Sheeran fans still heard it everywhere, which is usually a sign that a track has moved beyond fandom and into general background culture. The video helped keep the song circulating, but the real engine here was how well the single fit streaming-era listening habits. It worked in playlists, on radio, in shops, at events, and basically anywhere people wanted something catchy without thinking too hard about it. | © Ed Sheeran

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7. Phonics Song with Two Words (2014) – 6.89 billion views

Anyone expecting sophistication from this kind of video is looking in the wrong place. The reason Phonics Song with Two Words got so big is that it does one very basic job extremely well: it gives small children simple sounds, bright visuals, and a format they can follow without effort. That is usually enough to generate endless replays, especially when parents are looking for something that feels at least a little educational. ChuChu TV also hit the sweet spot between classroom-style repetition and YouTube-friendly pacing, which matters more than originality in this corner of the platform. To most adults, it is probably just another alphabet video. To YouTube’s algorithm and millions of households, it was a perfect product. | © ChuChu TV Nursery Rhymes & Kids Songs

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6. See You Again (2015) – 6.94 billion views

This one earned its place in a way that feels a lot more recognizable than most of the children’s songs around it. Attached to Furious 7 and tied closely to the death of Paul Walker, See You Again became the kind of song people sought out for a real emotional reason, not just background noise or babysitting duty. It was a genuine pop smash on its own, but the tribute angle gave it extra weight and kept it circulating far beyond the movie’s release window. The video also had a built-in audience from both hip-hop listeners and action franchise fans, which is a huge combination on YouTube. Unlike some entries here, its numbers are not hard to explain at all. | © Wiz Khalifa

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5. Johny Johny Yes Papa (2016) – 7.16 billion views

Parents of toddlers know exactly how videos like this take over a household, even when nobody over the age of five would ever choose to watch them. Johny Johny Yes Papa is catchy in the most repetitive way possible, and that is really the whole engine behind its view count. The animation is a little strange, the scenario is simple to the point of absurdity, and none of that hurts it because kids do not care about polish the way adults do. What matters is rhythm, familiarity, and the ability to loop forever without requiring attention. LooLoo Kids built one of those nursery-rhyme machines that can rack up billions while most people outside that age group barely understand why it exists. | © LooLoo Kids - Nursery Rhymes and Children's Songs

4. Bath Song (2018) – 7.39 billion views

Bath time is one of those ordinary parenting routines that content like this turns into a full business model. Cocomelon did not need Bath Song to be clever or musically rich; it just needed the video to be colorful, easy to follow, and built around a situation that parents deal with every day. That practical angle matters more than people admit when they look at these giant view counts. A song about taking a bath is not climbing into the all-time top tier because the world fell in love with its artistic brilliance. It gets there because toddlers replay it, parents put it on again, and YouTube keeps feeding the same familiar thing back into millions of homes. | © Cocomelon - Nursery Rhymes

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3. Wheels on the Bus (2018) – 8.59 billion views

There is almost no learning curve with Wheels on the Bus, and that is a huge advantage on a platform like YouTube. It was already one of the most familiar children’s songs around before Cocomelon wrapped it in bright animation and turned it into another replay monster. Kids know the rhythm quickly, adults know the words already, and the whole thing is harmless enough to run in the background as many times as needed. That combination is incredibly powerful online, even if it does not make for the most exciting conversation. What pushes the number so high is not one big viral moment, but a constant flow of daily use. In this space, boring and dependable often beats memorable. | © Cocomelon - Nursery Rhymes

2. Despacito (2017) – 8.95 billion views

Unlike the nursery-rhyme side of this ranking, Despacito got here because it was an actual worldwide event. The song crossed language barriers without much trouble, dominated radio, took over streaming, and became one of those tracks people heard whether they wanted to or not. Its YouTube success makes complete sense because the video arrived at the center of that explosion, with Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee attached to a song that felt huge everywhere at once. There is no need to invent a deeper mystery around it. It was a global pop hit with enormous replay value, a massive video, and the kind of mainstream reach that very few songs ever manage. That is usually what a real all-time giant looks like. | © Luis Fonsi

1. Baby Shark Dance (2016) – 16.70 billion views

The gap between this and everything else is so ridiculous that it almost stops looking real. Baby Shark Dance did not become the biggest YouTube video of all time because people thought it was a masterpiece. It got there because it is one of the most effective pieces of children’s content ever made for the internet: simple words, obvious motions, instant recognition, and a hook that lodges itself in your brain after one play. Add in schools, phones, tablets, family playlists, memes, and years of nonstop replay from very young kids, and the number starts to make more sense. It is annoying to plenty of adults, but that has never mattered. For its actual audience, it was practically built to break the platform. | © Pinkfong Baby Shark - Kids' Songs & Stories