The Top 10 videos this year were dominated by pop and hip-hop artists, with nine out of 10 videos published in the first half of the year. Only Adele’s “Hello” cracked the list after appearing in the latter half of the year.
The four leading videos of 2015 were viewed more than Katy Perry’s “Dark Horse” video, which was No. 1 last year. At the time of publication last year, it had garnered 703,227,848 views.
Are music fans flocking to YouTube more than ever these days? Or are artists making better videos? “When it comes to music, 2015 saw some of our fastest-rising videos of all time,” says Kevin Allocca, Head of Culture and Trends, YouTube.”‘Wiz Khalifa’s ‘See You Again’ reached over 1 billion views in just 6 months and Adele reached the year’s top 10 in just a few weeks.”
Also of note: People spent more than 37,000 years in 2015 playing these 10 videos.
1. Wiz Khalifa, “See You Again” ft. Charlie Puth
Date Published: April 6
Views: 1,292,086,187
2. Major Lazer & DJ Snake, “Lean On” ft. MØ
Date Published: March 22
Views: 960,589,617
3. Maroon 5, “Sugar”
Date Published: Jan. 14
Views: 951,766,805
4. Ellie Goulding, “Love Me Like You Do”
Date Published: Jan. 22
Views: 882,263,008
5. Adele, “Hello”
Date Published: Oct. 22
Views: 841,139,247
6. Taylor Swift, “Bad Blood” ft. Kendrick Lamar
Date Published: May 17
Views: 684,885,614
6. David Guetta, “Hey Mama” ft. Nicki Minaj, Bebe Rexha and Afrojack
Date Published: May 19
Views: 542,119,012
8. Silentó, “Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae)
Date Published: June 25
Views: 529,127,259
9. Fifth Harmony, “Worth It” ft. Kid Ink
Date Published: March 28
Views: 531,522,870
10. Sia, “Elastic Heart” ft. Shia LaBeouf and Maddie Ziegler
Date Published: Jan. 7
Views:489,479,583