Quick Answer
The most viewed YouTube video of all time is “Baby Shark Dance” by Pinkfong with over 17 billion views as of June 2026. The top 10 is dominated by children’s nursery rhymes and global music hits. All 10 videos on this list have now surpassed 5 billion views. The list is sourced from Wikipedia’s continuously updated live tracker and verified third-party view count databases.
Quick Facts
| #1 most viewed video | Baby Shark Dance — Pinkfong |
| #1 view count (June 2026) | 17+ billion views |
| First video to reach 1 billion views | Gangnam Style (December 2012) |
| First video to reach 10 billion views | Baby Shark Dance (January 2022) |
| Most viewed music video (non-kids) | Despacito — Luis Fonsi (~9 billion views) |
| Most viewed video in 24 hours | BTS “Butter” — 108.2 million views |
| Total videos above 4 billion views | 30 (as of April 2026) |
| Total videos above 5 billion views | 14 (as of April 2026) |
| Dominant content categories | Children’s nursery rhymes, global pop music |
| Source | Wikipedia List of Most-Viewed YouTube Videos (live) |
Why These Videos Reach Billions of Views
Before counting down the list, it helps to understand the two forces that drive videos to the very top of YouTube’s all-time charts. These are not random viral moments — they are the product of very specific content mechanics.
Children’s content and the rewatch loop. Nursery rhymes and animated educational songs dominate the top 10 because young children watch the same videos dozens of times a day. YouTube’s autoplay functionality continues playing similar content automatically, and since small children have neither the attention nor the ability to change what is playing, the same handful of videos loop repeatedly. A single toddler generates more views per day from Baby Shark than a teenage fan generates from their favourite pop song.
Global music hits that transcend language barriers. Songs like Despacito, Gangnam Style, and Shape of You became genuinely global phenomena — played on radio, in clubs, at weddings, and in gyms worldwide — and each listen also translated into a YouTube view. Music is designed to be replayed, and YouTube’s recommendation algorithm keeps serving songs to people who have already demonstrated they like them.
Age compounds everything. Most of the top 10 videos were uploaded between 2009 and 2018. View counts accumulate over years and decades. A video that gets 10 million views per month has 1.2 billion views after 10 years — without ever trending again.
The Top 10 Most Viewed YouTube Videos of All Time (June 2026)
1. Baby Shark Dance — Pinkfong (Kids’ Songs and Stories)
Views: 17+ billion | Uploaded: June 2016
Baby Shark Dance is not just the most viewed YouTube video — it is the most viewed video in the history of the internet by a margin that grows every day. Uploaded by Pinkfong (now rebranded as Pinkfong Kids’ Songs and Stories) on June 17, 2016, this Korean children’s song about a family of sharks became a global phenomenon driven entirely by child rewatch behavior and parent complicity.
Baby Shark Dance became the first video to reach eight billion views in February 2021, nine billion views in July 2021, and ten billion views in January 2022. As of June 2026, it has more than seventeen billion views.
The video’s dominance is structural rather than cultural. It has nearly double the views of the second-place video — a gap that is historically unprecedented for the number one position on any platform. Children under five are its primary audience and they do not have the ability to select different content, which means autoplay keeps feeding it to the same small viewers indefinitely.
Why it matters: Baby Shark is the definitive proof point that children’s content, not adult entertainment, dominates long-term view count accumulation on YouTube.
2. Despacito — Luis Fonsi ft. Daddy Yankee
Views: ~9 billion | Uploaded: January 2017
Despacito is the most-viewed conventional music video at approximately 8.97 billion views. The Puerto Rican reggaeton track by Luis Fonsi featuring Daddy Yankee was released in January 2017 and became a crossover global phenomenon, crossing language barriers from Spanish into English-speaking markets through its remix featuring Justin Bieber and widespread radio play. It held the number one position on YouTube’s most-viewed list for several years before Baby Shark overtook it.
Despacito was the first video to reach 3 billion views (August 2017), 4 billion (October 2017), 5 billion (April 2018), 6 billion (February 2019), and 7 billion (October 2020) before Baby Shark’s rise changed the game permanently.
3. Wheels on the Bus — Cocomelon (Nursery Rhymes)
Views: ~8.5 billion | Uploaded: May 2018
Cocomelon is the most-watched children’s entertainment channel on YouTube globally and Wheels on the Bus is its flagship video. The simple animated nursery rhyme, featuring a school bus and cheerful animal characters, benefits from the same rewatch mechanics as Baby Shark. Cocomelon’s production quality is significantly higher than earlier children’s channels, using bright colors, clear audio, and simple repetitive structures that hold young children’s attention better than live-action content.
The channel’s dominance is such that many parents describe Cocomelon as a near-constant presence in their homes with toddlers, generating tens of millions of views per month from a relatively small audience of repeat young viewers.
4. Shape of You — Ed Sheeran
Views: ~6.5 billion | Uploaded: January 2017
Shape of You is the most-viewed video by a solo UK artist and the defining commercial hit of Ed Sheeran’s career. Released in January 2017 as the lead single from his album Divide, the track was written by Sheeran, Steve Mac, and Johnny McDaid and became one of the best-selling singles of all time globally. It is believed that Ed Sheeran and his writers still make 5 million Pounds annually from this single video, illustrating how long-tail YouTube revenue on a 9-figure-view video continues indefinitely.
Shape of You is the rare adult pop song that has accumulated children’s-content-level view counts purely through replay and global popularity.
5. Bath Song — Cocomelon (Nursery Rhymes)
Views: ~6.5 billion | Uploaded: June 2018
The second Cocomelon entry in the top 10 and a demonstration of how systematically the channel has conquered early childhood entertainment globally. The Bath Song lists the importance of regular baths and maintaining good hygiene — an essential concept that parents approve of and let the kids view repeatedly. As with Wheels on the Bus, its success is entirely a function of parental endorsement and child rewatch behavior.
6. See You Again — Wiz Khalifa ft. Charlie Puth
Views: ~6.3 billion | Uploaded: April 2015
See You Again is one of the most emotionally resonant videos in YouTube’s history, originally written as a tribute to the late actor Paul Walker for the Furious 7 film soundtrack. Released in April 2015, the Charlie Puth and Wiz Khalifa collaboration became both a commercial blockbuster and a genuine communal grief moment — the comments section remains one of the most significant archives of fan tribute to Walker on the entire internet.
See You Again is YouTube’s second most liked video with over 55 million likes as of February 2026. It was the second video in YouTube history to reach 2 billion views (September 2016) and held the all-time most-viewed position briefly in 2017 before being overtaken.
7. Phonics Song with TWO Words — ChuChu TV
Views: ~6.2 billion | Uploaded: March 2014
ChuChu TV’s Phonics Song with TWO Words is the most-viewed Indian video on YouTube and demonstrates how a channel based in Chennai, India can accumulate billions of views through educational content aimed at early childhood learning. The video uses colorful images of objects and clear vocals to teach children the right way to use their vocal cords, and differentiates between consonants from vowels.
The video’s consistent curriculum-aligned approach means it is recommended not just by algorithm but by parents and teachers, adding institutional endorsement to its already strong organic rewatch metrics.
8. Johny Johny Yes Papa — LooLoo Kids
Views: ~6.1 billion | Uploaded: October 2016
The Romanian children’s animation studio LooLoo Kids entered the top 10 with Johny Johny Yes Papa, a nursery rhyme about a child sneaking sugar that has become one of the most-replayed children’s songs on the platform. LooLoo Kids has quietly built one of the most-viewed children’s channels on YouTube from Bucharest, with content available in multiple languages.
The video is a clear demonstration that children’s content success is not geographically or linguistically limited — European animation studios can match or exceed the output of major entertainment corporations when the target audience is toddlers who do not discriminate by country of origin.
9. Uptown Funk — Mark Ronson ft. Bruno Mars
Views: ~5.5 billion | Uploaded: November 2014
Uptown Funk is the most-viewed adult Western pop video in the top 10 alongside Shape of You. For this song, Mark Ronson teamed up with Bruno Mars, wearing casual funky suits in colors like pink and gray, also adding sunglasses and retro hats to their outfit. The track is versatile and suitable for many occasions, from parties to fun, romantic evenings.
Released in November 2014, it was a multi-year chart phenomenon and remains one of the most-played songs at weddings, parties, and fitness classes globally — a form of passive viral marketing that continues generating YouTube views from people who heard the song elsewhere and came to YouTube to play it again.
10. Gangnam Style — PSY
Views: ~5.3 billion | Uploaded: July 2012
Gangnam Style holds a singular place in YouTube history. It was the first video to reach 1 billion views on YouTube (December 2012) and for a period caused a literal technical crisis on the platform — YouTube’s view counter was built as a 32-bit integer with a maximum value of approximately 2.1 billion, and PSY’s video was approaching it. YouTube had to upgrade to a 64-bit counter in late 2014 specifically because of Gangnam Style.
The South Korean satirical pop song by PSY became a global phenomenon driven by its distinctive horse-riding dance and a music video that was genuinely funny across cultural contexts. It was the catalyst for the international K-pop wave that followed and remains one of the most significant cultural events in YouTube’s history.
Full Top 10 Table (June 2026)
| Rank | Video | Channel | Approx. Views (Jun 2026) | Upload Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Baby Shark Dance | Pinkfong Kids’ Songs | 17+ billion | 2016 |
| 2 | Despacito | Luis Fonsi | ~9 billion | 2017 |
| 3 | Wheels on the Bus | Cocomelon | ~8.5 billion | 2018 |
| 4 | Shape of You | Ed Sheeran | ~6.5 billion | 2017 |
| 5 | Bath Song | Cocomelon | ~6.5 billion | 2018 |
| 6 | See You Again | Wiz Khalifa ft. Charlie Puth | ~6.3 billion | 2015 |
| 7 | Phonics Song with TWO Words | ChuChu TV | ~6.2 billion | 2014 |
| 8 | Johny Johny Yes Papa | LooLoo Kids | ~6.1 billion | 2016 |
| 9 | Uptown Funk | Mark Ronson ft. Bruno Mars | ~5.5 billion | 2014 |
| 10 | Gangnam Style | PSY | ~5.3 billion | 2012 |
View counts are rounded to nearest 0.1 billion and updated as of June 2026. All figures sourced from Wikipedia’s List of Most-Viewed YouTube Videos (live tracker).
The Most Viewed YouTube Video in 24 Hours
While the all-time list is dominated by slowly accumulating views over years, a parallel competition tracks which videos gain the most views in their first 24 hours of release.
As of mid-2026, the most viewed YouTube video in the first 24 hours is BTS’s “Butter” with 108.2 million views. Other record-holders in this category include BTS’s “Dynamite,” Blackpink’s “How You Like That,” and the GTA VI trailer.
The 24-hour record competition is dominated by K-pop fandoms (who organize mass-streaming events at the moment of release) and major entertainment IP launches (video game trailers, film announcements) that generate coordinated global attention on day one.
Frequently Asked Questions
Baby Shark Dance by Pinkfong is the most viewed YouTube video of all time in 2026, with over 17 billion views as of June 2026. It has been the most-viewed video since November 2020 when it surpassed Despacito and became the first video in history to reach 10 billion views in January 2022. The gap between Baby Shark and the second-place video (Despacito at approximately 9 billion views) is larger than the entire view count of most videos in the top 10.
Despacito by Luis Fonsi featuring Daddy Yankee is the most-viewed conventional music video on YouTube with approximately 9 billion views. Among videos targeted primarily at adults (excluding children’s content), Despacito leads, followed by Shape of You by Ed Sheeran and See You Again by Wiz Khalifa featuring Charlie Puth.
Not yet as of June 2026. Baby Shark Dance is the only video to have crossed 10 billion views, currently sitting at over 17 billion. At its current rate of accumulation, it could reach 20 billion views within the next few years, though growth has slowed compared to its peak years of 2020 to 2022.
Children’s nursery rhymes and animated educational songs accumulate enormous view counts because young children rewatch the same content repeatedly, sometimes dozens of times per day, and YouTube’s autoplay feature continues serving similar content automatically. Unlike adults who typically watch a video once, a toddler may watch Baby Shark or Wheels on the Bus 20 times in a single afternoon. Multiply that behavior across millions of households globally for years and the view counts become astronomical.
Gangnam Style by PSY became the first YouTube video to reach 1 billion views in December 2012. At the time this was considered such an extraordinary milestone that it was global news. YouTube’s view counter was not even designed to accommodate it — the platform had to upgrade from a 32-bit to a 64-bit integer counter specifically because Gangnam Style was approaching the maximum value of approximately 2.1 billion that a 32-bit counter could display.
Among K-pop videos, Dynamite by BTS is among the highest-viewed, and BTS holds the record for the most views in 24 hours with Butter at 108.2 million views. However, no K-pop video currently places in the overall top 10 most-viewed videos of all time, which is dominated by children’s content and Western music hits.
Yes. Every time someone watches a video for at least 30 seconds, it counts as a view, including rewatches from the same account or device. However, YouTube limits view counting to 4 to 5 views per IP address within a 24-hour period to prevent artificial inflation. This is why children’s videos accumulate so many views — the same small child watching Baby Shark 30 times in a day generates multiple legitimate views, not just one.
YouTube removed the public dislike count in November 2021 but kept public like counts. As of 2026, See You Again by Wiz Khalifa featuring Charlie Puth is YouTube’s second most liked video with over 55 million likes. Baby Shark Dance also has extraordinarily high likes given its view count, though some children’s videos have disabled like/dislike displays entirely.
What the Top 10 Tells Us About YouTube in 2026
The composition of the top 10 most-viewed YouTube videos reveals something fundamental about how the platform works and who it truly serves.
Seven of the top 10 are either children’s content or were uploaded before 2018. The only videos from the post-2018 era in the top tier are children’s songs, and even the adult music hits on the list — Shape of You, See You Again, Uptown Funk — were uploaded between 2014 and 2017. This tells us that long-term view accumulation heavily favors evergreen content with replay value over viral contemporary moments.
The complete absence of YouTube-native creators from the top 10 is equally telling. Every video in the list is either a professional music video or a children’s content production. The platform’s most-watched content globally is not commentary, gaming, vlogs, or tutorials — it is music and nursery rhymes, the two categories that most closely replicate passive broadcast television viewing.
For anyone watching the evolution of the platform, Baby Shark’s 17 billion views are less a curiosity than a statement: YouTube is, at its most-viewed core, a children’s television channel attached to a global music video library. Everything else — the creators, the gaming channels, the tutorials, the podcasts — generates enormous value and income but lives in a different part of the platform from its record-holders.
All view counts are approximate and sourced from Wikipedia’s List of Most-Viewed YouTube Videos, Likes.io (April 2026 data), RouteNote Blog (January 2026), and Brandwatch (April 2026). View counts grow daily and figures should be treated as accurate to the nearest 100 to 200 million at time of publication.
DISCLAIMER: The videos/images/logos showcased on this page are the property of their respective owners. This blog post is just for informational purposes. We provide credit and sources wherever possible. However, If you find that your videos/images/logos is displayed on this blog without authorization, please contact us with the relevant details and a link to the image, and we will promptly address your concerns.
Vania Ali is a dentist by profession and a passionate blogger at Saudi Scoop. With a love for writing and exploring new places, Vania shares insightful content that informs and inspires readers while embracing the thrill of travel.
