When Psy’s mega-hit “Gangnam Style” hit a billion views on YouTube back in 2012, it was a massive deal. It was, after all, the first video to reach that symbolic mark. Since then however, it’s been joined by nine other videos.
Thing is, at the start of this past June, only two videos had reached that echelon. But in just the past six months, eight additional videos crossed the mark. The latest video to join the billion view club is Wiz Khalifa’s “See You Again“. Khalifa and Charlie Puth’s tribute to the late Paul Walker took just six months earn the distinction of being the first ever rap /hip-hop video to reach one billion views on YouTube making it the second fastest video of all time to do so.
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Here are the videos ranked by views with a graph showing the trajectory of these videos over the past five years.
The rate at which videos are accelerating to this milestone appears to be increasing too.
Read more: Yup, Gangnam Style’s been viewed so many times it broke YouTube
The average number of days it took for a video to cross 1 billion is 484 days, but of the videos that have done it, the three most recent crossed it at an average of 241 days.
Here are some other fun facts about the members of the billion views club:
- In what may be a surprise to Americans, Enrique Iglesias’ “Bailando” became the second non-English video to cross 1 billion views. According to YouTube Music Insights, one-third of
- Iglesias’ views come from Mexico, Colombia, and Argentina alone.
- Only one of the videos is for a debut single, Meghan Trainor’s 2014 hit “All About That Bass.”
- Katy Perry and Taylor Swift each have had two videos hit this mark, “Roar“/”Dark Horse” and “Blank Space“/”Shake It Off” respectively.
- Next closest to a billion: One Republic’s “Counting Stars.”
