With more than 35 hours of video uploaded to YouTube each minute, and more than 700 billion playbacks during 2010, YouTube has launched the careers of several unknown, and unlikely, celebrities.
While the popular site is unprecedented as an outlet for amateur talent, a vast amount of the content is also ‘unwatchable’.
However, one of YouTube’s unlikely success stories was the Bed Intruder Song, which was the most watched video in Australia and around the world, and ‘six of the top 10 most-watched videos globally were made-for-YouTube originals’, according to YouTube Community Manager, Mia Quagliarello.
The Bed Intruder Song, by Antoine Dodson and YouTube partner, Auto-Tune the News, aka the Gregory Brothers, features processed vocals by the lead singer talking to the media about his sister’s attempted rape.
The music video went viral and has recorded 46,067,989 views on YouTube, and is one of the top songs charted on iTunes. Its success also enabled the singer to purchase a new home.
In a year when more than 13 million hours of video was uploaded to YouTube, viewers around the world were captivated by double rainbows, annoying oranges, and lots of Old Spice.
Lady Gaga hit 1 billion cumulative views, Michelle Phan became the first woman on YouTube to achieve one million subscribers and Justin Bieber’s Baby feat. Ludacris, became the most viewed video of all time with more than 400m views
Quagliarello, said: “The most-watched YouTube videos of 2010 reflect the people, places and events that captured our attention and imagination throughout the year. YouTube has become the world’s town square – a place where culture is created and shared.”
In Australia, the most-watched music videos on YouTube were:
Auto Tune The News: Bed Intruder Song
Tik Tok Kesha Parody: Glitter Puke – Key of Awe$ome #13
Old Spice: The Man Your Man Could Smell Like
Bad Loser
Justin Crew – winner of Australi’s Got Talent
Cody Simpson – ‘iYiYi’ ft. Flo Rida [Official Video]
Yosemitebear Mountain Giant Double Rainbow 1-8-10
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Trailer Official HD
Annoying Orange Wazzup
The Twilight Saga Eclipse Trailer
And globally, the most-watched music videos from major music labels on YouTube were:
Justin Bieber – Baby ft. Ludacris
Shakira ft. Freshlyground – Waka Waka (This Time for Africa) (The Official 2010 FIFA World Cup Song)
Eminem – Love The Way You Lie ft. Rihanna
Eminem – Not Afraid
Rihanna – Rude Boy
Justin Bieber – Never Say Never ft. Jaden Smith
Justin Bieber – Never Let You Go
Lady Gaga – Alejandro
Justin Bieber – Somebody To Love Remix ft. Usher
Lady Gaga – Telephone ft. Beyonce
To see more of the year’s most popular and influential YouTube videos from across the world, visit youtube.com/rewind.
