The most viewed YouTube videos in the ranking 2023

Whether Instagram, TikTok or YouTube, more and more people in Germany and around the world are using various platforms to share videos. Some people do this as a hobby and post the short films they make privately. Others use YouTube on a large scale, produce elaborate films and are constantly increasing their reach.

Of the ten most viewed videos on YouTube, all have well over four billion views, with the top half of the list exceeding six billion. Music videos by well-known artists and, surprisingly, children’s videos can be found in the top ten. However, the latter have an ever-growing target group and are best marketed due to the child-friendly content.

It has long been known that a lot of money can be made on YouTube with a large reach, but how exactly does the monetization of Google’s video platform work? And what are the top 10 most viewed YouTube videos? An overview.

First, as Google writes on its YouTube help website, the producer of a video must sign up for the partner program called YPP advertise in order to generate any income with the specially produced content. In order to be accepted for this application, certain criteria must be met. If no violations of the YouTube guidelines were found in the videos, there is a good chance that they will be accepted for the affiliate program.

After that, YouTube offers several features that can be used to make money from videos. These include:

• advertising revenue: Revenue from display overlay and video ads. To do this, however, your own content must comply with the guidelines for advertising-friendly content.
• channel membership: Members pay monthly for membership. In return, they receive special advantages on the respective channel. It should be noted, however, that at least 30,000 subscribers must be reached to activate channel membership.
• Super Chat: Super Chat allows viewers of a YouTube live stream to send money to the content creator by writing a short text message. Depending on the amount of money, the duration for which the message is displayed in the chat also changes.
• Merchandise: This allows content creators to showcase and sell their official merchandise to subscribers in a dedicated area. Before that, however at least 10,000 subscribers be listed on the channel.
• YouTube Premium Revenue: With this monetization feature, channel owners can create specific content for YouTube Premium that can also only be viewed by YouTube’s Premium customers. For this, the channel participates in the subscription fee of a YouTube Premium subscriber.

In order to use these features, additional requirements must be met in addition to the minimum requirements for the number of subscribers. It can happen that the respective function cannot be activated if, for example, the YouTube review team believes that certain videos or channels are not suitable for monetization.

YouTube cites two crucial points for these requirements: First, the review team must comply with legal requirements in each country in which the monetization function is offered. To do this, channel operators need as much context about the videos as possible. As a second point, YouTube states that the relevant content must always comply with the guidelines.

How much money can be earned on YouTube, and if at all, depends on many factors. But the most important thing is to realize that as the creator of videos, you also have responsibility for them. So if you stick to the necessary guidelines and observe the strict criteria, it is also possible to be included in the YouTube partner program. In the best case, honest creators should benefit from this. If a channel manages to build up continuous growth, the corresponding subscribers and views can also be reached in order to earn money on YouTube.

From there, there seems to be no limit – at least as far as the number of views is concerned – because videos repeatedly reach viewership figures in the millions, some even make it into the billions. Music videos in particular can be found in the illustrious circle of the most watched videos on the platform. We take a look at the top ten most viewed videos on YouTube.

The video of the Russian channel Miroshka TV took tenth place among the most watched YouTube videos. Entire 4.87 billion views achieves the four-year-old learning video “Learning Colors – Colorful eggs on a farm”.

Another music video, “Uptown Funk”, ranks ninth among the most-clicked YouTube videos. In total 4.88 billion It has been able to collect views so far and is one of seven videos with the participation of the singer Bruno Mars, which managed to reach over a billion views.

Eighth place goes to the children’s song “Wheels on a Bus” from the channel CoComelon Nursery Rhymes & Kids Songs. The colorfully illustrated video features a 3D animation of animals riding a school bus and singing together. “Wheels on a Bus” has catchy tune potential. With 5.1 billion clicks, the music video made it to eighth place in the ranking.

A children’s video also took seventh place in the ranking of the most-clicked YouTube videos. The video of an Indian network of YouTube channels has been so far 5.24 billion views.

The music video for the song “See You Again” came in sixth 5.85 billion call. It served as the soundtrack to the film Fast and Furious 7 and includes events from the film. At the same time, it also bids farewell to actor Paul Walker, who died in 2013.

With “Shape of You” another music video lands in the list of the most clicked videos on YouTube. Ed Sheeran’s 2017 song is coming up so far 5.96 billion view 5th place in the ranking of crap clicked videos on YouTube.

A nursery rhyme by the CoComelon Nursery Rhymes YouTube channel with the current second most subscribers (158 million) it makes fourth place in the ranking. Entire 6.12 billion The English-language music video is still viewed today and could soon overtake the video in third place.

The channel’s song “Johny Johny Yes Papa.” LooLoo Kids – Nursery Rhymes and Children’s Songs erreicht bis dato 6.68 billion views and thus makes it to third place in the ranking. It was released in 2016 and, according to the channel description, serves as an entertainment and educational video for children. With their channel LooLoo Kids, the operators regularly achieve upload numbers in excess of the 500 million mark.

“Despacito” reached to date 8.13 billion views, making it the most-clicked music video on YouTube. The song, released in 2017 and subsequently becoming a worldwide hit, held the number one spot for a long time, but has now been beaten by another video.

The “Baby Shark Dance” is the most viewed YouTube video and is coming up 12.66 billion views. The children’s song now has more views than there are people on earth and was the first video to break the ten billion mark.

Transparency notice: This article was first published in January 2021 by WirtschaftsWoche. We’ve updated it and are showing it again based on reader interest.

Also read about influencers: