YouTube, the video goliath of our age, has revealed the top trending videos on the site for 2015. From catchy dance moves, to epic lip syncing battles, singing in cars, and mean Tweets, both music and television reigned supreme on YouTube’s annual list.
The videos are selected based on the amount of time people spent watching, sharing, commenting, and liking them. The collection includes top 10 lists for regular videos, as well as music videos. In total, the videos that made the cut were viewed for more than 25 million hours, and created by channels that enjoy over 40 million subscribers among them. We’ve pulled some of our favorites from the list and gathered them here for your viewing pleasure (you know you needed a work distraction anyway), so enjoy!
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TV/late night fun
It’s clear the new slate of late night TV talk show hosts are making their mark in the digital world, as three entries on the top-10 list are courtesy of segments that went viral from Jimmy Fallon, James Corden, and Jimmy Kimmel.
The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon’s hilarious lip sync battle with Will Ferrell and Kevin Hart came in at number-five, as Ferrell kept viewers in stitches, glued to the screen to see his best Beyonce impression.
Justin Bieber’s Carpool Karaoke with James Corden on The Late Late Show with James Corden ranked right behind at number-six, where the pair belted out some of the pop singer’s latest tunes as they danced in sync with the music, and discussed some of the more compelling lyrics, like “eat fondu,” and the meaning behind them.
And Jimmy Kimmel Live! made the cut as well with the President Obama edition of the popular Mean Tweets segment whereby celebrities (and apparently also politicians) read aloud real Tweets that actual Twitter users have written about them to the somber R.E.M. tune Everybody Hurts playing in the background.
A fourth television moment also made the list: the Golden boy Calum Scott’s audition on week-one of Britain’s Got Talent. In the clip, the clearly nervous young man wins over the judge’s hearts as he mesmerizes them and viewers with his clear, incredible voice right after his sister failed to make the cut. The audition got all the more attention because it prompted tough judge Simon Cowell to skip the critique altogether and press his “golden buzzer” to send Scott straight through to the live shows.
Music Videos
Music videos are also a huge part of YouTube, and 2015 broke records for some of the fastest-rising videos of all time. Wiz Khalifa’s See You Again reached over one-billion views in just six months. And even though her new song Hello only just recently came out a few weeks ago, Adele managed to make the list in the number-nine spot.
Rounding out the top 10 music videos on YouTube for 2015 were Maroon 5’s Sugar; Ellie Goulding (Love Me Like You Do; Major Lazer & DJ Snake – Lean On (feat. MØ); Taylor Swift – Bad Blood ft. Kendrick Lamar; David Guetta – Hey Mama ft Nicki Minaj, Bebe Rexha & Afrojack; Sia – Elastic Heart feat. Shia LaBeouf & Maddie Ziegler; Fifth Harmony – Worth It ft. Kid Ink; and Silentó – Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae).
Altogether, the top 10 music videos garnered more than 66 million subscribers, and people spent the equivalent of over 37,000 years watching them over the last 12 months.
Random viral vids
Also on the list are several viral videos, including Tianne King’s dance group doing Silento – Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae); the Super Bowl commercial Clash of Clans: Revenge; Crazy Plastic Ball PRANK!! by RomanAtwood; and the Dover Police “DashCam Confessional” in which the Dover boys in blue get down to Tay-Swift’s Shake it Off, among others you’ve likely seen while slacking off at work.
To make following the most popular videos a little easier going forward, YouTube has launched its new Trending tab within the iOS, Android, and desktop app, which shows the top-trending videos so you can watch them immediately — because who has time for work?
