With the year 2015 almost over, it's time to look back at the top 10 YouTube videos that rose to prominence over the year.
This top 10 list excludes music videos (because you can see how music videos dominate the top 10 YouTube videos of all time), and rankings are based on total views. Interestingly, only three of these top 10 videos come from independent creators or ordinary YouTube users.
Garnering nearly 116 million views on YouTube since it was uploaded in April, “Silento - Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae)” by Tianne King takes the top spot on the list. It features young girls dancing to the “Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae)” song.
The second most popular video of the year is a professionally produced video entitled “Clash of Clans: Revenge,” an official Super Bowl TV ad for the movie. It's been viewed about 83 million times.
Third down the list is a video about how Roman Atwood prepared a surprise for his wife. In “Crazy Plastic Ball PRANK!!” Atwood connived with his kids to fill up their home with a truckload of colored plastic balls. It’s a colorful prank, to say the least, and 56 million viewers witnessed both father and kids have fun.
With 55.1 million views, the Ad Council’s issue advocacy ad, “Love Has No Labels,” proves that inspirational ideas deserve to be seen, especially in videos that are made so well. The ad, which ranks fourth on the list, touches on the issue of diversity and inclusion.
Next is a side-splitting clip from Jimmy Fallon’s “The Tonight Show” featuring a lip-sync battle among Fallon, Will Ferrell and Kevin Hart. This video got 54 million views, putting it at fifth place on the list.
The sixth most popular video of 2015 is from another late-night TV show, “The Late Late Show with James Corden.” This one, with 43 million views, features show host Corden and Justin Bieber carpooling through LA, singing some of Bieber’s hit songs and challenging Bieber to solve a Rubik’s cube puzzle.
At seventh place, just 3 million views short of Bieber’s carpool stint with Corden, is this amazing slow-motion footage of a bursting 6-foot water balloon, shot in 4K ultra high-definition glory. Credit goes to The Slow Mo Guys.
For hitting 38 million views, the clip of Calum Scott hitting the right notes in “Britain’s Got Talent” takes the eighth spot on the list. Scott got the golden buzzer, of course.
Trailing close behind at ninth is this “interesting” dash cam footage of a police officer driving around town while lip syncing to Taylor Swift’s “Shake It Off.” This one got 37 million views.
Finally, at last place with 34 million views is a clip of President Obama gamely reading a selection of mean tweets about him on the “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” show.
Which of these videos did you catch this past year? Which ones do you like most and why?
[Image credit: PiXXart / Shutterstock.com]
