1) Miley Cyrus passed Alicia Keys taking 5th place

2) The Jonas Brothers stepped up from the bottom taking number 9 away from Akon

3) Avril Lavigne stays in the number one spot for music videos but has been shoved to the number 2 slot for all video as The Evolution of Dance reclaims the throne.  

Maybe disabling embedding has played a role?  Look at the two videos with the highest growth, they both allow others to embed.  All the others present on the chart (except Timbaland) disable the embedding feature as we saw just over two weeks ago.      

Source: YouTube

 
Cheers!

The majority of these videos were added in 2007 but there are videos on the raise from 2008 (check the 2nd, 3rd and 4th pages of YouTube’s All Time).  Clinching a spot at the top of the charts has its advantages.  If someone is curious about the most viewed video of all times Avril Lavigne definitely gets some traffic from visitors that want to see what all the fuss is about.

Source: YouTube

This new kind of chart acts differently than traditonal rating systems.  Videos don’t lose their status over time like a fad.  So, unlike radio charts it’s not subject to a short life span of a couple weeks or a month.  Once on top the truly popular stick around shifting ever so slightly, at least for now.  

Also, The longer a video takes to reach YouTube the lower its chances of making the all time viewed list are because the hype surrounding the song or artist dies away.  Radio stations kill listener’s enthousiasm when they play newly released tunes everytime they switch DJ’s.  YouTube puts them up on a pedastal. 

Cheers!

Avril Lavigne is the reigning queen when it comes to having the most viewed video of all time on YouTube. As of February 17th her Girlfriend video has been viewed over 115 500 000 times. That’s a lot of views.

What gives Avril the title (once belonging to a video called The Evolution of Dance not to long ago) is the variable that is central to 78% of video on Youtube’s Top 100 list of all time: Music.

Breaking it down quickly 70% of the all timers are music videos. 8% are videos that use music to launch the video to its stardom. Finally, 22% don’t use music as their central feature but may contain a little here and there for tone.

If those numbers seem like a foreign concept to you then understanding the power music has is something you should read up on. Music videos are slowly creeping into the ultimate limelight and for good reasons too. YouTube playlists allow users to store their favorite songs and listen wih their YouTube account directly from a computer. This generates huge amounts of views as users come running back to hear their new favorite song, rather than waiting for the radio to overplay it. In any other video category it is likely that a video once seen and shared to a few friends retains little reason to return on a regular. This is where music gets its longevity.

Soon the Virals from outside the music category will be shoved into the middle of YouTube’s all time database.  An assortment of creativity, humour and weirdness will be cast into the saturation of the 6th and 7th pages of YouTube’s all timers.  It’s happening fast too.

Take a look at two videos; Katie Perry’s Hot‘n’Cold (38 200 000) and Beyonce’s Single Ladies (40 700 000). These videos are only 4 months old yet they still make the top 50. The drive and repeatability of music videos along with the offline promotion wheel help catapult these clips to the forefront.

Other videos in the prestigious top 100 have their reasons for being there but they have good right to be worried about how many hit singles it will take to knock them out.

Free Hugs Campaign is genuinely moving and received huge publicity from the Oprah Effect.

Extreme funny is good entertainment however, their ability to land the key words “extreme funny” must have played a role in keeping their exposure high in common searches.

Oral has obvious sex appeal for men and was added a year ago but still gets constantly shoved back as new music hits the scene.

Introducing a video outside the music category and reaching the ultimate goal of the top 100 is slowly becoming a momentous challenge as music proves to be a key variable in Viralism and take over the top of YouTube.

Cheers