About Viral

Music: Saturating YouTube’s Top 100

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