Billion Views Club
Hit it, baby, a billion times. One of Britney Spears‘ most iconic music videos — “…Baby One More Time” — has joined YouTube’s billion views club, making it the pop star’s second to reach the milestone after “Scream & Shout” with Will.i.am. First uploaded to the site in October 2009 — more than 10 years […]
Just in time for spooky season, Michael Jackson’s iconic 1983 music video for “Thriller” has surpassed one billion YouTube views. The milestone marks the King of Pop’s fourth visual to join the Billion Views Club after “Beat It,” “Billie Jean,” and “They Don’t Care About Us.” Directed by John Landis and boasting a voiceover from Vincent Price, the 13-minute clip […]
More than 40 years after topping the Billboard Hot 100, Toto‘s “Africa” is still reaching new milestones: The 1983 No. 1 hit just surpassed 1 billion views on YouTube. “Africa” — Toto’s lone Hot 100 chart-topper among four top 10 hits — is the band’s first entry in YouTube’s Billion Views Club. The Toto IV […]
Nelly Furtado is officially a member of YouTube‘s Billion Views Club. The singer’s “Say It Right” music video featuring Timbaland becomes her first-ever visual to hit the milestone, just shy of 15 years after it was first uploaded. Posted on the platform in June 2009, “Say It Right” finds Furtado performing the track atop a […]
Ooh, baby, it’s raining views. As of Thursday (Feb. 22), the music video for Rihanna‘s “Umbrella” featuring Jay-Z has more than 1 billion clicks on YouTube, 15 years after it was first uploaded. The late 2000s time capsule opens with Jay-Z rapping in front of a curtain of falling sparks, flanked by a troupe of […]
Forget looking at the stars, look at that view count! Coldplay‘s “Yellow” has become the band’s latest music video to join the Billion Views Club. Their beloved 2000 breakthrough hit — which they opened their 2016 Super Bowl Halftime Show performance with — is the band’s fifth music video to collect over 1 billion views […]
The King of Pop reigns forever. Despite coming from a completely different era of media, Michael Jackson‘s seminal “Beat It” music video has become the latest clip to reach one billion views on YouTube, as confirmed by the streaming giant on Wednesday (Nov. 29). “Beat It” is Jackson’s third music video to enter the Billion […]
Just like time, a billion views probably can’t mend the careless whispers of a good friend — but it’s still a pretty major milestone. The music video for George Michael‘s iconic 1984 hit “Careless Whisper” recently surpassed the momentous view count, thanks to the help of hundreds of thousands of average views per day.
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Though the video was uploaded to YouTube in 2009 and first created two decades prior to that — the clip is seriously a time capsule of the mid-80s — it still reaches an average audience of more than 400,000 global views each day. It stars Michael — looking glam in gold earrings, a suit and his trademark poofy hair — serenading the camera as he reflects on clips of him cheating on his significant other. There’s vintage swimwear, sailboats and Miami sunsets, a perfectly dramatic backdrop for the pop star to profess his regret over an affair.
The ballad, which was credited to “George Michael” or “Wham! featuring George Michael” depending on the country of release, served as Michael’s pivot away from Wham! into an extremely successful solo career. Thanks in part to its instantly recognizable featured saxophone solo, “Careless Whisper” remains one of the musician’s most well-known songs of all time, spending three weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100 in ’84 and ’85. Only “Faith” has surpassed that chart reign, having clocked four weeks at No. 1 in 1987; “One More Try” also spent three weeks in the prime spot in 1988.
The two-time Grammy winner passed away in 2016, but not before sharing one last project with the world: his autobiographical documentary, Freedom. Of his legendary, decades-long career, Michel professed in the doc that he hoped to be remembered as “one of those last kind of big pop stars, in a sense that there was a certain glamour to it.”
“But really, it’s just the songs, and I hope that people think of me as someone who had some kind of integrity,” he continued at the time, jokingly adding: “Very unlikely.”
Watch George Michael’s billion-times-viewed music video for “Careless Whisper” above.
Mr. Worldwide has made it to the Billion Views Club once again.
This time, it’s the video for his inescapable 2011 club anthem “Give Me Everything,” featuring Ne-Yo, Afrojack and Nayer. The hit song was No. 1 on the year-end Rhythmic Songs chart in 2011 and also marked Pitbull’s first Billboard Hot 100 No. 1, seven years after his 2004 debut “Culo” alongside Lil Jon.
Pit has reached 1 billion views on YouTube three times before: with “Timber” (featuring Ke$ha), “Rain Over Me” (featuring Marc Anthony) and Jennifer Lopez’s “On the Floor.” “Give Me Everything” marks Ne-Yo and Afrojack’s second entry into the Billion Views Club and Nayer’s first.
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The track, produced by Afrojack, boasts a number of sonic elements defining the 2011 era, including bright piano chords, dominant synths and danceable builds. Since the release of “Give Me Everything,” the Cuban-American pop star has kept busy, scoring his second Hot 100 chart-topper with “Timber” and a Hot Latin Songs No. 1 with “Dame Tu Cosita” alongside El Chombo, Karol G and Cutty Ranks, among other Billboard chart achievements.
The track’s party-centric music video features appearances from Adrienne Bailon, Miss Haiti 2010 Sarodj Bertin and Russian model Eva Skaya. While “Give Me Everything” was all good vibes, there was one person who wasn’t too happy about the song: Lindsay Lohan. The now-36-year-old actress — who was mentioned in the line “I got it locked up like Lindsay Lohan” — was so offended by the name-drop that she sued Pitbull, to no avail.
“Give Me Everything” was released via Polo Grounds Music, Mr. 305 Entertainment and J Records, serving as a single from Pitbull’s Planet Pit. The track reverberated through clubs and high school dances alike throughout the 2010s and continues to ring out into the new decade.
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