According to Kevin Allocca, YouTube trends manager, 2012 has been a big year for YouTube. “We have been watching over 4 billion hours of video a month. Millions of creators are using YouTube channels to experiment with innovative forms of entertainment, explore their passions and interests, and take creativity and pop culture to new levels. 2012’s top trending videos showcase this creative ingenuity in ways we’d never before thought possible.”
Globally, here’s what we were all talking about in 2012:
Number 10 belongs to “Felix Baumgartner’s supersonic freefall from 128k – Mission Highlights”. It was watched by 8 million people live on YouTube. Felix broke the sound barrier in a 24-mile space jump, which shattered the existing record for the highest altitude skydive. The daredevil also broke some non-digital records, including the highest jump from a platform (128,100 feet), the longest distance freefall (119,846 feet) and the maximum vertical velocity (833.9 mph or Mach 1.24)
Current Views: 31.5 million
Current views: 36.4 million views
Number 8 features “Lindsey Stirling’s dubstep violin video”. Lindsey Stirling is an American violinist, musician, dancer, performance artist, and composer. She presents choreographed violin performances, both live and in music videos, including on her YouTube channel. The Hip-hop violinist was a quarterfinalist from 2010 America’s Got Talent.
In this video, she’s rocking out in a crystallized winter wonderland. Enjoy!
Current Views : 41.4 million
At Number 7, we have “WHY YOU ASKING ALL THEM QUESTIONS? .. #FCHW”. Atlanta Actors/Entertainers Emmanuel & Phillip Hudson have taken their talents to another level. Emmanuel Hudson asked one simple question: “Why You Asking All Them Questions?” and his rap-style video quickly rose to more than 20 million views in a few short months.
Current Views: 41.1 million
We have “A Dramatic Surprise On A Quiet Square” at Number 6. To launch the high quality TV channel TNT in Belgium, they placed a big red push button on an average Flemish square of an average Flemish town. Watch what happens when the big red button is pressed. Now that is innovative and fun. This gained 25 million views in its first week online.
Current views = 41.3 million
Number 5 is “Barack Obama vs Mitt Romney. Epic Rap Battles of History Season 2“. This is the most popular of the many President Obama and Mitt Romney parodies. It features Iman Crosson (a.k.a Alphacat) as the Obama impersonator.
Current views: 49.7 million
At Number 4, we have “Call Me Maybe” by Carly Rae Jepsen – Feat. Justin Bieber, Selena, Ashley Tisdale & MORE!
At Number 3, we have KONY 2012.
Number 2 position goes to “Somebody That I Used to Know – Walk off the Earth (Gotye – Cover)“.
“Walk off the Earth” is a Canadian indie band that formed in 2006 in Burlington, Ontario, and has gained success around the world by making low-budget music videos of covers and originals. The band built its fan base independently with no help from record labels, booking agents, or management.
The Number 1 spot goes to the “PSY Phenomenon” with his track “Gangnam Style. This is the first music video to hit the 1 billion mark and it did this in just over 5 months. And countless parodies have followed.
Current Views: 1.08 billion