What is the Most Viewed Music Video on YouTube?
The most viewed music video on YouTube is “Baby Shark Dance” by Pinkfong Kids’ Songs & Stories, with over 16 billion views as of early 2026.
It started as a simple children’s song with a repetitive hook and a basic dance, and somehow turned into a global pop‑culture glitch that no one fully saw coming.
Parents put it on “just once” to distract a toddler, and suddenly the play count is in the hundreds on a single living‑room TV; multiplied across the world, that’s how a kids’ video ends up beating mega‑stars and stadium anthems.
What makes that top spot even more striking is the gap: industry trackers and analytics sites now consistently place “Baby Shark Dance” well ahead of former record‑holders like “Despacito,” with billions of extra views separating it from the rest of the most‑watched music videos list.
YouTube records pages and trade write‑ups describe it as the first video ever to cross 10 billion, then 15 billion, before pushing toward 16 billion and beyond numbers that are almost too big to process, until remembering how often kids hit replay when they latch onto a song.
How Many Views Does “Baby Shark Dance” Have?
“Baby Shark Dance” has racked up more than 16 billion views on YouTube, and that number is still climbing. Official stats, charts, and analytics hubs track it in roughly the mid‑16‑billion range, comfortably sitting at number one among YouTube’s most‑viewed music videos of all time.
A few years ago, headlines celebrated the song for hitting 7 billion views and overtaking “Despacito”; by 2022, it had already crossed 10 billion, becoming the first video ever to reach that mark.
From there, it didn’t slow down Pinkfong’s own updates, and channel stats still show massive daily view jumps whenever a new wave of very young viewers “discovers” it.
It helps that the video lives on a kids’ channel that now totals tens of billions of views across thousands of uploads, keeping “Baby Shark Dance” in constant rotation on autoplay playlists and “recommended” rails.
Why Did a Kids’ Song Become Number One?
A big reason “Baby Shark Dance” became the most viewed music video on YouTube is simple: children rewatch things obsessively, and YouTube makes that incredibly easy.
The song is only a couple of minutes long, uses tiny chunks of repetitive lyrics, and has choreography that toddlers can learn after a few plays, which makes it perfect “background noise” for busy households and a small ritual in a lot of nurseries and preschools.
Industry commentary also points out that “Baby Shark” jumped from kids’ content to mainstream pop culture: it hit music charts, inspired dance challenges, and turned into a meme long after its original release.
That crossover appeal, plus constant circulation on children’s playlists, pushed it beyond typical hit‑song territory into something closer to a global nursery‑rhyme standard, just delivered through a screen instead of a classroom.
Other Massively Viewed Music Videos on YouTube
While “Baby Shark Dance” holds the top spot, several “traditional” music videos also sit in YouTube’s all‑time most‑viewed list with billions of plays each. Among the most frequently mentioned contenders are:
“Despacito” – Luis Fonsi ft. Daddy Yankee, once the record‑holder before being overtaken by “Baby Shark.”
“Wheels on the Bus” – Cocomelon - Nursery Rhymes
“Bath Song” – Cocomelon - Nursery Rhymes
Ranking positions can shift slightly as views climb, but across official lists and analytics sites, the constant is that “Baby Shark Dance” remains number one by a wide margin.
Disclaimer
View and ranking data for YouTube’s most viewed music videos, including “Baby Shark Dance,” are based on current public statistics and industry trackers and can change over time. Counts increase daily, and positions may shift, so readers should check YouTube or reliable chart sources for the latest numbers.
