Most Viewed YouTube Video in 2026 (Top 20 List)

The most viewed YouTube video is "Baby Shark Dance" by Pinkfong, with about 17.52 billion views as of November 4, 2026, according to Epidemic Sound's updated ranking. Cocomelon's "Wheels on the Bus" is second with about 9.69 billion, and Luis Fonsi's "Despacito" is third with about 9.16 billion. Baby Shark has held the #1 spot since November 2020, per the Wikipedia list of most-viewed YouTube videos. Both sources were checked on November 8, 2026.

YouTube doesn't publish an official chart. Every list you find, including this one, reads the public view counter on each video page on a given day, so the numbers keep moving.

The top 10 most viewed YouTube videos

Counts are from Epidemic Sound, updated November 4, 2026. Upload dates are from Wikipedia.

"Wheels on the Bus" passed "Despacito" for second place around June 27 to 28, 2026, according to the Wikipedia page. If you see a list with Despacito at #2, it's older than that.

Most viewed YouTube videos, 11 to 20

For places 11 to 20 we use the Wikipedia table, which was last updated August 30, 2026. These counts are a couple of months older than the top 10 above, so the real numbers today are a bit higher.

Wikipedia's table only counts long-form videos. YouTube Shorts aren't part of it, and the page doesn't publish a separate Shorts ranking.

Every video that has been the most viewed on YouTube

The Wikipedia page keeps a record of each video that held #1, going back to 2005. A few stops on the way:

• "Under the Bridge!" (June 2005): the first record holder, held for 37 days.
• "Evolution of Dance" by Judson Laipply (2006 to 2009): the only video to take #1 more than once. It did it three times, and was the first to reach 20 million and then 50 million views.
• "Charlie Bit My Finger" (October 2009): held the spot for 171 days.
• "Baby" by Justin Bieber (July 2010): held it for 863 days.
• "Gangnam Style" by Psy (November 2012): held it for 1,689 days. It was the first video to reach 1 billion views, in December 2012, and the first to reach 2 billion, in May 2014.
• "See You Again" by Wiz Khalifa (July 10, 2017): held #1 for only 25 days.
• "Despacito" (August 4, 2017): the first video to reach 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 billion views.
• "Baby Shark Dance" (November 2020 to now): the first to reach 8, 9 and 10 billion views. It passed 10 billion on January 13, 2022.

Since Gangnam Style, the record has passed between music videos and a children's song.

If you'd rather make videos than read about it, VidPuff turns a title into a faceless video. No waitlist, cancel anytime.

What the most viewed YouTube videos have in common

These are observations from the two tables above, not a formula.

Kids' videos lead the list. Of the top 10, five are made for young children: Baby Shark, Wheels on the Bus, Bath Song, Johny Johny Yes Papa and the phonics song. A likely reason is replay: a nursery song is the kind of video that gets played over and over in the same home.

The rest is mostly music. Despacito, See You Again, Shape of You and Axel F make up four of the top 10. A song you like is something you play again, which a one-off vlog rarely gets.

Two ads made the top 20. Facebook's "Get Inspired on Facebook Groups" ad and Temu's "Big Game" ad both have billions of views. Wikipedia notes the Facebook video is unlisted, which means it isn't found by searching YouTube. Its views come from being shown as an ad, so it's a different kind of "most viewed."

Nobody needs to know the person behind the video. A cartoon shark, an animated bus or a nursery rhyme works in any language and for any viewer. The same idea is behind faceless channels, where the content carries the video instead of a host.

What this means if you make YouTube videos

None of these numbers are a target for a new channel. They also don't mean the channels behind them earn the most per view. Kids' content has the lowest pay per view of any niche in AIR Media-Tech's 2026 data on 300 monetized channels, at a median of about $0.33 per 1,000 views. Education was the highest at about $10.22. We go through the full numbers in how much YouTube pays per view and the YouTube RPM by niche data.

So the lesson isn't "make kids' songs." It's that videos people watch more than once, or that work without a face on screen, add up over time. A history explainer, a documentary-style story or a how-it-works video can earn views for years. If you want to test that kind of channel, VidPuff turns a title into a narrated long-form video with a visual for each scene, and you review the script, voice and images before uploading. Plans start at $25 a month, or you can pay once from $5.

For ideas you can use right away, see how to get more views on YouTube. If you're curious about channels instead of single videos, the most subscribed YouTube channels list has a lot of the same names.

How YouTube counts views

YouTube changed how views are counted this year. Its help page on how engagement metrics are counted says that, beginning August 24, 2026, "views are counted the moment a video starts to play across all formats, including Shorts, long-form videos (VOD), and live streams."

The same page says YouTube checks that views come from real people and may "temporarily slow down, freeze, or change your metric count, and discard low-quality playbacks." Counts can be corrected later. Wikipedia's notes give one example: Discord's April Fools' trailer reached a billion views in under a day through an auto-playing in-app trailer, and its count was later cut to the low millions.

That's why two lists made a week apart rarely agree to the last digit.

FAQ

What is the most viewed YouTube video right now?

"Baby Shark Dance" by Pinkfong, with about 17.52 billion views as of November 4, 2026 (Epidemic Sound). It has been #1 since November 2020.

What is the most viewed music video on YouTube?

If you count Baby Shark as a children's video, it's "Despacito" by Luis Fonsi featuring Daddy Yankee, with about 9.16 billion views as of November 2026. It held the overall #1 spot from August 2017 until Baby Shark passed it in 2020.

What was the first YouTube video to get 1 billion views?

"Gangnam Style" by Psy, in December 2012, according to the Wikipedia list. It was also the first to reach 2 billion, in May 2014.

What is the most viewed YouTube video that isn't music?

The Facebook Groups ad, at about 8.61 billion views as of November 4, 2026. Wikipedia lists it as the most viewed advertisement and the most viewed non-music video on the site. It only has instrumental music in the background.