“Despacito,” the catchy, record-setting global phenomenon, has secured its place as a history-making song on a platform that has transformed audience viewing habits and redefined the music industry.
This week, YouTube celebrated 20 years since it uploaded its first video, “Me at the zoo”- a 19-second clip featuring co-founder Jawed Karim at the San Diego Zoo. Two decades later, the sensual rhythm, memorable lyrics, and infectious melody of the Luis Fonsi track featuring Daddy Yankee have made it YouTube’s biggest music success story, currently standing as the platform’s most-watched music video, breaking countless records along the way.
Uploaded in January 2017, “Despacito” kicked off its historic run as one of the all-time fastest music videos to reach one billion views, tying at No. 2 with Ed Sheeran’s “Shape of You.” Both took just 97 days, trailing only Adele’s “Hello,” which hit the milestone in 88 days.
“Despacito” was the first to reach 3, 4, 5, and 6 billion views, continuing its meteoric rise to the No. 1 music video on the popular digital platform, earning it seven Guinness World Records.
YouTube, the world’s second most visited online site in the world – after Google – was key to the song’s unprecedented success and reflects its evolution into a global entertainment powerhouse. The platform’s recommendation engine and accessibility have allowed “Despacito” to transcend language and cultural barriers, making it a fixture in playlists worldwide.
“Despacito” has outperformed music videos from many of the world’s biggest English-language stars. For example, Ed Sheeran’s “Shape of You” has over 6.1 billion views, Taylor Swift’s “Shake It Off” and Adele’s “Hello” each have more than 3.3 billion. Luis Fonsi’s hit at the top of YouTube’s music video rankings reflects a shift in global music consumption, where Spanish-language hits can compete with and even outpace English-language releases.
Other Latin artists have also found massive success on YouTube. Shakira’s “Waka Waka,” the 2010 FIFA World Cup official song currently has more than 4.2 billion views, while her “Chantaje” duet with Maluma has 3 billiion. Artists like J Balvin, Daddy Yankee, Enrique Iglesias, Pedro Capó, Bad Bunny, Maluma, Karol G, Ozuna, Natti Natash, Becky G, Jennifer Lopez, Pit Bull, Romeo Santos, Rosalía and Cardi B are among the artists belonging to the billion-views club, demonstrating reggaeton and urban Latin music’s global appeal.
While “Despacito” sits atop the most-watched music videos, it is also the No. 2 most- watched video on YouTube overall, trailing only the children’s phenomenon trailing only the children’s phenomenon “Baby Shark Dance,” which has over 15.8 billion views.
As YouTube enters its third decade with an estimated 5+ billion total videos uploaded, and viewers watching a daily average of 1 billion hours of content, “Despacito” stands as the perfect example of how the platform has transformed the music industry by giving artists from all backgrounds the opportunity to reach audiences around the world.
