YouTube has been the dominant force in video streaming for well over a decade, with music being a huge driver of the platform’s growth.
However, there seems to have been a demographic shift in YouTube’s audience over the years.
As Visual Capitalist's Freny Fernandes details below, while commercial music videos once dominated the rankings of the most-viewed videos on YouTube, they have since faced stiff competition from an unlikely source: nursery rhymes and children’s educational videos.
This graphic pulls up the 20 most viewed videos on YouTube, revealing the rising demand for kid-focused content and videos as of August 2023.
Now Streaming for Children
Launched in 2016 by Korean education brand Pinkfong, the catchy “Baby Shark (do-do, do-do-do-do)” dance video became the first music video ever to cross 10 billion views in January 2021.
Nine of the top 20 most-viewed YouTube videos today offer content geared toward children:
| Rank | YouTube Video | Channel | Views (August 2023) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Baby Shark Dance | Pinkfong | 13.0B |
| 2 | Despacito | Luis Fonsi | 8.2B |
| 3 | Johny Johny Yes Papa | LooLoo Kids | 6.7B |
| 4 | Bath Song | Cocomelon | 6.3B |
| 5 | Shape of You | Ed Sheeran | 6.0B |
| 6 | See You Again | Wiz Khalifa | 5.9B |
| 7 | Wheels on the Bus | Cocomelon | 5.4B |
| 8 | Phonics Song with TWO Words | ChuChu TV | 5.4B |
| 9 | Uptown Funk | Mark Ronson | 4.9B |
| 10 | Learning Colors - Colorful Eggs on a Farm | Miroshka TV | 4.9B |
| 11 | Gangnam Style | Psy | 4.8B |
| 12 | Masha and The Bear - Episode 17 | Get Movies | 4.5B |
| 13 | Dame Tu Cosita | Ultra Records | 4.4B |
| 14 | Axel F | Crazy Frog | 3.9B |
| 15 | Sugar | Maroon 5 | 3.9B |
| 16 | Roar | Katy Perry | 3.8B |
| 17 | Counting Stars | OneRepublic | 3.8B |
| 18 | Baa Baa Black Sheep | Cocomelon | 3.7B |
| 19 | Sorry | Justin Bieber | 3.6B |
| 20 | Waka Waka (This Time for Africa) | Shakira | 3.6B |
With total views of 13 billion today, “Baby Shark” surpasses the music video for Luis Fonsi’s “Despacito” (previously the most-viewed YouTube video) by almost five billion views.
And other popular child-focused music videos are close behind. “Johny Johny Yes Papa” (#3) and Cocomelon’s “Bath Song” (#4) nudged Ed Sheeran’s “Shape of You” and Wiz Khalifa’s “See You Again” down to the fifth and sixth rank in the list of most-viewed YouTube videos.
Catchy or Educational?
While many attribute the popularity of kid-focused videos to repetitive lyrics, familiar nursery rhymes, or otherwise catchy music that can’t get out of your head, research says otherwise.
A study by the Pew Research Center found that YouTube plays a key role in providing content for children. 81% of parents of kids aged 11 and younger allow their children to watch YouTube, with 35% of these kids using the platform regularly.
And this has become a lucrative business too. In 2021, the company behind Cocomelon and other popular kids channels was acquired for around $3 billion.
If these trends keep up, we may see more kid-focused content climb up this Top 20 list in the future as well.
