In an age of user-generated content, the most viral videos are not made by the users, just passed around by them. Below you will find a list of the top ten viral videos of 2009, as tracked by Visible Measures, which counts not only plays on YouTube but also video shared across social networks like MySpace as well as MTV networks and Viacom. The list of the most watched internet videos 2009 below are nearly all music videos, with the exception of the No. 1 viral video, which is the trailer for the movie Twilight Saga: New Moon. Visible Measures estimates that trailer has been watched more than 592 million times.
All the other videos in the top ten are music videos such as the one for Beyonce’s song “Single Ladies” (No. 2), and thus are also essentially advertisements for mainstream media content. Even the two Michael Jackson music videos on this year’s list (“Thriller” and “Beat It”) no doubt helped sales of the deceased singer’s albums. The one “amateur” video is Susan Boyle’s heartwarming American Idol performance, but the whole point of that show is to elevate amateur singers to mainstream status so I am not sure that counts.
Visible Measures list is determined by data from viewership of both officially syndicated video clips and viewer-driven social video placements. The data is compiled using its database analysis on more than 200 million Internet videos across 150 video-sharing platforms. Here is the full list.
| Rank | Title | Label/Studio | Type | 2009 True Reach | All-Time Placements | Months Available | ||
| 1. | Twilight Saga: New Moon | Summit Entertainment | Film | 592,049,402 | 21,255 | 5 | ||
| 2. | Beyonce: Single Ladies | Sony Music Entertainment; Columbia | Music Video | 333,233,982 | 1,932 | 13 | ||
| 3. | Lady Gaga: Poker Face | Universal | Music Video | 317,708,763 | 518 | 12 | ||
| 4. | Soulja Boy: Crank Dat | Universal | Music Video | 313,861,193 | 2,253 | 27 | ||
| 5. | Susan Boyle: Britain’s Got Talent | Freemantle; iTV | TV | 313,177,779 | 1,390 | 7 | ||
| 6. | Michael Jackson: Thriller | Epic Records | Music Video | 257,016,016 | 930 | 3 | ||
| 7. | Miley Cyrus: The Climb | Hollywood Records | Music Video | 211,165,578 | 2,166 | 9 | ||
| 8. | Michael Jackson: Beat It | Epic Records | Music Video | 190,583,064 | 981 | 29 | ||
| 9. | Mariah Carey: Touch My Body | Universal | Music Video | 173,736,822 | 1,467 | 20 | ||
| 10. | Lady Gaga: Just Dance | Universal | Music Video | 170,636,272 | 531 | 18 | ||
| Source: Visible Measures (www.visiblemeasures.com) | ||||||||
new moon video… bahhhh.. I’m a 22 yr old girl but I hate this!
well, you’re 10 years too old for this crap
@Katie (or your real name is prob. Bill or Dick)
Go away u troll !
@arrington-
Dude… get some “troll-b-gone” !!!
kaithanxbai
I think we need some “Bugga Spray” instead. If you have nothing to say, don’t post.
grr, new moon? what happened to the baby-laughing-viral vids? The single babies stuff? Ahh darn, visiblemeasures made it invisible… Anyway, speaking of viral vids the pink glove dance video is skyrocketing to 5 million views as we speak. you gotta like that 0:47-0:49 part. “The jumping man”
Detailed review: http://bit.ly/pink-dance-for-breast-cancer-for-the-win
Who say’s Youtube can’t save lives now?
yeah, we “gotta like” that 2-second part…
got a life, mate???
you’re not a girl, you’re a wreck
+1
You won’t always be 22, but your twitter handle will.
I like your subliminal advertising if you click the link on your name.
Susan Boyle’s video wasn’t on American Idol. It was on Britain’s Got Talent. It says so right on the list you copy-pasted.
lol. i think he’s bored with the story. he got mixed up. cut the guy some slack.
How about correcting the article?
Well isn’t the success music/entertainment gauged by it’s sense of virility. What I mean is that all popular music wouldn’t be what it is today if it wasn’t viral, in fact we probably won’t know about it yet until it reaches this point. Also we don’t know how much marketing and advertising plays into perpetuating it’s virility. We can’t deny that it’s is absolutely a factor.
Thus I think we would see a much more interesting list if we parsed out all the mainstream stuff like music, tv shows, movies etc that are naturally viral. What you would get is content that is surprisingly viral like the keyboard cat and stuff like that. See these are viral because they are inherently viral with no help from advertising, media, marketing etc.
We made a list on our site to see what people think are the top viral videos and lets see if we get different results.
http://www.baduku.com/topics/viral-internet-videos_49
I agree with you, but they I would
Your point in sound however music is mainstream and popular, however it generates mega bucks for the media companies who in turn make it their job for it to be promoted endlessly. Just look at the current X-Factor. Two nights, one night devoted to artists about to release albums. We all obviously like being sold too. You may not have noticed but many music media sites only talk about their music videos and totally ignore anything else. I laughed the other day when there was a Top Ten YouTube roundup and they only mentioned music vidoes.
Thanks for the reply, its is exactly what I’m talking about, and yea Top Ten YouTube round up being only music videos makes it seem as if YouTube is just another Yahoo Launch now. What I think is interesting about my website is that if people are asked to list viral videos as opposed to virility based on views they don’t often list music videos, unless the video was actually extraordinary like lets say “OK Go, A millions ways or treadmills”
I’d like to see what were the most views on other networks like Break videos. etc.
“This video is not available in your country due to copyright restrictions”
THis is the kind of things I hate seeing on the Internet.
YouTube has become a means of promoting bands and their music. Many musicians, and larger companies such as Universal Music Group use YouTube to promote videos.
how can a video be out for more than 12 months and be on the top video for 2009? complete BS..
If that what passes for “viral” video, I want to get my vaccination shot right away, because I never want to be exposed to those virii.
Exposure can lead to stabbing out eyes and ears with a fork…
What about I’m on a Boat… that was huge.
I know the definition of “viral” is open for great interpretation, but I don’t see how a video that was a massive hit 20+ years ago (such as Thriller) can be regarded as viral. It had major label distribution three decades ago.
If the only requirement for a video to be considered viral is that it gets a shitload of views on YouTube, then what’s the point in differentiating it from a plain old “video”?
Thriller is video.
Beat It is a video.
Everything on this list is simply a video. Backed my major label/studio distribution. They are all just videos with nothing “viral” about them.
dont tell me that this is the beyonce video that was supposedly the best video ever?
I know! That’s what I’ve been telling you people.
+1 Hee Hee Hee
Hey Chavez, I’m really happy for you and Imma let you finish, but Beyonce had one of the best videos of all time.
can’t believe crank that is still popular. don’t like anything twilight, but i really like the deathcab song for the new film. actually i like a couple of songs from the soundtrack…w/e i’ve heard for free so far.
i was telling my mom that one of my favourite moments of this year was watching the ac360 crew do the single ladies dance. i hated the song, video, the entire craze, but there is nothing like middle aged caucasian men wearing crappy jeans, paper crowns and other decorations and just shaking what their mama gave them. it was amazing. almost as amazing as wolf blitzer dancing on ellen.
I agree with lazysupper. This list doesn’t have any viral videos on it. I used to work on a major site choosing videos to feature, and I always thought of a viral video as something that gains millions of views through a sort of grassroots, word-of-mouth way. If you have a million dollars to promote your vid, that’s called advertising.
I think they are all pretty good.
When I saw the Beyonce video, I thought it sucked. After many times hearing it, I liked it.
The True Top 10 Viral Video Ads Chart
http://www.visiblemeasures.com/adage
This Is A Huge Mistake Techrunch
+1
Time to hop on the failtrain TC. Not one person posted on FB, nor emailed any of the videos in the TC article.
Wow I’m impressed. I’ve always wondered of the +1bn page views YouTube gets, what percentage is actually viewing music videos as opposed to anything else. Must be a good chunk.
YouTube isn’t necessarily made for listening to music though, it’s only two months old, but we’ve launched TubeRadio.fm that solves this (think YouTube meets iTunes meets Spotify).