baby shark screen grab with blue background

It’s the song that makes kids and parents go crazy, albeit for different reasons.

"Baby Shark Dance" has become the first YouTube video to receive 10 billion views!

The catchy singalong by Pinkfong (Republic of Korea) was first uploaded in 2016, becoming the most viewed children’s music video on YouTube, before surpassing Luis Fonsi’s "Despacito" in 2020 as the most viewed music video on YouTube and the most viewed video on YouTube overall.

The song "Baby Shark" most likely originated as a campfire song, dating back to at least the 20th century. 

During the chant, campers used their arms to imitate the various jaw shapes and sizes of Baby Shark, Mommy Shark, Daddy Shark, Grandma Shark and Grandpa Shark.

While Pinkfong’s version has the sharks go hunting and then run away, other versions of the song involve eating sailors and other humans.

Sung by Hope Segoine, aged 10 years old at the time, it peaked at No.32 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and No.38 in the Global 200.

baby shark

However, the YouTube video became a viral sensation in Indonesia and South Korea, quickly spreading to the rest of Asia and beyond in 2017.

The dance craze's popularity was taken to even higher levels after being performed by Guinness World Records title holders BLACKPINK.

By February 2021, "Baby Shark" had more views than the entire human population of Earth, becoming the first YouTube video to do so. If its 10 billion views were played back-to-back, they would run for 41,095 years.

Despite being overtaken as the most viewed video, "Despacito" is still the most liked video on YouTube with 47 million likes as of January 2022, compared to 33 million for "Baby Shark".

"Despacito" also holds the record for being the first YouTube video to receive 5 billion views.

We began monitoring the most viewed video on Youtube in 2010, when it was awarded to "Baby" by Justin Bieber, which racked up 425 million views by the end of that year.

In 2012, South Korean singer PSY took the record from Bieber, shooting to stardom with "Gangnam Style", which also became the first video to receive one billion views on YouTube.

In 2017, "See You Again" by Wiz Khalifa and Charlie Puth enjoyed a brief stint as the most viewed video on YouTube, before being dethroned by "Despacito" a month later.

From "Baby" to "Baby Shark", all of these songs will be remembered in history as pillars of 21st century pop culture.

"YouTube Rewind 2018: Everyone Controls Rewind" remains the most "disliked" video on YouTube, despite the recent removal of publicly-visible dislikes.  

It featured, amongst many other things, a colourful re-enactment of the "Baby Shark" video, which happens to be the second-most "disliked" video on YouTube, with over 14 million thumbs down.

That’s a lot of disgruntled parents!

"Baby Shark" has united children worldwide in their love for the song and equally united parents in their hate for it. With over two times more likes than dislikes on it's YouTube video, and a new Guinness World Records title to it's name, it seems the kids are winning.

Header image credit: Pinkfong/YouTube