Heading this year’s ranking of top-trending YouTube videos were two emotionally resonant events: The birth of Kylie Jenner’s baby girl and the breakup of YouTube power couple Liza Koshy and David Dobrik.
YouTube’s 2018 top-trending videos are “really a portrait of the modern celebrity – it’s dominated by YouTube creators who’ve built huge audiences and are making the biggest videos of the year,” said Kevin Allocca, head of culture and trends at YouTube. In past years, YouTube’s ranking of trending videos featured more mainstream content, including viral videos from late-night shows.
Jenner’s video about the birth of her daughter, Stormi, with rapper Travis Scott was released on Super Bowl Sunday in February and garnered more than 50 million views in the first week. Given her Kardashian-clan heritage, “she’s definitely part of the traditional celebrity culture, but her predominant connection to her fans is online,” said Allocca.
The popularity of the Koshy and Dobrik breakup video, coming after the couple had been dating for two years, reflects the fact that “they’re like the Brangelina of the YouTube generation,” Allocca said. Their “We Broke Up” video, posted in June on Dobrik’s channel, had 14 million views in its first 24 hours. Together, Koshy and Dobrik’s YouTube channels have 2.5 billion views so far this year.
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Other YouTube-native talent to make this year’s list include trick-shot artists Dude Perfect; Mason Ramsey, the yodeling Walmart tyke; and AsapSCIENCE’s explanation of why you hear “Yanny” or “Laurel” in that viral sound clip. Also trending was the first episode of “Cobra Kai,” a YouTube original series adaptation of “The Karate Kid” movies that tapped the nostalgia factor.
The top 10 also includes two videos from Asia: One from India’s Amit Bhadana, the biggest Hindi creator on YouTube, and a 2-hour musical comedy movie about the criminal underworld from Vietnamese singer Lâm Chấn Khang, part six in a series (the first video from Vietnam to make the list).
YouTube’s trending-video list doesn’t fully encapsulate the year’s zeitgeist, Allocca noted. One big trend not reflected was the proliferation of “Fortnite” dances, spurred by a number of World Cup players imitating the game’s signature moves. “There wasn’t a single ‘Fortnite’ video that was big enough to make the list but inarguably, it was a huge trend,” Allocca said.
Another big trend: the “In My Feelings” dance challenge, inspired by Drake’s song of the same name, which took off faster than you could say “Kiki, do you love me?” In fact, his official music video for the track was a tribute to the #InMyFeelingsChallenge (which also prompted a warning from the National Transportation Safety Board). Another Drake hit, “God’s Plan,” landed on YouTube’s top 10 list most-viewed music videos of 2018, which was dominated by Spanish-language artists.
In addition, on Thursday at 10 a.m. PT, the video platform is set to release the 2018 edition of YouTube Rewind, its annual mashup of the biggest music, trends, memes and characters of the year featuring YouTube stars and mainstream personalities. This year’s YouTube Rewind is again produced by digital studio Portal A.
The YouTube ranking of trending videos isn’t calculated solely on views: The list factors in multiple variables, including views, likes, comments and searches. In aggregate, the 10 top-trending YouTube videos of 2018 have more than 673 million views and have been watched for around 50 million hours.
YouTube 2018 Top-Trending Videos:
Pictured above: Liza Koshy and David Dobrik
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