Korean children’s video ‘Baby Shark Dance’ is first to cross 10 billion views on YouTube

‘Baby Shark Dance’, a popular song-and-dance video for children, became the first video to garner more than 10 billion views in YouTube history, the song’s creator has said.

The South Korean track had an overwhelming lead over the runner-up, the music video for Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee’s megahit ‘Despacito’, which has secured 7.7 billion views, reports Yonhap News Agency.

The ‘Baby Shark’ song was first released in June 2016 by Korean company Pinkfong as part of its song series for children. It became a viral phenomenon all over the world thanks to its catchy tune and addictive lyrics.

The song set a new Guinness World Records title as the most-viewed video on YouTube by garnering 7 billion views in November 2020 and has since stayed on the throne for 15 consecutive months.

It even made it to global music charts, ranking No 32 on Billboard’s Hot 100 and No 6 on the British Official Charts in 2019.

Pinkfong said 10 billion is a huge number that surpasses the world’s population of 7.8 billion announced by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). By a simple calculation, the number of views could show that all people living on the planet have seen the video at least once, the company added.