Since January, Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee’s “Despacito” has garnered accolades left and right. It currently owns the pole position on the Billboard Hot 100 for a twelfth consecutive week and recently earned the top spot in our ranking for 2017’s Song of Summer. It even broke featured guest Justin Bieber’s own streaming record as the most-streamed song, ever. Now “Despacito” can add another impressive feat to its growing number of accomplishments: the most viewed video in YouTube history.
It only took 204 days for “Despacito” to garner 2,996,733,449 (and counting) views on Youtube, knocking off previous recorder holder Wiz Khalifa and Charlie Puth’s “See You Again” from the top spot. It took Khalifa and Puth two years to amass enough views to defeat Psy, whose “Gangman Style” owned the unique position of owning YouTube’s ultimate record for five years.
To check the ridiculousness of how fast “Despacito” ascended to the top spot, unlike Psy or “See You Again,” they amassed nearly 3 billion views in less than eight months. Khalifa’s single from the Furious 7 soundtrack only held the top spot on YouTube for a measly 24 days. It’s amassed another one hundred million views since taking the crown but currently sits at second with 2,993,712,651 views (and counting).
The even more interesting aspect about “Despacito” claiming the top spot? It is missing arguably its biggest star. The San Juan-filmed video doesn’t even include Justin Bieber whom many attribute as one of the reasons why the song has blown up so big in the first place. The news didn’t seem to shock Daddy Yankee who in a recorded message thanked the fans for shooting the video up to a lofty perch. “Thank you YouTube for ‘Despacito”s success,” Yankee told Billboard, who published the clip. “I recognize the influence that the platform has. The music industry has changed. The rules of music have changed. And YouTube has a big responsibility, and I recognize it. Breaking the record is overwhelming, and I’m happy to keep [inspiring] others to do the same.”
So do like what anyone would do and re-watch “Despacito” again. Or, act like your workplace DJ and play the song to end a mundane Friday properly.
