Following on from his performance two weeks ago at Luna Park’s Big Top alongside Peking Duk and Raury, Wiz Khalifa has today officially become the first rapper to hit a billion views with one video on Youtube.
See You Again, featuring New Jersey singer Charlie Puth, debuted on Youtube on April 6 of this year, meaning that in the six months it’s been online, it’s racked up about 160m views a month – oof. You might know it as that song that gets played whenever something sad happens in a Vine, or you might know it as a tribute to the late Paul Walker, and lead single for Fast & Furious 7’s soundtrack. The video is cut to a whole bunch of shots from all seven of the films, with focus on Walker and his co-stars Vin Diesel, Tyrese Gibson and Michelle Rodriguez. Walker’s death was understandably hugely upsetting and shocking to fans of the series, and so it makes sense that the video has racked up so many views as a tribute. Though the song itself isn’t particularly impressive, it’s heartwarming to know that the fans of the late actor have spread the influence of the video so far.
For comparison, here’s a list of the top 10 most watched Youtube videos of all time, as of the 7th of October:
- PSY– ‘Gangnam Style’ 2,426,500,822
2. Justin Bieber – ‘Baby’ 1,219,883,321
3. Taylor Swift – ‘Blank Space’ 1,188,147,147
4. Katy Perry – ‘Dark Horse’ 1,121,919,001
5. Katy Perry – ‘Roar’ 1,085,316,510
6. Taylor Swift – ‘Shake It Off’ 1,073,453,852
7. Enrique Iglesias – ‘Bailando’ 1,070,883,424
8. Meghan Trainor – ‘All About That Bass’ 1,046,823,436
9. Mark Ronson – ‘Uptown Funk’ 1,045,536,246
10. Wiz Khalifa – ‘See You Again’ 1,004,350,672
And for further comparison, here’s how some rappers are going with their biggest videos on Youtube:
Kendrick Lamar – ‘Alright’ – 28,592,094
A$AP Rocky – ‘L$D’ – 25,123,473
Kanye West – ‘Bound 2’ – 51,748,311
Pretty huge difference. Either way, congrats to Wiz for this absolutely massive achievement, let’s hope that more hip-hop starts getting into that top 10.