2014: A YouTube Year in Review

This year we watched nuns turn into pop stars, soccer players become legends, dogs transform into arachnids, and millions of people around the world march in the name of social justice and political freedom.

Here’s a look back at some of the moments on YouTube that defined 2014.

JANUARY

It was a month of beginnings, as a baby polar bear took his first steps in a Toronto zoo, and an inspiring 10-year-old known as Kid President welcomed newborns into the world with a refreshing, poignant speech. Anthem of the year “Let It Go,” from Disney’s movie “Frozen,” went global, ushering in a multilingual version featuring languages from across continents - from Mandarin to Polish to Danish. And viewers around the world got their first viral fright of the year, when a possessed baby hit the NYC streets, growling and crashing into innocent passersby, as part of a clever horror film campaign.

FEBRUARY


February ushered in the Super Bowl in the cutest of ways, when a puppy and a Clydesdale horse formed an unusual bond in a Budweiser ad (enjoy responsibly). Jimmy Fallon debuted the seventh incarnation of the legendary The Tonight Show, earning his first big video hit when he and Will Smith donned overalls to honor the evolution of hip-hop moves. Most movingly, two celebrities - Ellen Page and Seth Rogen - took to the podium to speak candidly to the media, while a Ukrainian student spoke out on camera against the injustices of her home country.

MARCH


Breakout stars and memes ignited the month of March. Iggy Azalea resurrected Clueless in her hit music video “Fancy,” and a talented nun hit the stage of The Voice: Italy, stunning judges with her rendition of Alicia Keys’ “No One.” In celebration of the hit song “Happy” and the International Day of Happiness on March 20, skiers hit the Slovakian slopes to jubilantly dance along, and millions of others followed suit in their home cities. President Obama added to the fun by appearing on Zach Galifinakis’ comedy video series “Between Two Ferns,” deftly handling the show’s hysterical absurdity.

APRIL


This April Fools’ Day, viewers were treated to an inside look at YouTube’s “viral factory,” while dozens of companies joined in on the 24-hour jest with their own prank videos. Halfway through the month, millions thought they were being pranked again when a young Canadian man attempting a selfie vid near an oncoming train was drive-by kicked in the head by a conductor - until the footage was confirmed as real. The laughter continued when a video of a tiny hamster eating a tiny (homemade) burrito was uploaded, launching the first episode of the first “Tiny Hamster” series. Unfortunately, the month was also marked by one of the biggest tragic accidents of the year: the sinking of a ferry carrying nearly 500 passengers near South Korea, sparking controversy that still looms today.

MAY


When drag queen Conchita Wurst won the Eurovision Song Contest, her victory sparked so much interest that she became the 7th most popular search nationally on Google this year, and her triumphant performance was crowned the #1 televised live event of 2014 on YouTube. But not far behind were two fellow breakout stars: Ariana Grande, who serenaded the world with “Problem,” and a high schooler in New Jersey who brought back Michael Jackson’s moves at a talent show. The breakout excitement was momentarily paused by poignancy when, in honor of Mother’s Day, a card company staged job interviews over video chat for the “world’s toughest job”: being a mom.

JUNE


Sports, comebacks, and choreography epitomized the month of June: halfway-through, the FIFA World Cup commenced in Brazil, drawing millions of clicks to an unusual Nike spot: a short with all the sprightly animation of a Pixar film, while YouTube celebrated beloved LGBT athletes with the #ProudtoPlay campaign. In the music world, PSY followed up his “Gangnam” hit by collaborating with Snoop Dogg on “Hangover,” and breakout artist Meghan Trainor scored her most popular video yet: “All About That Bass.” Choreographer Yanis Marshall also achieved his biggest hit, with an all-encompassing Beyoncé dance medley (stilettos included).

 JULY


July kicked off with a big win for environmental group Greenpeace: “Everything is NOT awesome” played on the theme song from The Lego Movie to spread a serious message about the effect of oil dependency on the environment - and eventually pushed the toy company to break its longtime ties with Shell (via Greenpeace.org). On the lighter side, YouTube user Benji Jenna Cowart became one of the world’s most famous overprotective dads with his cover of MAGIC!’s “Rude,” and Rhett & Link brought the LOLs with their lyrical meditation on the realities of summer vacation. But the top story of the month was the crash of the Malaysia Airlines passenger plane downed in Ukraine. The footage of the aftermath became one of the most viewed videos of the month.

 AUGUST


The first week of August saw the rise of the Internet’s favorite county fair goer, a chatty Wayne County resident who was apparently born for morning news TV. The Ice Bucket Challenge was also in full swing, with everyone from Bill Gates to Charlie Sheen to Homer Simpson getting dunked for a good cause. But the month was largely clouded with sobering global and local events, including the spread of the radical group ISIS in the Middle East, covered in a comprehensive 42-minute documentary by Vice. And John Oliver hit some of his highest ratings of the year as host of the breakout series "Last Week Tonight with John Oliver" with his critical look at the police shooting of an unarmed black teenager, Michael Brown, in Ferguson, MI.

SEPTEMBER


Halloween came early this year with a giant spider dog spooking out passersby in Poland - a prank video that tickled so many people’s fancies that it became the #1 top trending video of 2014. Meanwhile, the organizers behind Tomorrowland released their annual wrap-up video, showcasing highlights from one of the biggest bacchanalias of the year (and whose livestream received the most YouTube comments of any video in 2014). But it was the shocking elevator cam footage of football player Ray Rice's assault on his fiancé that became one of the most controversial stories of the year. TMZ's posting of the video early in the month resulted in the running back's termination from the Baltimore Ravens and the sparking of a nationwide conversation about domestic violence and the NFL. Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, students and other civilians in Hong Kong gathered by the tens of thousands to protest new electoral reforms mandated by China.

OCTOBER


October opened on a somber note: Brittany Maynard, a terminally ill woman fighting for the right to end her own life, reached millions of people around the world with her video message advocating the broader legalization of dying with dignity. A NYC woman also used YouTube to shine a light on the pervasiveness of street harassment - inspiring hundreds of women around the world to do the same through their own videos. Meanwhile, on the Isle of Skye, acclaimed Scottish cyclist Danny Macaskill showed millions of fans what it’s like to take on the harrowing Cuillin Ridgeline with nothing more than a mountain bike, and VitalyzdTv scared the bejesus out of some unwitting strangers with “Chainsaw Massacre,” the tireless pranksters’ most popular video of the year.

NOVEMBER


After months of speculation and anticipation, the day millions of “Star Wars” fans had been waiting for finally came with the release of the trailer for “Episode VII: The Force Awakens.” Beyoncé fans were also blessed with a special treat: an intentionally low production, low concept music video for her single “7/11,” shot almost entirely in and around her hotel suite and balcony. November also saw some of the world’s biggest stars coming together to raise money to help stop the spread of Ebola, and a touching, heartbreaking serenade of a father to his newborn son.

DECEMBER


The end of a memorable year fittingly brought a range of emotions. British retailer John Lewis made millions of hearts swell as a boy’s penguin found its true partner, while YouTube celeb Connor Franta bravely embraced his true self, coming out to the world and encouraging others to not be afraid of who they are. A collective frustration following the news about Michael Brown and Eric Garner turned to action as protesters took to the streets of NYC in the Millions March. And it wouldn’t be the end of the year without a celebratory look back courtesy of YouTube Rewind, the biggest one yet.


- Bonnie Gleicher, Christine Huang, and Marc Hertz

Top 10 Holiday Videos of 2014

Happy Holidays from YouTube Trends!

Once again, we went through the data to identify the top trending videos of the holiday season. The holiday champs of 2014 were definitely a cappella stars Pentatonix, whose videos -- the Christmas ones in particular -- have been watched nearly 150 million times since November. The two most popular ads of the season came from the UK, where John Lewis and Sainsbury created spots that found fans globally.

You can see the full top 10 in the list below or via this playlist.

1. Mary, Did You Know? - Pentatonix
2. John Lewis Christmas Advert 2014 - #MontyThePenguin
3. Sainsbury's OFFICIAL Christmas 2014 Ad
4. Ariana Grande - Santa Tell Me
5. Idina Menzel & Michael Bublé - Baby It's Cold Outside
6. Gift Wrapping Hack
7. Band Aid 30 - Do They Know It’s Christmas? (2014)
8. Frozen Christmas Lights (Let It Go) 2014
9. Freshpet Holiday Feast - 13 Dogs and 1 Cat Eating with Human Hands
10. Over A Thousand People Came Together To Break a Record And Bring This Moving Christmas Hymn To Life

Christmas, Hanukkah, and other holiday videos have been watched well over a billion times since early November. "Christmas Song" searches began to climb in earnest starting on November 13th this year.

For more, you can check out the top 10 lists from 2013, 2012, 2011, and 2010.

-- Kevin Allocca

Wrapping Up 2014 With Our Favorite Videos

Here at YouTube Trends HQ, when we weren't logging "Ice Bucket" views, watching PSY smash records, and fastidiously cataloguing trending videos, we were watching a nauseating amount of web video.

In a departure from our usual trends- and data-backed hustle, we thought we'd wrap up the year with our personal picks of the year:

Bonnie Gleicher
Christine Huang
Claire Stapleton
Justin Juul
Kevin Allocca
Marc Hertz
Robert Weeks

Happy holidays!
-The YouTube Trends Team

A Tour Through Europe's Biggest Trending Videos in 2014

YouTube Rewind, our annual year-in-review exercise, offers many things: an excuse to produce epic videos, the opportunity to crown a mutant giant spider dog Winner of The Internet and the chance to check out singing nuns in Italy’s version of “The Voice”. 



The fun doesn’t stop there, as there are almost as many YouTube Rewind channels as there are countries in the world, each of them listing the Top 10 trending and music videos of the year. This means that you can discover that in France viewers fixated on rapping Mario Brothers, that a young girl talking to a chick stole Spanish hearts in 2014, or that Polish pranksters baiting police with cookie cellphones caught the country’s interest. You can also find out what happens if you feed Danish classical musicians super-hot chilis while they play, what different languages sound like to foreigners or even experience a Reindeer roadblock in Lapland — very festive, although the Finnish driver isn’t so enchanted.

There’s plenty more where that came from, so if you’re at a loose end come tour the world of video with YouTube Rewind. Who knows, you may even take a shine to Romania’s version of The Lonely Island… 

--Jamie Dolling, YouTube UK

Trending This Week: Rewind Through 2014

Here at YouTube Trends HQ, we’re in the extremely cozy grips of (non-denominational) holiday spirit, thanks to this resplendent Lil Bub Yule Log.

Here’s what made us feel jolly and elvish this week:



YouTube Spotlight - YouTube Rewind: Turn Down for 2014

We’re loathe to strum our own lute, but we can’t help but mention YouTube’s own end-of-year video, which is all about what trended in 2014. Featuring a whopping 120 creators and viral stars and a fair amount of limb-flinging to the hits of the year, might we humbly suggest that this mashup is a pop cultural must-see?



Connor Franta - Coming Out

There may be many coming out stories documented on YouTube (here’s a big playlist of them), but that makes each new one no less powerful, meaningful, and brave. This week, teen vlogging titan Connor Franta (he has more than 3.7M subscribers on YouTube) posted this moving, straight-to-camera announcement. It made a big splash: almost 4M views and a whopping 150K comments (most of which were positive and supportive). Congratulations, Connor.



Charlemagne Productions - Christopher Lee, ‘Darkest Carols, Faithful Sing’

Here’s a curiosity: 92-year-old "Hobbit" star Christopher Lee, the world’s oldest man known to sing heavy metal, has released a Christmas single. A holiday mashup of sorts, we can’t say it’s the most mellifluous singalong, but we got to hand it to the old metalhead: you’re more hardcore than pretty much anyone we know.



NASA - All About That Space

The NASA interns sure look like they’re having a blast! This unlikely Meghan Trainor cover has it all: rocket backdrops, nerdy puns, even nerdier choreography. It doesn’t exactly eclipse the original, but we still hope it takes off.

-- Claire Stapleton

10 Surprising Things That Happened in Music on YouTube This Year

Earlier this week, we shared our annual list of the top 25 music videos that made us wiggle in 2014. In sifting through the data, we also uncovered some surprising facts about the artists and songs that made a splash this year. Here are ten of our favorites, coming at you like a dark horse:

1. These numbers don’t lie: 2014 was the Year of Shakira. With two songs in the Top 10 and more than 1.8 billion views to her channel this year, she was bigger than Nicki Minaj and Jason Derulo combined. Her channel also saw the biggest growth in views of any artist, year over year.
   
   
2. Another Latin icon, Enriqué Iglesias, is also keeping the magic alive. With 1.5 billion views, he had more eyes on his channel this year than One Direction and 5 Seconds of Summer combined (!).
   
   
3. With nearly three-quarters of a billion views, Katy Perry’s “Dark Horse” wasn’t just the biggest music video on YouTube in 2014, it’s the biggest video on YouTube this year – period.
   
   
4. While Katy Perry holds the crown for top video of the year, Meghan Trainor wins the prize for biggest breakout star. Since her channel launch in February, Trainor went from near obscurity to worldwide fame (and 400 million views) with “All About That Bass” - one of 2014’s top 10 music videos worldwide.
   
   
5. India’s T-Series (a record label) is one of the 20 most popular channels in the world this year, with over 5B total views, thanks to favorites like “Baby Doll” and “Chaar Botal Vodka Full” from this year’s Bollywood hit, "Ragini MMS 2."
   
   
6. Some might have called 2013 “the year of Yoncé,” but on YouTube, 2014 has been Queen Bey’s biggest by far, with her channel racking up well over 1B views this year alone.
   
   
7. EDM music accounted for 50 percent of the top 10 live performances of the year, with Tomorrowland’s first weekend live stream receiving the most commentary - more than 1M comments over the course of the show - of any YouTube video this year.
   
   
8. Since its debut in March, DJ Snake and Lil Jon’s “Turn Down for What” has inspired more than 20,000 tributes, parodies, and other demonstrations of getting #turnt.
   
   
9. Though posted at the end of 2013, Pharrell’s “Happy” kept the party going well into this year, becoming the most liked (2.4M thumbs up and counting) music video of 2014.
   
   
10. And how could we let this list go without a hat tip to "Frozen"? “Let it Go,” the Disney movie’s top musical number, was one of the most viewed and covered songs of the year, netting more than 1 billion views across its top 5 official YouTube videos.

-- Christine Huang, Bonnie Gleicher, and Claire Stapleton

Trending This Week: 'Star Wars,' Seinfeld, and Miranda Sings

With the year dwindling down to its last embers, we affixed our eyes to the screen and feasted on these viral beauts this week:



Star Wars: The Force Awakens Official Teaser

Unless you’re living in another galaxy, you’ve probably gotten wind that there’s a new "Star Wars" installment in the works. Released last weekend, the first trailer (aka 90 seconds of pure nerd bliss) was so widely viewed that Time declared that “basically everyone has seen [it].” It got 60 million views across the official trailers, and better yet, it’s been wondrously parodied and remixed: check out the Lego, Wes Anderson, and George Lucas fan takes.



Miranda Sings - Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee - Jerry Seinfeld and Miranda Sings

What do you get when you cross a 20th century comedy legend with a tween idol? You get ... this. In the latest episode of his web series, Jerry Seinfeld enlisted Miranda Sings, an offbeat, you-won’t-get-it-but-your-kids-will character created by actress Colleen Ballinger, who’s a bonafide YouTube sensation with 2.7 million subs and counting. Apparently, Seinfeld’s kids begged him to collaborate with Miranda, and the pairing was a hit: later in the week, they took their bit to Fallon for a cringe-worthy (and great) game of Pictionary, which picked up over 2 million views.



One of the unique afflictions of life at YouTube is pervasive earworm (I’m looking at you, Meghan Trainor); nonetheless, we jumped at the opportunity to relive all the songs that got stuck in our head this year. The aptly named DJ Earworm has made an annual pop mashup for the past seven years, and this year’s installment is just as clever, nostalgic, and--yes--CATCHY as ever.



Brittany Boll - Waking up our puppy to his favorite song

We literally can’t let go of “Let it Go.” This year’s entry into the annals of "Frozen"-inspired video history features the film’s furriest, snooziest fan. Guess mornings never bothered him anyway :)

-- Claire Stapleton