Well it’s that time of year again when we all reflect on the previous 12 months, and what a 12 months it was for online video with the top 5 YouTube videos alone accumulating a massive 248 million views.
The list includes videos from Internet sensation Susan Boyle, David After Dentist, JK Wedding Entrance Dance, New Moon Movie Trailer, and the hilarious Evian Roller Babies.
Here at Flumotion our platform recorded over 1 billion sessions in 2009, a continuing indication of the growing importance of online video today.
Sit back and enjoy and let us know your video highlights from the past 12 months…
1. Susan Boyle – Britain’s Got Talent (120+m views)
2. David After Dentist (45+m views)
3. JK Wedding Entrance Dance (37+m views)
4. New Moon Movie Trailer (31+m views)
Susan Boyle on Britain’s Got Talent is YouTube’s top video of 2009
Britain’s Got Talent star Susan Boyle is year’s biggest hit as YouTube releases chart of most-watched videos for first time
Susan Boyle: Britain’s Got Talent audition attracted more than 120m views. Photograph: Ken McKay/ITV
As her album hits the top of the sales chart, Susan Boyle has another achievement to celebrate – her Britain’s Got Talent audition has been named YouTube’s most-watched video of the year.
With more than 120m views from around the world, Boyle’s audition had more than three times the audience of the second-placed video, David After Dentist. The video of a seven-year-old filmed by his father in a giddy state after having dental surgery was watched by 37 million people, sparking a viral buzz – and numerous remixes – along the way.
David After Dentist highlights the fact that people don’t only go for sleek, professional content on YouTube: viewers love amateurish videos, as long as they are original. This is true of the third clip in the top five, the unforgettable wedding video featuring the guests doing a choreographed dance as they enter the church, which has been clicked on more than 33m times.
Riding the wave of hype around the teenage vampire movie, The Twilight Saga: New Moon trailer is at number four with 31m views, followed by an Evian ad featuring cute roller-skating babies with more than 27m views.
This is the first time that YouTube has published a list of its most-watched videos since it launched in 2005.
YouTube also compiled a separate list of the year’s most popular music videos.
Rapper Pitbull’s I Know You Want Me topped the music category with more than 82m views, trailed by two promos by Disney star Miley Cyrus, The Climb (more than 64m views) and Party In The USA (more than 54m views).
Michael Jackson, whose death on 25 June made him the most-searched subject on Google this year, also left his mark on YouTube. His name topped YouTube searches during the months of June and July and his 27-year-old video Beat It picked up more than 25m views.
1. Susan Boyle – Britain’s Got Talent (120+m views)
Watch the moment when a woman from a small town in Scotland changed her life forever.
2. David After Dentist (37+m views)
A very smart seven-year-old tries to answer one of the questions that most of us ask ourselves from time to time – is this real? – while high on painkillers.
3. JK Wedding Entrance Dance (33+m views)
After this video of a bride and groom dancing down the aisle turned into a massive viral hit, the couple added a link for viewers to donate to a violence prevention charity.
4. New Moon Movie Trailer (31+m views)
