Article Lead Image

YouTube’s biggest viral hits of 2011

YouTube goes big in 2011.

 

Austin Powell

Streaming

Posted on Dec 20, 2011   Updated on Jun 2, 2021, 11:39 pm CDT

From partnering with Disney to the creation of new professional channels, YouTube experienced exponential growth and enhanced mainstream coverage in 2011—a trend that will only increase with the site’s recent redesign.

In total, YouTube received more than 1 trillion playbacks this year, or roughly “140 views for every person on the earth,” according an official post.

A significant portion of those views came from the site’s 10 most popular videos, an enthralling collection of cover songs, parody raps by the Lonely Island, and, of course, the Hater’s Person of the Year, Rebecca Black, who personally introduced the list in a company video.

The Daily Dot compiled YouTube’s biggest hits from 2011 in the following Storify. Also worth noting, however, is YouTube’s genre-specific collection of most-watched videos.

 

Share this article
*First Published: Dec 20, 2011, 3:25 pm CST