Top 10 Holiday Videos of 2012

Happy Holidays from YouTube Trends!

For a third year, we again look back at the top trending videos of the holiday season. This year, Epic Rap Battles -- who also produced one of 2012's overall top trending videos -- took the top spot as of Christmas Eve with it's Snoop Lion collaboration, "Moses vs Santa Claus".

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

While it didn't break the top 10, the top Hanukkah video of the year was this Rube Goldberg Machine from the Israel Institute of Technology.

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

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Gangnam Style Crosses One Billion View Mark

This post originally appeared on the Official YouTube Blog

A million views? You know what's cool? A billion views.

Today, a 34-year-old K-Pop artist made online video history when his viral video, Gangnam Style, smashed all our records and became the first video ever to reach one billion views. Yup, that’s right one BILLION views!



PSY's success is a great testament to the universal appeal of catchy music-- and er, great equine dance moves. In the past, music distribution was mostly regional. It was more difficult to learn about great artists from around the world. But with a global platform at their fingertips, people are now discovering and sharing amazing music from all over the planet, by artists like Brazilian Michel Teló and Belgian-Australian Gotye.

One billion views is an incredible number, but the PSY-nomenon goes beyond that. Check out these stats:

• PSY was already big in Korea, but in 2012, he became a global celeb as Gangnam Style quickly spread from Seoul and the pacific to North America, South America, and Europe. It’s been seen at least 1 million times in close to 75 countries, making it one of the most global music sensations ever!
• From a one-thousand person flash mob in Jakarta to cover videos from Ai Weiwei and Mitt Romney, hundreds of thousands of parodies have been uploaded to YouTube, some of which have tens of millions of views. In fact, fan tributes to Gangnam Style are now being viewed 20 million times every single day.
• PSY's own remix with Hyuna has 200 million views alone.
• "Gangnam Style" was YouTube's top rising search of 2012 and on October 6th, we saw more than five million searches for “gangnam style” in a single day. Check out this video demonstrating some of our most popular YouTube searches this year.
• For those interested in the business side: a number of assessments and projections have been posted claiming “Gangnam Style” has generated over $8.1 million in advertising deals, hit more than 2.9 million in song downloads since July, and achieved other incredible feats!
• Since late last month, people have clicked to buy the track on iTunes over 600,000 times helping make PSY the first Korean artist ever to rank #1 on the U.S. iTunes chart and #1 in over 30 more countries.

Perhaps what’s most impressive about this feat is that it took just over five months to happen. To give this milestone some context, here’s a chart of Gangnam Style’s rise to popularity versus Justin Bieber’s “Baby,” the video that previously held the most-watched video title:



Congratulations to PSY, the flash mobbers, K-Pop fans and people who love fun across the globe. Considering the Gangnam Style dance was the number one dance-related search on YouTube this year, you better make sure you brush up on your moves before New Year's Eve.

The kind of amazing creativity and unique connection between people all over the world that resulted in this one billion views is only possible with an incredible community of people we're so lucky to have on YouTube. And we can't wait to see what you'll come up with next!

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YouTube Rewind 2012: Recapping the Year's Top Trends!

This post originally appeared on The Official YouTube Blog

It’s that time of year again to pause, rewind and remember the videos, the entertainers, and the moments that captivated you in 2012.

This year, Korean Pop music transcended boundaries and took the world by storm. Cover songs, parodies, and "do-it-yourself" music videos from all genres entertained us in countries near and far. And you participated in conversations at a global scale, uploading videos to share ideas on everything from nonprofit campaigns, to political satire, to new and surprising voices and talents. Plus, all over the world, you tuned in for the most up-to-date news footage of presidential elections, natural disasters and more.



2012 has been a big year for YouTube. You’ve been watching over 4 billion hours of video a month. Millions of creators are using YouTube channels to experiment with innovative forms of entertainment, explore their passions and interests, and take creativity and pop culture to new levels. 2012’s top trending videos showcase this creative ingenuity in ways we'd never before thought possible.

Check out the YouTube Rewind channel to explore the trending videos of the year in your country. Globally, here’s what we were all talking about in 2012:

Top Trending YouTube Videos:

1. PSY - GANGNAM STYLE (강남스타일) M/V
2. Somebody That I Used to Know - Walk off the Earth (Gotye - Cover)
3. KONY 2012
4. "Call Me Maybe" by Carly Rae Jepsen - Feat. Justin Bieber, Selena, Ashley Tisdale & MORE!
5. Barack Obama vs Mitt Romney. Epic Rap Battles Of History Season 2.
6. A DRAMATIC SURPRISE ON A QUIET SQUARE
7. WHY YOU ASKING ALL THEM QUESTIONS? .. #FCHW
8. Dubstep Violin- Lindsey Stirling- Crystallize
9. Facebook Parenting: For the troubled teen.
10. Felix Baumgartner's supersonic freefall from 128k' - Mission Highlights

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PSY Passes Bieber; 'Gangnam Style' New Most-Viewed Video of All Time

Today, global sensation PSY and his wildly popular "Gangnam Style" music video surpassed Justin Bieber's "Baby" as the most viewed music video (and overall video) of all time on YouTube.

As of noon on Saturday, the viewcounts stood at 805 million to 803 million.



Bieber's video picked up the designation in July of 2010, when the then-rising star himself passed Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance". Though it was posted in February of 2010, "Baby" remains popular, continuing to garner between 350k and 500k views per day.

PSY's video first spread from South Korea to the rest of the world in early August. It's been a massive hit at a global level unlike anything we've ever seen before. Each day, "Gangnam Style" is still being watched between 7 and 10 million times.

To give you a sense of how quickly "Gangnam Style" has reached this milestone, here's a chart that shows the viewership path each video took as they each approach 1 billion views. The velocity of popularity for PSY's outlandish video is unprecedented:



"Gangnam Style" and "PSY", respectively, have been the top rising searches on YouTube over the past six months. And these searches are coming from all over the world.

Searches first spiked in South Korea in late July when the video was posted. We began to see search interest rise in the U.S. and other English-speaking nations over the next month until it began to peak in September in North America and Brazil. "Gangnam Style" searches and viewing began to spike more broadly and in places like Europe and India in October.

PSY's official channel now has over 1 billion views, a considerable number. Views on Bieber's VEVO channel alone, however, still total over 3 billion.

• Click here to see the charts for the most-viewed YouTube videos of all time

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'Sandy' Videos Spur Major Interest

The superstorm Sandy inflicted serious damage to the east coast of the United States this week, drawing attention and interest from all over. In the United States, "Hurricane Sandy" was YouTube's top rising search of the past seven days as residents in affected areas as well as those beyond, sought out information as well as bystander footage of the disaster.

Over 30,000 videos mentioning "Sandy" were uploaded Monday alone and these and other videos from this week have been viewed tens of millions of times.

With over 5 million views in just 2 days, the most-watched video from the storm is the footage of the power plant explosion in lower Manhattan that left much of the city in the dark.



The Weather Channel livestreamed their forecasts of the storm on YouTube as it battered the East coast, reaching 13 million livestream views over the course of their coverage.

Other popular videos include footage of flooding in New York and the rescue of passengers from the HMS Bounty.

More footage at CitizenTube


Interest in "Hurricane" searches Monday were at their highest since 2008 (as far as our records go back). The most recent search interest spike prior to this was last summer, when Hurricane Irene threatened the east coast as indicated in the chart below:

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Gangnam Style vs Call Me Maybe: A Popularity Comparison

Gangnam Style or Call Me Maybe? PSY or Carly Rae Jepsen? This summer, the two songs/music videos have been nearly inescapable on the web and have sparked unpredictably enormous levels of interest and reaction.


Comparing the popularity of two video phenomena can be tricky. There are a multitude of factors you could take into account. For example, if you look at how many views the two official videos has accrued, Carly Rae Jepsen's single has 250 million since it was posted March 1, while PSY has drawn 150 million since July 15.

Plotted out on a chart:



As you can see, "Call Me Maybe" has been insanely popular over the past six and a half months. But what you don't see is the velocity with which "Gangnam Style" has exploded. To examine that, we've charted the daily viewership for these videos and mapped out the days since they were first posted:



As you can see here, within just 2 months, Korean pop anthem "Gangnam Style" has increased to an average of over 6 million views per day. But you can also see that "Call Me Maybe" has had unusually strong staying power, averaging over 1.5 million views each day throughout the entire summer. That kind of sustained audience is uncommon and it still remains unclear just how long "Gangnam Style" will be around.

NOTE: Not factored in here is another, star-studded "unofficial" video which helped kick off the "Call Me Maybe" craze back in February and March.

There are also other considerations, too:

• "Call Me Maybe" has been a somewhat American phenomena, while the "Gangnam Style" craze has been a bit more global.
• Much of the attention on "Gangnam Style" has focused on its outrageous music video, while the attention "Call Me Maybe" has gotten has been more about the song's pop culture spread.
• On the fan reaction front, PSY fan videos are just starting to appear, but videos mentioning "Call Me Maybe" have been seen nearly a billion times.

Where we go from here no one knows. "Gangnam Style" is still taking off -- PSY teaching the dance to Ellen and Britney Spears has been seen 5 million times in two days this week -- and "Call Me Maybe" all these months later is still this week just behind it at #2 on the YouTube Music Chart.

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Videos Mentioning Obama or Romney Top 2 Billion Views

The U.S. election is heating up, and we’re not just talking about the humidity in Tampa. Since April 2011, when Romney officially entered the race, close to 600,000 videos mentioning Obama or Romney have been uploaded to YouTube, and these videos account for close to 2 billion views.

Topping the list of these videos is baracksdubs’ “Barack Obama Singing Call Me Maybe,” which has racked up over 24 million views in just a few months.



Political pop song parodies are on the rise in general. In the past month, this Gotye parody titled, “Obama That I Used to Know” and a more humorous One Direction parody about Romney have both crossed the million view mark and hit the YouTube Trending Videos list.

It’s not just light-hearted fare that have people tuning in. Since the primaries began, there have been more than 100 million views of official presidential candidate videos on YouTube.

In fact, in just the last 30 days, people have spent more than 20 cumulative years watching official videos of Obama and Romney (that’s two years longer than Justin Bieber has been alive).

And new uploads from Obama and Romney’s official YouTube channels are gaining traction quickly, with videos receiving hundreds of thousands of views within a few days of upload. The latest video on Obama for America’s YouTube channel has received over 217,000 views in just 24 hours. And since Mitt Romney announced Paul Ryan as his running mate, he has seen a surge in both channel subscribers (a 300% increase since the Ryan announcement) and views. Their first video together, “America’s Comeback Team” has racked up over 1.1 million views in two weeks and is the second most-viewed video on the Romney channel:



We’ll be tracking the political trends on YouTube until Election Day. To keep your finger on the pulse of political video, and to watch up-to-the-minute live and on-demand coverage from the campaign trail, visit the YouTube Elections Hub at www.youtube.com/politics or follow YouTube Politics here.

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Blockbuster Battle: Spider-Man vs. Batman

In anticipation of this summer’s biggest blockbuster films, the world watched trailers for The Amazing Spider-Man and The Dark Knight Rises over 100 million times. With all of the fanfare surrounding these superheros, we wondered who would win if they squared off against each other in a good old fashioned popularity contest. Would Gotham’s hero rise against the amazing webslinger? Would Peter Parker get the best of Bruce Wayne?

We found some really interesting data when we looked at global searches for “Spiderman” and “Batman” videos in the weeks leading up to each film’s box office debut. See the graphs below to discover which superhero was the most popular among fans.




Global searches for “Spiderman” (red) snuck ahead of “Batman” (blue) by just a bit when The Amazing Spider-Man hit theaters on July 3. But search interest in the caped crusader significantly overtook Spidey after The Dark Knight Rises premiered on the July 20.

India is the only country where "Spiderman" drew more search interest than "Batman" -- and that’s likely due to Bollywood star Irrfan Khan’s role as Dr. Ratha.

So there it is - Batman wins over Spider-Man. But if the data doesn't do it for you, here's extremely rare footage of the two superheroes duking it out for all to see.

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'Gangnam Style' is Your International Hit of the Month

Only in 2012 can an off-the-wall music video from South Korea become a hit in the U.S. in a matter of just a few days. This month, Korean pop singer PSY's "Gangnam Style" surprised many by quickly climbing to the #3 spot on YouTube's music video charts.

Below you can track the number of views per day this video has registered around the world since it was posted:



North American interest in Korean pop music has been on the rise for some time now and it's not entirely uncommon to see a popular music video spread across the Pacific.

YouTube searches for PST's single hit their first peak in Korea on July 26, but searching in the U.S. and Canada for "gangnam" really started to spike a week later. Globally, the video began drawing the most attention this past weekend, and "gangnam style" is one of YouTube's top rising searches of August.

The video, which blends Korean and English, has been drawing over one million views per day, and is currently one of our most shared videos in South Korea as well as the U.S., UK, Canada, Australia, Singapore, Taiwan, Belgium and Sweden.

Naturally, we've already started to see lots of parodies/homages as well. In the past two weeks, nearly 1,000 videos have been posted with "gangnam" (in English) in the title. And we can only hope they all feature the same dance...

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Early Trends for the London Games

Great ads, amusing parodies, and dry wit; the 30th olympiad has already brought us a microcosm of YouTubeness. "Olympics 2012" is a top rising search in the U.S. from the past 30 days and sports fever has spread across diverse genres.

We're only a few days in, but those first few days and last week's build up have delivered plenty of trending videos all over the YouTube map. First, and not surprisingly, many top brands have produced special ads for the games, some of which have been frequently shared and embedded.

The spots in the playlist below, which includes ads from Nike, P&G, Adidas, and more, have been seen over 15 million times total.



One of the most popular single videos to come from London this week was filmed not inside the games themselves, but from outside, where a dry and very funny Olympic worker expresses her enthusiasm about the start of competition. The clip already has 1.2 million views to date.



In the music genre, some of Team USA's top athletes created home-made lip-sync videos that spread quickly as the games kicked off. Below Women's Soccer "sings" some Miley Cyrus while U.S. swimmers take on Carly Rae Jepsen. Together, these videos have over 4 million combined views.


We'll be tracking all the trends coming out London over the next two weeks. Stay tuned!

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'Fireworks' Searches See Largest Spike Ever

YouTube searches for "fireworks" videos typically see a big spike each 4th of July in the United States (and a smaller one over New Years), but last week saw the biggest we've ever seen.

The culprit? A fireworks display "gone wrong" in San Diego, California, where the cities annual display -- meant to last close to 20 minutes -- was ignited and exploded all at once. Two of this past week's most-viewed videos globally are bystander videos of the beautiful accident. Over 30,000 fireworks-related videos were posted in the past week and the most popular footage was from the San Diego display, which so far been seen over 5 million times combined.

Below you can see a graph charting weekly U.S. search interest for the term "fireworks" that puts this year's spike in direct comparison with previous years'. (You'll notice an unexplained rise in searches in late 2010, for which Katy Perry is the likely culprit.)



San Diego's "Big Bay Boom 'Bust'", as it's being called, is now currently one of the most-viewed fireworks displays ever on YouTube. (The #1 fireworks video is from London's 2011 New Year's Eve celebration.)

You can see a collection of the videos from the San Diego display in the playlist below.

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What's Hot in Ghana, Malaysia, Peru and More

Over the past few months, YouTube has launched localized versions of the site in a handful of new countries, which is great news for trends-seekers as we've also added these countries to our Trends Dashboard. This means you can stay on top of the most-viewed and most-shared videos in Chile, Ghana, Hungary, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Peru.

Below, we've highlighted a few popular music videos and trending clips from these locales and you can see more via our YouTube Trends Dashboard.

GHANA	MALAYSIA
HUNGARY	CHILE

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'Call Me Maybe' Still on the Rise

Whether you've just heard it or you've been hearing it for months, Carly Rae Jepsen's hit single seems here to stay. The video for "Call Me Maybe" is currently #1 on YouTube's music chart and has picked up over 100 million views. The online spread of the song has helped it become one of YouTube's top rising searches this year.

Below you can view the weekly search interest in "Call Me Maybe," which has continued to rise since February and is still growing.



The song -- which many people were first exposed to via a lip-sync fan video featuring Justin Bieber, Selena Gomez, Ashley Tishdale, and others -- has inspired all sorts of creativity and reaction that have served only to broaden its spread.

For more see: 'Call Me Maybe' is Your College Roadtrip Theme Song

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Top 10 Commencement Videos of 2012

Each year, YouTube gets an influx of commencement ceremony addresses from universities across the United States as well as other videos from many graduates' big days. Last year, we reviewed some of the all-time most-popular speeches and took note of a rising trend for commencement day time-lapse videos.

Ellen DeGeneres' mock graduation ceremony for singer Justin Bieber has, naturally, drawn some of the most attention (with 2.5 million views), but right up there with the popstar is another most-watched video from the commencement season: an unexpected proposal on stage at American University.



Actors and politicians dominate the list of most-popular speeches so far from this year's ceremonies, with SNL's Andy Samberg and Glee's Jane Lynch atop our chart:

(May take a moment to load.)

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Moog: Another Crop of Musical Doodle Videos

Today, Google shared a tribute to Robert "Bob" Moog, inventor of the synthesizer, with a playable, interactive homepage doodle that actually allowed you to create and record tunes.

Much like Les Paul's birthday doodle, music fans globally have begun editing and posting video versions of their creations. Nearly 1,000 "Moog" videos were posted to YouTube by early Wednesday evening.

Perhaps the most elaborate comes from musician Brett Domino who took on Daft Punk's "Aerodynamic"



A Japanese musician took on the overture from "Dragon Quest" in this video that's been very popular on Twitter:



Some took it slow and soulful:



While others have gone for pure speed:



(A group pals from Italy even took on Van Halen's "Jump.")

And it wouldn't be a musical trend on YouTube at this point if SOMEONE didn't make this cover:



Moog's chief engineer created a clip discussing the doodle, which you can check out here.

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How Many 'Happy Birthday' Videos Are Posted Each Day?

Today we celebrate YouTube's 7th Birthday, and in honor of this occasion, we dug into the data to see what we could find about how people celebrate birthdays via web video.

In the average week, nearly 10,000 "happy birthday" (English) videos are posted to YouTube.When you include the terms for "happy birthday" in Spanish, Italian, Russian, Portuguese, French, and a few other languages, that number jumps to just over 15,000, meaning that there are over 2,000 posted each day.

Many these videos have been seen over 100,000 times. Here's just one of them:



Birthday searches are consistent throughout the year, with "wishes," "song," and "quote" being popular related terms. People & Blogs is the most-common category for "happy birthday" videos followed by Entertainment and then Music.

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'Call Me Maybe' is Your College Roadtrip Theme Song

Carly Rae Jepsen's "Call Me Maybe" might be the inescapable song of the summer. The official video has over 68 million views in the past two months or so and, both globally and in the United States, the song has become one of YouTube's top rising searches of 2012 thus far.

But it's the thousands of covers and fan videos that have perhaps been most notable about this hit. On February 28th, just before the official video was released, a silly, home-made, lip-sync video was posted by Carlos PenaCarlos Pena, Jr. from the Nickelodeon series "Big Time Rush." The clip featured Ashley Tisdale, Justin Bieber, and Selena Gomez and itself has nearly 40 million views and went on to inspire hundreds of similar videos by random fans and even some celebrities.

But now a new trend has sprouted up thanks to some Ivy League ball players.

Last week, some members of the Harvard baseball team posted this video, which was heavily shared and picked up over 7 million views.



The video has inspired a crop of new videos by athletes from all over the country, looking to kill some time time traveling on the road. They playlist below contains videos by teams ranging from baseball to softball to... women's rowing.

(Use the arrows to navigate between videos or watch them all here.)

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Political Videos of the Week: Gingrich Out and More

A number of U.S. political videos are spreading quickly this week.

Today, candidate Newt Gingrich gave advance notice to his supporters via a YouTube video that he will be dropping out of the presidential race this week. It's quickly seeing pick up on political blogs and news sites:



Meanwhile, President Obama revealed his campaign slogan for the 2012 election in this top trending video and 7-minute documentary.



The President also has had two other very popular videos/appearances hit our trending feeds this week: his "duet" with Jimmy Fallon "Slow Jamming the News" and his remarks at this past weekend's White House Correspondent's Dinner.

For his part, GOP candidate Mitt Romney also has a video on our most-shared list right now: a critical spot called "Broken Promises."

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Gotye's Growing Popularity in 2012

This time last year, you may not have heard about Belgian-Australian singer-songwriter Gotye, but now his work seems inescapable for many. In particular the song, "Somebody That I Used to Know" has become a global hit, the official video has over 175 million views and currently sits at the #1 spot on YouTube's music chart.

That original video first hit the web in July of 2011, but the clip drew an impressive, though relatively modest 30 million views (nearly half in December) with many of the interest coming from Germany, Australia, and the Netherlands.

In 2012, the video has averaged over 35 million views per month and has become incredibly popular in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Poland. In addition to obvious increases in radio airplay, part of the YouTube popularity stems from a very viral cover from January by the band "Walk Off the Earth" that features five performers using one guitar; it's been seen 94 million times. This month, a cover on Glee and The Voice have also stirred up new buzz.

"Gotye" is one of 2012's top rising searches, and so for a better picture of how popularity has changed over time, below you can see the relative weekly search interest for "Gotye."

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'A Dramatic Surprise' Is April's Surprise Hit

At 24 million views, the creative TNT promotion is the most-viewed, non-music video of the past month. The spectacle, which was staged in Belgium to announce the channel's arrival, has now become popular around the world, and remains a most-viewed video today in numerous countries including South Korea, UAE, Sweden, South Africa, and the United States, among others.

The video was posted just last Wednesday and hit its peak on Thursday, drawing 6.6 million views that day alone.



Interestingly, the clip comes to us from Belgium where, you might remember, Carlsberg also staged a funny marketing stunt last fall. That clip, which depicted a theater of biker's intimidating movie goers, drew over 10 million views.

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On the Scene: Storms in the Oklahoma

While the damage across the Midwest was not quite as bad as originally thought, there were six tornado-related deaths this weekend in Oklahoma. Over 800 videos (of varying types) were posted over the weekend with the keyword "tornado."

You can view a collection below from CitizenTube:

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Nyan Cat Celebrates One Year Anniversary

One year and 70 million views later, the Nyan Cat celebrates it's YouTube birthday today. The backstory is easy enough to explain: animated gif plus Japanese pop tune equals weird looped animation. What happened after is anything but.

Defying the logic of many, the clip went on to become one of YouTube's top 10 most-viewed videos of 2011 and spawned seemingly countless parodies, remixes, and covers. There is a 100 hour version now. With 6 million views.

Interestingly, while the video did see an initial spike in interest in April of 2011, it was not as large as some of the other well known viral hits. Instead, a look at the data shows that the clip has maintained a fairly steady following, averaging around 1 million views per week over the past year.



In the neighborhood of 100,000 videos have been posted with "nyan" in the title over the past year. And those videos have been seen over 400 million times. 400 million. Nearly half a billion.

Here are the top 10 most popular:

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Across the Country: What Final Four Fans are Watching

This weekend marks NCAA basketball's Final Four, the semifinal and final for men's college basketball in the United States. The NCAA tournament is a basketball lover's dream, and it continues to draw out enthusiasm and passion from college sports fans nationwide.

So its no surprise that some of the most-shared and -viewed videos in the hometowns of many Final Four teams are basketball related. We break down a handful below:

TOPEKA: Ultimate Kansas Fan	LOUISVILLE: That Cardinal doesn't like this UK fan's truck
LEXINGTON: Bluegrass in the Big Easy	COLUMBUS: Pre-Final Four press conference

Interestingly, the state of Ohio is enthralled this week not just with Ohio State videos. The most-shared clip in Cincinnati, Cleveland, and Columbus is this letter to the Browns football team.

See more of what's popular in different locations nationally and around the world with our Trends Dashboard.

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Unlikely Musical Instruments: Floppy Disk Drives

Performances involving unusual musical instruments have been a longtime YouTube staple, but over the last several months, we've started to see more and more of a particularly strange "instrument" being used to create tunes: old floppy disk drives.

YouTube saw a big spike in searches for "floppy drive" starting this past October, when the Star Wars "Imperial March" below first went viral. It's now been seen over 4.3 million times. It was created by Polish science students at a university.



This week, you can witness how elaborate recycling floppy disk drives for this untended purpose can get. MrSolidSnake745 is an entire channel of retro-tech covers using the drives and his videos have been viewed over 2 million times and counting. Here's the clip that's currently trending...



And that's not even the only channel producing covers like these ongoingly:



While searches since October have been noticeably higher for "floppy drive" videos, the trend is not necessarily a new one and some popular floppy drive covers have been around for longer:



Check out the floppy disk topic page to discover more.

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'Pi Day': The Unlikely Web Video Holiday

Yesterday was "Pi Day." You know, March 14. 3.14?

It's a day some people may remember from geometry class, but its now found a new following on the web, where fans of math and science routinely produce all sorts of "Pi"-related content on this obscure holiday.

In fact, over 1,000 videos tagged "Pi Day" were uploaded this week. Some took a straightforward approach, like this explainer from Numberphile:



While some people were a big more unconventional. The BYU Mathletes, seen here, used the opportunity to do something unique:



But not everybody is a fan. YouTube scribbler and self-described "mathemusician" Vi Hart produced this clip last year, that remains one of the most viewed Pi Day videos.



If you're interested, you can see Hart's 2012 video here.

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Tracking the Popularity of 'KONY 2012'

Last week, the 30 minute "KONY 2012" documentary, produced by Invisible Children, dominated social media feeds and was, by far, the most-viewed video on YouTube. The clip, which has been seen over 75 million times already, has seen unprecedented popularity for a non-profit video.

A look at viewing over time shows that viewing peaked last Wednesday with 31 million views in a single day, coinciding with what seemed to be the period of highest social activity around the clip.



The top rising searches, globally, on YouTube in the past 30 days relate to this subject and over 7 million views were from searches. Over 20,000 "Kony"-related videos have been uploaded in the past week.

Over 20 million views were from social media platforms. Some of entertainment's biggest stars, including Rihanna, Justin Bieber, Diddy, and Oprah, shared the video on their social media accounts, and the video quickly became the most-shared clip around the world. The video continues to spread and the numbers continue to climb, with the video still averaging millions of views per day.

The video has been increasingly popular and it's single day spike in viewing nearly tripled the most-recent video to see this kind of speedy spread.

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Super Tuesday: Most Viewed GOP Videos This Season

Today's Super Tuesday in the United States with 10 states holding primary elections to help determine which Republican candidate will be selected to run against President Barack Obama this Fall.

We went through the data and saw that videos posted by the official GOP candidate channels were viewed over 40 million times since last the start of last June. Taking a look at the top 10 most viewed clips in that bunch (below) reveals that it was Governor Rick Perry who drew the most attention.

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On the Scene Footage: March Midwest Tornadoes

An unusual series of devastating tornadoes tore through parts of the South and Midwestern United States late last week. >Over 100 are said to have been reported on Friday alone. A number of residents -- as well as storm chasers -- captured images of these disasters in action.

In this video, for example, a tornado is seem forming over what's said to be West Liberty, Kentucky on Friday.



Over 4,000 videos with "tornado" in the title were posted in the past week. Several of them have been collected in the playlist below.

(Use the arrows to navigate between videos or watch them all here.)



You can follow this story at YouTube.com/CitizenTube

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The New Classical: YouTube Showcases New Music in Old Styles

This post was authored by Bailey Johnson of CBSNews.com's The Feed, for a YouTube Trends series exploring viral video phenomena.

YouTube has led the charge into this brave new world of online content. Video creators have invented new genres of entertainment, and in some cases completely changed what being an “entertainer” means. But what often gets overlooked is how YouTube can make the old new again. Take, for example, one of the oldest forms of culture: classical music. Musicians have been able to hone their craft into new and exciting forms using some of the oldest styles and instruments out there. What does this “new classical” music sound like? Take a look.



Violinist Lindsey Stirling used her classical violin training to create something on the cutting edge with this music video, “Crystalize.” The video calls it “dubstep violin” and it’s not far off. It can’t be easy taking a nearly 500-year-old instrument and using it to create a new style. But Stirling makes it look easy; almost as easy as finding an audience hungry for something unique. “Crystalize” has been viewed nearly five million times in the few weeks it’s been online. Of course, the awesome sweeping visuals didn’t hurt.



The Piano Guys are another group making the old new again. These classically trained musicians use a piano, some cellos, and expert editing to transform their centuries-old instruments into modern hits. David Guetta is about as cutting-edge as music gets these days, but The Piano Guys show us that there’s really nothing new under the sun. Even Beethoven could’ve made these beats. You know, if he had the ear for it.



Speaking of cellos, let’s take a look at the aptly named 2CELLOS. Using, yes, two cellos, Stjepan Hauser and Luka Sulic have become something like superstars in their field. They’ve made several television appearences, go on tour, and have a booming YouTube channel. “Smooth Criminal” above has been viewed over 5.5 million times.



The real catalyst for this article – besides all the awesome music – was this video we posted on The Feed last week. As my pal Will Goodman wrote, “You know you’re doing something right when a band posts your video up on their Facebook page with the simple word ‘whoah’ to describe it.” Transforming the Foo Fighters’ classic “Everlong” into a sweeping piano piece is an inspired work of art that perfectly captures the everything-old-is-new-again aesthetic of budding classical musicians worldwide.

Today's Trend analysis provided by

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The Popular Trailers of 2012 So Far: Avengers, Hunger Games

Now that the Academy Awards has taken place, it's time to shift focus to what some might consider the other end of the spectrum: the 2012 slate of blockbuster movies. There are plenty of films to look forward to this year, but by trailer popularity there are two big-time adaptations fans are hotly anticipating...

In 2012, the two top searches associated with trailers on YouTube so far are for Hunger Games, out later this month, and Marvel's The Avengers.

Searches for The Avengers hit their largest spike back in October, when the first trailer was released. It's since been seen over 10 million times. There have been subsequent spikes when their Super Bowl trailer ran and this week when a new longer version was released. This new one has been seen over 4 million times in just two days.



The adaptation of the young-adult novel Hunger Games also saw its first spike in buzz this past fall, with initial trailer hitting the web in November. A new trailer was released in February that's racked up over 6 million views.



The fastest rising "trailer" search so far has been Chronicle, which was released last month and also had a very popular first trailer.

We're only two months in, so we'll have to check back closer to the summer to see how things have changed.

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Don't Try This at Home: First-Person Perspective Puts You in the Extreme Action

This post was authored by Will Goodman, managing editor of CBSNews.com's The Feed, for a YouTube Trends series exploring viral video phenomena.

Action sports are booming. BASE Jumpers can make national headlines and snowboarders can become Olympic gold-medalists.It's fair to say we are in a golden-age of extreme sports. And with the rise of the Go Pro sports cameras and others like them, the action has never felt more real on YouTube.

Much like the title, do not try to emulate these videos at home. Or outside. Or in any context whatsoever. But do make sure to have a lot of fun engaging in the experiences vicariously. That’s the whole point.



While the above video is a clear example of a professional, Marcelo Gutierrez, showing us what he sees and does while engaging in an urban biking competition, the great part of this growing trend is that it’s not just limited to the pros. Everyone is starting to share their first-person perspective experiences and the range of action you can find on YouTube seems to know no bounds.



A simple bicycle ride through the mountains doesn't look so simple when you're strapped to the helmet. Okay, so this bike ride isn't so simple no matter where you're standing. But in first-person we get the rush of the ride without the whole worry of getting injured, maimed or killed. And in high-definition too!



Wasn’t that refreshing? Short, simple, but compelling all the same. Being able to share in the experiences of travel and adventure has never been so available at any other time. Want to know what it’s like to go cliff diving? It's out there. How about riding a motorbike on a snow-covered mountain top? Yup, it’s there, too. Okay, what about doing a luge along the Great Wall of China?Guess what.



Which leads me full-circle to the point I cannot emphasize enough: while these kinds of videos are amazing to behold, they’re best left to the pros (or at least advanced practitioners.) There’s always the chance that something will go wrong. And the more extreme the sport, the bigger that chance gets. So for our final example, let’s all vicariously engage in a very close call to get a feel for what can go wrong, even when done by people who know what they’re doing.

Today's Trend analysis provided by

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Big in India: The Singapore JK Wedding Dance?

One of 2009's most famous viral videos -- and a clip that you've certainly seen -- was the "JK Wedding Dance." The marital entrance, which was set to Chris Brown's "Forever" and captured at Jill Peterson and Kevin Heinz's nuptials at a Minnesotta church, was a massive hit that's now been seen over 70 millian times.



Now, this week, one of the most-viewed and most-shared videos in India is some footage captured at a wedding in Singapore. Rather than Chris Brown, this wedding march, which took place at the Sree MahaMariamman Temple on February 12th, appears to be set to music from some Tamil-language Indian action-comedy films.

Either way, the reaction is essentially the same for the audience.

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Facebook Parenting: The Most Discussed Video of the Week

At this point, most of us have seen the controversial and most-discussed video of the past week: "Facebook Parenting: For the troubled teen." But not everyone may realize the speed in which it took off.

The clip, which first spread last Thursday, hit 11 million views at its peak last Friday alone. For reference, that's almost double the spike last year's most viewed video, Rebecca Black's "Friday," saw when it first spiked with 6 million views in a single day.

The video picked up over 215,000 comments in one week and it remains one of our Most Shared videos.



The video caused such a stir that over 1,000 videos tagged "facebook parenting" have been posted this week, some serious and some... a bit more humorous.

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Local Internet Boy Makes Good, and Other Talking Animal Stories

This post was authored by Bailey Johnson of CBSNews.com's The Feed for a YouTube Trends series exploring viral video phenomena.

It’s always fun when the big boys in old media notice the Internet. When Hollywood executives deign to notice the little people here online, someone always goes home happy. Or if not happy, at least with a little more padding in their wallet. Today, that someone is Andrew Grantham, creator of his own Talking Animals channel and producer of the second most-watched clip of 2011 (after Rebecca Black's "Friday"): “Ultimate Dog Tease.”

You’ve seen it haven’t you? So have over 94 million other people.



Oh man, it’s so great. I’ve watched this video many, many times (I’m not the only one, right? Right?) So it’s thrilling to hear that “Ultimate Dog Tease” is currently being developed into a feature film by Paramount Studios. How exactly they plan on turning an 80-second long clip into a full length movie is anyone’s guess. But it got us thinking: what other talking animals should get the Hollywood treatment?



Mishka the Talking Husky, of course! This popular pooch has been in the game for a while now. She became a break-out star back in 2008 by howling something that sounded an awful lot like, “I love you.” Can Miska: The Movie be far behind? She even has her comedic sidekick ready in Laika, the other dog in the above video.
But what if Hollywood is looking for more than just talking dogs?



Meet Teddy Bear, the future star of “Ultimate Dog Tease 2: More Than Just Talking Dogs.” Teddy is already a star at Zooniversity, a Texas-based wildlife education company. Why not take the next step? Maybe he’s waiting for his moment. When it’s 2017 and we’re all jaded about the release of yet another talking dog movie, Teddy will pop back up to save us from the tedium. It’s only a matter of time.

But is there another breed of animal destined for stardom? Perhaps another common domestic pet, beloved by millions and ready or the silver screen?



Guess not.

Today's Trend analysis provided by

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Tributes: Whitney Houston's 'I Will Always Love You'

With the sad news of vocalist Whitney Houston's passing this weekend, many long-time fans came to YouTube to remember her and seek out her best-known music videos.

Her talents made her a favorite of musicians with many young, aspiring singers finding inspiration in her skills and powerful, emotional voice. In the particular, her song "I Will Always Love You" has remained a standby and, while it's certainly a difficult song to nail, many talented fans have posted their own takes on this hit in tribute over the past two days. We've collected just 10 of them in the playlist below.

(Use the arrows to navigate between videos or watch them all here.)



The city of Dubai also paid tribute to her using the song in a display over the weekend orchestrated using their famed fountain.



It's a song that has traditionally commanded a great deal of respect for those who can perform it well, making it incredibly popular on television talent programs for years. Taiwan's Lin Hu Chung might have the most famous version around the web. He became an international sensation when his performance spread across the world in 2010:

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'Linsanity' on the Rise on YouTube

The NBA's newest star, NY Knick guard Jeremy Lin, has drawn the attention of sports fans around the globe, and his stellar play of late has caused big spike in YT searches, making his name one of the top rising search terms, globally, on YouTube last week.

Lin's stardom hit its highest thus far over the weekend, with much of the interest in the 23-year-old coming from New York and San Francisco as well as internationally from Taiwan and Hong Kong.



Lin highlights on the NBA's channel have been seen over 1.5 million times this month and countless fan videos and even rap songs.

The last athlete we saw reach this level of popularity this quickly was LA Clipper Blake Griffin, whose high-flying dunks are still a big draw.

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Most Viewed Ads So Far After the Big Game ...and Before

It's time to check back in on the data and see which ads from Sunday's big Giants' win were the most popular among fans of football (and commercials). We looked at all the videos posted in the past month by advertisers who ran spots during the game to find out which teasers, previews, ads, and extended cuts drew the most attention before AND after.

Top 10 Most viewed commercials before Sunday (Playlist)

(May take a moment to load.)

What about after the game? Which ads drew the most views on gameday and the next morning? Find out...

Top 10 Most viewed commercials from Sunday and Monday (Playlist)

Want more? See them all at YouTube.com/AdBlitz.

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What Were People Searching for on YouTube During the Game?

Each year, YouTube sees a big spike in ad-related searches during and after the Super Bowl as sports fans -- and non-sports-fans -- check out the game's most memorable commercials.

Over the first half of the 2012's game, top rising searches included "bud light platinum commercial," "OKGo needing getting" (a new music video previewed by Chevrolet) and "m&m commercial," a reference to the spot that introduced the Ms. Brown character.



Heading into the fourth quarter, "Doritos superbowl commercial" and "David Beckham superbowl commercial" were trending.

Other top searches we saw late in the game: "clint eastwood commercial" and "betty white super bowl commercial." Afterward, Samsung's ad caused a spike in searches for "i believe in a thing called love."



Over the weekend, Chevy's Mayan "end of the world" ad titled "2012" became a top trending video and was one of the most-shared and most-viewed clips.



As we noted last week, 2012 has seen a pre-Super Bowl ad bonanza, with many of the top commercials either being teased or posted in-full well in advance of the game. In fact, Super Bowl ads or "ad teasers" were watched over 30 million times on YouTube before the big weekend this year.

In 2011, Volkswagon's ad "The Force" went viral before the game and picked up roughly 10 million views heading into the big day. Seeming to build off that trend, the pre-Super Bowl activity we saw in 2012 was even higher and spread across significantly more brands.

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Latest Trending Videos: Week of Feb 4

Ads, swarms, flips, and dunks: here are 10 of this week's top trending videos from YouTube Trends:

(Use the arrows to navigate between videos or watch them all here.)

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Modern 'Partridge Families' Sing and Play Their Hearts out on YouTube

This post was authored by Will Goodman, managing editor of CBSNews.com's The Feed, for a YouTube Trends series exploring viral video phenomena.

If we’ve learned anything from watching “The Partridge Family” growing up, it’s that the family that sings together, stays together. Okay, so if you’re like me you probably didn’t watch the actual show growing up and may have simply caught the occasional rerun episode on Nickelodeon. And, yes, they were actors and not a real family, but that doesn’t mean the lesson doesn’t ring true. Just look what’s happening on YouTube.



This video of Dicken Schrader and his two children, Milah and Korben, accompanying him in an amazing cover of Depeche Mode’s “Everything Counts” is just the most recent example of what is becoming a hit-maker online – families coming together to perform covers on YouTube. But like any trend you have to try and hone in on where it all began. In this case, it really can be pinpointed to one major and easily recognizable moment...



Jorge and Alexa Narvaez, the father/daughter duo who captured the hearts of America back in 2010 with their hit cover of Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros’ “Home” is without a doubt the defining moment. I still remember the first time I caught this endearing cover… and the second, third and fourth time because they were all within the same hour. Along with it being an actually well-rendered cover of a popular song at the time, there was just something so endearing about the father and his young daughter playing and singing their hearts out. The video spread through social media like wildfire along with a television interview on Ellen and repeat performance (which also went viral on YouTube).

And while you may be noticing a trend towards fathers and young children (and they are by far the most successful combination), some viral hit makers are more in line with The Jackson 5 (or The Jonas Brothers if you want to be a more contemporary) than The Partridge Family.



While this video was actually posted earlier than Jorge and Alexa Narvaez, the cover of the Foo Fighter’s “Everlong” by brother and sister Lauren and Dylan (or “Sandalwood”) ended up going viral about a year ago. So we’ve established that singing families may not be new exactly (See: Family, Partridge.) But there has definitely been a resurgence in family music making it big online. Why is that? Well, it could be the music. It could be the sight of a happy family playing together. But it’s probably the simplest, and most important reason for any viral success: cute kids.

Today's Trend analysis provided by

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Top Rising Search: 'Don Cornelius'

With word of his passing at age 75, "Soul Train" host Don Cornelius has become the top rising search on YouTube Wednesday afternoon as music fans of all ages seek out video of the long-time broadcaster.

On it's YouTube channel, "Soul Train" has a number of classic interviews conducted by Cornelius with some of music's biggest stars through the 1970s and 80s that remind us of his work and of the dance music that surrounded him.

(Use the arrows to navigate between videos or watch them all here.)

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Automotive Ad Teasers Becoming the Norm Ahead of the Big Game

We won't see all the top commercials until they officially debut on Sunday, but many brands have posted "teasers" and other sneak peaks well ahead of the game. And some of these clips have already drawn millions of views, specifically some of those posted by car manufacturers.

Last year, Volkswagon posted it's big hit, "The Force" a few days ahead of the game, and it was seen over 5 million times heading into the weekend. This year, we're a week out and Volkswagen's teaser for its latest Star Wars-themed spot has over 10 million views since it was posted on the 18th.



Honda, though at the time the brand was unknown, posted a "teaser" starring Matthew Broderick last week that created a lot of stir among fans of 1986's "Ferris Bueller's Day Off." Since last Thursday, the Bueller teaser has been seen over 4 million times, with as many as 1.5 million views on Friday.



Today, the full-length extended version was released and immediately drew lots of buzz on pop culture, business, and automotive blogs. You can see it here.

Other manufacturers who've also posted ads include Hyundai, Suzuki, and Audi, who's ad also has over one million views.

Update: Acura.

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Latest Trending Videos: The Week of January 28

Crashes, catches, and bats: here are 12 of this week's top trending videos from YouTube Trends:

(Use the arrows to navigate between videos or watch them all here.)

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Dubstep: Skrillex, Dancing and A Capella (Oh, My!)

This post was authored by Bailey Johnson of CBSNews.com's The Feed for a YouTube Trends series exploring viral video phenomena.

Wubwubwub. The metallic crunch of dubstep was inescapable in 2011. (Ed. Note, see: Interest in Dubstep Grows and Grows.)

Once a sub-set of UK bass music, the genre exploded last year, with electronic music festivals drawing tens of thousands of fans and acts like Skrillex topping charts. (Facebook’s year-end rankings of the most-played songs on their site found not one but two Skrillex jams in the top ten.) One could argue that the soaring popularity of dubstep – and the growing acceptance of club music in general – was the top trend in music last year.

Like they always do, YouTube users embraced the growth of dubstep, using it in endlessly creative ways – from amateur dance numbers to a capella covers. (There’s even a channel dedicated to dubstep “lyrics.”) Let’s take a look at some of the most popular bass-rocking clips from last year.

Warning: Body-moving, party-grooving beats incoming.



Marquese Scott, from the dance crew RemoteKontrols, kicks us off with this incredible one-shot video. With a dubstep remix of Foster the People’s “Pumped up Kicks” behind him, Scott shows off his chops. Scott has been featured on “So You Think You Can Dance” and “America’s Got Talent” (in addition to our site, The Feed.) He also racked up nearly 30 million views with this video. How can a dance be so robotic and yet so fluid? That, friends, is the power of dubstep.



Speaking of the power of dubstep, this clever video shows the three young dancers overcome by the teeth-rattling bass coming from a mysterious pair of headphones. The robotic, full-body control this style of dancing requires fits perfectly with the idea that these dancers are possessed by the beats. The song, by the way, is “Louder (Docter P & Flux PavilionRemix)” by DJ Fresh. So far we’ve seen people dance to dubstep, but is it possible to actually play it? As a matter of fact, it is.



Crafting electronic music is generally a solo pursuit. DJs spend hours hunched over their laptops working out all the beeps, bloops and screeches on a track. But it turns out bands can get in on the act too, as is the case with Pinn Panelle and their cover of Skrillex’s “Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites.” Without the use of sequencers or backing tracks, these guys do a pretty good job replicating the squalls and base drops of a dubstep jam. But they are still using instruments.



That’s where Aaron of AaronicStuff comes in. Using nothing but a laptop, some sick editing skills, and the power of his voice, Aaron brings us this a capella Skrillex cover. Is it safe to say dubstep has gone mainstream once the a capella covers come out? We think so. Of course, this song – “Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites” – was also nominated for a Grammy award. (One of five nominations for Skrillex, including Best New Artist.) Doesn’t get more mainstream than that.

With thousands of fans, millions of YouTube views, and even Grammy recognition, it’s clear that 2011 was dubstep’s year. What can we expect in 2012? Probably even more bass drops. Then again, not everyone is a fan.

Today's Trend analysis provided by

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'Stuff People Say' Goes Local

It's a trend that's been going on for more than a month, but in the past week or so, we've seen the "Stuff ___ Say" trend has seen a new shift in style and popularity. Whereas initially the trend was focused on demographics and other cultural criteria -- race, gender, interests, clubs -- we've started to see way more localized versions popping up in YouTube's trending video feeds.

For example, in the past few days we've seen from a number of cities across the United States. These are among the estimated several thousand videos that exist as a part of this trend.

(Note: Some contain adult language)

Los Angeles	Minnesota
Toronto	Silicon Valley
San Francisco	Washington
Miami	Chicago

These are just a few, and you've probably seen ones for other cities floating around (drop them in the comments!). California seems to be particularly well represented, and the New York take, which first went viral last week, has been seen upwards of 2.6 million times.

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Footage from Tahrir on Egypt's Anniversary

Today marks one year from the start of Egypt's revolution, a time marked by demonstrations, marches, and, in some cases, clashes between citizen's and police and other security forces.

To commemorate the occasion, many Egyptians gathered once again in Tahrir Square in large numbers. You can see some of the footage -- which, like many of the events of the initial revolution, was filmed by citizens and other bystanders -- at CitizenTube or in the playlist below:

(Use the arrows to navigate between videos or watch them all here.)

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New Dazzling Videos of the Northern Lights

For amateur and professional photographers and videographers living at high latitudes, the aurora boralis, aka the Northern Lights, are popular subject matter... when they appear, that is. This week, the lights, which are normally visible in areas close to the arctic circle, were seen as far south as Scotland and England.

This kind of visibility is said to only occur once every 11 years:



In the past, these sightings have generally caused a surge in uploads. Below you can see some of the numerous videos posted by those who were lucky enough to witness the phenomenon this week.

(Use the arrows to navigate between videos or watch them all here.)

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Wild Wind Storm in Palm Springs

Palm Springs, California witnessed a sudden, intense wind storm this weekend that left many trees down and homes without power. Some of the gusts were reportedly 80-90 miles per hour.

A number of residents captured video of the unusual weather occurrence and posted them to their channels on YouTube. We've collected eight of them in the playlist below.

(Use the arrows to navigate between videos or watch them all here.)

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Latest Trending Videos: The Week of January 21

Books, buildings, thieves, and goalies: here are 11 of this week's top trending videos from YouTube Trends:

(Use the arrows to navigate between videos or watch them all here.)

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She Blinded Me with Science (and LOLs)!

This post was authored by Will Goodman, managing editor of CBSNews.com's The Feed, for a YouTube Trends series exploring viral video phenomena.

One of the most amazing things about the rise of YouTube videos and Internet culture is that there is no limitation to the kind of material that can go viral. Once upon time the domain for what would spread on a large-scale level was largely limited to the land of LOLs, FAILs, cats, babies and a few other Internet-popular subjects that tended towards the least-common denominator (no offense meant to cats or babies).

But no more! Now viral videos can broaden your mind and educate while also entertaining you. Let’s put the focus on learning today, particularly on the subject of science, and kick things off with one of the most recent entries to hit The Feed, though also the closest to the aforementioned topics of old (in this case, something of a FAIL).



Was there chemistry involved? Yes. Did you learn a lot from it? Maybe not, but there is definitely a lesson in here on avoiding putting liquid nitrogen in a closed container unless you’re looking to cause some damage (most likely to yourself). But fear not, because that was just a recent example to engage you and now we turn our focus towards actually educating and expanding your mind, which is exactly what our next video does in the most amazing of ways.

This one will get your mind turning and your feet tapping. Watch Bobby McFerrin, whom you might remember from the hit song "Don't Worry, Be Happy", demonstrate the power of the pentatonic scale.



Now did you learn something this time? Yes you did, though you probably barely realized it while it was happening. (One of the best possible ways to learn, in this blogger’s humble opinion.) And that is exactly the lesson that a Biola University math teacher, Matthew Weathers, incorporates extremely well into his creative class presentation in our next video. Educators, take note!



It’s always a thrill to catch moments like these on video. But there are now quite a few people on YouTube who regularly create informative and entertaining videos. Take one of my favorites, C.G.P. Grey, who puts out videos on a variety of subjects from currency to geography to mathematics and more. It’s still early in the year and some folks are still shopping for their 2012 calendars, so let’s take a quick look at one of his more recent entries explaining just how the modern calendar we use came to be as a quick example of his work.



So there you have it. You can get your laugh and learn on just about any day of the week with the help of YouTube. Now I like to try and come full circle whenever possible, which is why it’s so amazing that I can finish with a clip showing stuff exploding… but for science! No, for real this time. The video below is a fun compilation put out by The Periodic Table of Videos, a video series between the University of Nottingham's School of Chemistry and video journalist Brady Haran that really teaches you chemical reactions. Isn’t science just the coolest?



Boom! I hope you’ve all learned something today.

Today's Trend analysis provided by

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Exploring Viral Phenomenon with Think Quarterly

The latest edition of Google's Think Quarterly -- the Speed edition -- explores some interesting Trends-related insights and background that are definitely worth exploring:

RACE TO THE TOP

This game/tool uses YouTube Trends data to help us understand what separates the fastest rising videos on YouTube from others. Click the image below to play and see how much you know about viral phenomenon on YouTube:

VIRAL VELOCITY

At this point, we all know the story of the Talking Twin Babies from Brooklyn, who became famous around the world for their unintelligible conversation. But now, click the image below to hear the story from the family's perspective via a Joe McDermott cartoon strip:

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Latest Trending Videos: The Week of January 14

Money, motorcycles, and mutts: here are 10 of this week's top trending videos from YouTube Trends:

(Use the arrows to navigate between videos or watch them all here.)

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2012's First Big Trend: 'S*** ___ Say'

Whether you've been spending lots of time on YouTube or checking out your social media feeds, one video trend seems to be completely inescapable in 2012: the "S*** __ Say" trend.

It's one that started back in 2011, with the "S*** Girls Say" series, which launched on December 12th. Episode one, below, has over 10 million views and overall the videos on the channel have over 17 million total views.



The series was so popular -- and simple in concept -- that it spawned all manner of parodies and remakes. We can now estimate that there are well over 500 instances of these videos on YouTube from the past month.

The topics vary from ethnicity to career to other social commentaries. Some people have been using them to promote their businesses as well. The playlist below contains a handful of diverse examples, some popular, some controversial.

(Use the arrows to navigate between videos or watch them all here.)



The most recent hit in the trend has been "S*** Nobody Says," a natural evolution that's now been seen close to 2 million times in the past week.

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5 People and 1 Guitar = Viral Hit of the Week

On Friday, a cover of the song "Somebody That I Used to Know" performed by Walk Off the Earth began to draw attention for its use of just one guitar and five performers for all the music. By Sunday, the video was averaging three million views a day, with most of the viewers coming across it as it was shared on social media sites.

The band, which has posted videos on its channel dating back to June of 2009, had drawn a significant 4.8 million views up until last Thursday. But since then, their work has been seen almost 20 million times around the world.

Today, it remains one of our most shared and most viewed clips. It's the most viewed video in Germany, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Netherlands, Poland, Spain, and Sweden.

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The Story of the Two Honey Badgers

The "Honey Badger" video, the most popular episode from the funny Randall's Animals channel in which nature documentaries are given very amusing voiceovers, was one of the cult viral hits of 2011. Unlike many other viral videos, "Honey Badger" never saw a sudden dramatic spike in viewership an instead picked up its 31 million views gradually through out the year, starting all the way back in January, when it was first posted.

The video became so popular that as LSU cornerback Tyrann Mathieu got noticed for his outstanding defense, his fans/teammates actually gave him the nickname "honey badger" for his tough play on the field. Now, the popularity of the of the video and Mathieu, who was up for a Heisman trophy this year, have become inextricably linked, as evidenced by the search chart below.

The day Randall's clip saw its biggest spike in views: December 3, the day LSU won the SEC championship and locked up their invitation to the National Championship game. Tonight, his team plays Alabama in that NCAA title game, and so Randall might once again find some new fans.

(WARNING: Some Adult Language.)

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