In the race for the most viewed video in YouTube history, not famous music stars, but a little cartoon shark holds the record. The children's song "Baby Shark" tops the chart with about 17.5 billion views, followed by the song "Bus Wheels" with more than 9.6 billion views, even surpassing the famous music video "Despacito". Five of the 10 most viewed videos in YouTube history are for children. Watching familiar songs multiple times by young children is one of the success factors of these videos; A habit that helped create a large industry of animation, music, toys and peripherals. However, billions of hits don't necessarily mean astronomical ad revenue. According to the financial analysis in 2026, the median income of children's and youth content in the analyzed sample was about 33 cents per thousand views, while this figure reached $2.30 for the set of analyzed channels. One of the reasons for this difference is the restriction of advertising aimed at children.

In the race for the most viewed video in YouTube history, not famous music stars, but a little cartoon shark holds the record. The children's song "Baby Shark" tops the chart with about 17.5 billion views, followed by the song "Bus Wheels" with more than 9.6 billion views, even surpassing the famous music video "Despacito". Five of the 10 most viewed videos in YouTube history are for children. Watching familiar songs multiple times by young children is one of the success factors of these videos; A habit that helped create a large industry of animation, music, toys and peripherals. However, billions of hits don't necessarily mean astronomical ad revenue. According to the financial analysis in 2026, the median income of children's and youth content in the analyzed sample was about 33 cents per thousand views, while this figure reached $2.30 for the set of analyzed channels. One of the reasons for this difference is the restriction of advertising aimed at children.