The world’s largest repository of cat videos has released its annual top 10 list, with YouTube dividing its viewing statistics for 2015 both by country and by type (though regrettably, none of this year’s top videos actually focused on cats).
Unsurprisingly, a music video – Wiz Khalifa’s “See You Again,” from Furious 7 – came out on top both globally and in Canada, with more than 1.2 billion views worldwide since premiering in April.
In fact, all 10 of YouTube’s most watched, both globally and in Canada, would have been music videos, which is why the Google-owned website gave them their own category. We’ve embedded Canadian users’ 10 favourite music videos below.
It’s worth noting that only five of the 10 most-watched non-music videos in Canada were also on the global list, with a super bowl ad, lip sync battle, and one of Jimmy Kimmel’s patented “Mean Tweets”, featuring Barack Obama, among the top 10 global videos which didn’t make the cut for the Canadian version. Instead, we Canucks can take pride in knowing that our list featured two science videos, two brothers coming out to their father, and two with uniquely Canadian content in their place.
The global and Canadian music video lists were identical except for two songs, one by (sigh) Justin Bieber.
Google did not release Canadian viewership numbers for any of the videos.
And so, without additional ado, here are the top 10 (non-music) YouTube videos that Canadians watched in 2015:
With more than 116 million views worldwide, the top video is admittedly a bit of a cheat: five-year-old Heaven King and her friends dancing in New York City (with choreography by Heaven’s mom, Tianne) to Silentó’s “Watch Me” (Whip/Nae Nae).
Number two, with more than 56 million views: Prankster Roman Atwood helps his sons take the phrase “having a ball at home” literally.
Third, with more than 40 million views: The Slow Mo Guys place a six-foot man in a six-foot water balloon.
Fourth, with more than 37 million views, is another cheat of sorts: A lip-synch video to Taylor Swift’s “Shake It Off,” (which came out in 2014) courtesy of Delaware’s Dover Police.
Fifth: Science and engineering channel Veritasium’s “Surprising Applications of the Magnus Effect,” which finds out what happens when you drop a basketball from the 126.5-metre Gordon Dam in Tasmania, has nearly 28 million views.
Sixth: Los Angeles-based twin models and YouTube personalities Aaron and Austin Rhodes recorded coming out to their Ohio-based father in January, in a tear-soaked video which has since racked up nearly 21 million worldwide views and earned the brothers a guest spot on horror-comedy Scream Queens.
Seven is another science-based video, this one from ASAPScience, analyzing the photo of a dress that and broke the Internet in February by dividing viewers into camps that either believed it was black and blue or white and gold. It’s currently amassed more than 20 million views.
The viewership for number eight might be more Canadian than others: Nearly 10 million users have seen “containerman2″‘s three-minute video of a CN rail train plowing through snow in Salisbury, New Brunswick.
Nine is another uniquely Canadian video: Adam Jesin’s tribute to the Blue Jays, “First Place,” a parody of Taylor Swift’s “Blank Space”.
Finally, number 10, with more than 38 million views, was an audition from this year’s season of Britain’s Got Talent: contestant Calum Scott’s cover of Europop star Robyn’s “Dancing On My Own”.
Incidentally, the 10 music videos seen by the most Canadians on YouTube were:
1. Wiz Khalifa Feat. Charlie Puth – See You Again
2. Maroon 5 – Sugar
3. Major Lazer & DJ Snake Feat. MØ – Lean On
4. Adele – Hello
5. Ellie Goulding – Love Me Like You Do
6. Taylor Swift – Bad Blood
7. Sia – Elastic Heart
8. Silentó – Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae)
9. The Weeknd – The Hills
10. Justin Bieber – What Do You Mean?
