'Despacito' is the third to hold YouTube's most-popular spot this year
See you again, Wiz Khalifa.
The juggernaut that is Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee's 'Despacito' just took the crown for the most-watched YouTube video ever. It crossed the 2.9 billion-watch threshold held by Wiz Khalifa and Charlie Puth's "See You Again," which itself only ousted Psy's "Gangnam Style" from the throne last month. With 2,998,132,241 views as of publication, 'Despacito' will keep climbing -- though who knows when the next hit will overtake it.
Not that 'Despacito' wasn't destined for greatness: A few weeks ago, it broke another record by becoming the most-streamed song of all time with 4.6 billion listens across all platforms. But we're clearly seeing views ramp up as people watch more videos with more mobile devices. "Gangnam Style" took the lead for most-watched video back in 2012 when the record was only 808 million views.
It held the crown for five years until "See You Again" surpassed it, but Khalifa and Puth's tune wasn't the only contender to seize the top slot. As Boing Boing pointed out at the time, the top 10 YouTube videos of all time all had over 2 billion views -- and "Despacito" was in the middle of that last with 2.4 billion. Which means it racked up over 500 million views in a single month. So while Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee have hit a serious milestone, it won't be forever.
