London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Friday, Aug 22, 2025

Baby Shark becomes YouTube's most-watched video of all time

Baby Shark, the infuriatingly catchy children's rhyme recorded by South Korean company Pinkfong, has become the most-watched video ever on YouTube.

The song has now been played 7.04 billion times, overtaking the previous record holder Despacito, the Latin pop smash by singer Luis Fonsi.

Played back-to-back, that would mean Baby Shark has been streamed continuously for 30,187 years.

Pinkfong stands to have made about $5.2m (£4m) from YouTube streams alone.

It took four years for Baby Shark to ascend to the top of YouTube's most-played chart, but the song is actually much older than that.

It is thought to have originated in US summer camps in the 1970s. One theory says it was invented in 1975, as Steven Spielberg's Jaws became an box office smash around the world.

There are a huge number of variations on the basic premise, including one version where a surfer loses an arm to the shark, and another where the protagonist dies.

There are also international versions - including the French Bebe Requin and the German Kleiner Hai (Little Shark), which became a minor hit in Europe in 2007.

But none of them could match the phenomenal success of Pinkfong's interpretation, which was sung by 10-year-old Korean-American singer Hope Segoine and uploaded to YouTube in 2015.

It's addictive "doo doo doo doo doo doo" hook and fishy dance moves became a craze in South Korea, where popular bands like Red Velvet, Girls' Generation and Blackpink started incorporating it into their concerts.

The following June, Pinkfong put out a second video, titled Baby Shark Dance, featuring two cute kids performing the dance routine.

That clip that inspired the hashtag #BabySharkChallenge - with everyone from Indonesian farmworkers to pop stars Cardi B and Josh Groban joining the fun.

The song is catnip for children, whose appetite for repetition has undoubtedly helped it climb the ranks of YouTube's most-watched videos.

"Nursery rhymes have always been sort of slow, very cute, but something that would help your children fall asleep - as opposed to Baby Shark," Pinkfong's marketing director Jamie Oh told the BBC in 2018.

"Pinkfong's Baby Shark is very trendy and it has a very bright beat with fun dance moves. The animation is very vivid. We call it K-Pop for the next generation."

The company is turning the song into a movie and a musical, and aspires to make Baby Shark "another classic for kids music, like Twinkle Twinkle Little Star", Oh added.

Prison torture claim


However, Pinkfong's parent company SmartStudy was sued last year by children's songwriter Jonathan Wright, who recorded a similar arrangement of the song in 2011 and argues that he owns the copyright to that interpretation.

SmartStudy responded that their verison was "based on a traditional sing-along chant which has passed to public domain". The case is still under consideration by the Korea Copyright Commission.

Last month, the song was at the centre of another controversy, when three prison workers in Oklahoma were accused of using it to punish inmates.

According to court documents, five prisoners were handcuffed against a wall and forced to stand for two hours while listening to Baby Shark on repeat.

Exposure to the song put "undue emotional stress on the inmates who were most likely already suffering", said district attorney David Prater.

But the song has also been put to positive use.

When Eliane Jabbour unexpectedly found herself in the middle of an anti-government demonstration in Lebanon last October, she was concerned the commotion would scare her 15-month-old son, who had just woken from a nap in the passenger seat of her car.

Instead, the protestors circled her car and sang Baby Shark to help calm the toddler down.

A video of the episode in Beirut - with Robin staring wide-eyed at the singing and dancing - itself went viral, and became a symbol of hope amid the protests.


Baby Shark: It's got a catchy tune and plans for world domination - but the toddler hit is older than you think


Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
After 200,000 Orders in 2 Minutes: Xiaomi Accelerates Marketing in Europe
Ukraine Declares De Facto War on Hungary and Slovakia with Terror Drone Strikes on Their Gas Lifeline
Animated K-pop Musical ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ Becomes Netflix’s Most-Watched Original Animated Film
New York Appeals Court Voids Nearly $500 Million Civil Fraud Penalty Against Trump While Upholding Fraud Liability
Elon Musk tweeted, “Europe is dying”
Far-Right Activist Convicted of Incitement Changes Gender and Demands: "Send Me to a Women’s Prison" | The Storm in Germany
Hungary Criticizes Ukraine: "Violating Our Sovereignty"
Will this be the first country to return to negative interest rates?
Child-free hotels spark controversy
North Korea is where this 95-year-old wants to die. South Korea won’t let him go. Is this our ally or a human rights enemy?
Hong Kong Launches Regulatory Regime and Trials for HKD-Backed Stablecoins
China rehearses September 3 Victory Day parade as imagery points to ‘loyal wingman’ FH-97 family presence
Trump Called Viktor Orbán: "Why Are You Using the Veto"
Horror in the Skies: Plane Engine Exploded, Passengers Sent Farewell Messages
MSNBC Rebrands as MS NOW Amid Comcast’s Cable Spin-Off
AI in Policing: Draft One Helps Speed Up Reports but Raises Legal and Ethical Concerns
Shame in Norway: Crown Princess’s Son Accused of Four Rapes
Apple Begins Simultaneous iPhone 17 Production in India and China
A Robot to Give Birth: The Chinese Announcement That Shakes the World
Finnish MP Dies by Suicide in Parliament Building
Outrage in the Tennis World After Jannik Sinner’s Withdrawal Storm
William and Kate Are Moving House – and the New Neighbors Were Evicted
Class Action Lawsuit Against Volkswagen: Steering Wheel Switches Cause Accidents
Taylor Swift on the Way to the Super Bowl? All the Clues Stirring Up Fans
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Apple Expands Social Media Presence in China With RedNote Account Ahead of iPhone 17 Launch
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Cambridge Dictionary Adds 'Skibidi,' 'Delulu,' and 'Tradwife' Amid Surge of Online Slang
Bill Barr Testifies No Evidence Implicated Trump in Epstein Case; DOJ Set to Release Records
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
The CEO Who Replaced 80% of Employees for the AI Revolution: "I Would Do It Again"
Emails Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Character.ai Bets on Future of AI Companionship
China Ramps Up Tax Crackdown on Overseas Investments
Japanese Office Furniture Maker Expands into Bomb Shelter Market
Intel Shares Surge on Possible U.S. Government Investment
Hurricane Erin Threatens U.S. East Coast with Dangerous Surf
EU Blocks Trade Statement Over Digital Rule Dispute
EU Sends Record Aid as Spain Battles Wildfires
JPMorgan Plans New Canary Wharf Tower
Zelenskyy and his allies say they will press Trump on security guarantees
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
Escalating Clashes in Serbia as Anti-Government Protests Spread Nationwide
The Drought in Britain and the Strange Request from the Government to Delete Old Emails
Category 5 Hurricane in the Caribbean: 'Catastrophic Storm' with Winds of 255 km/h
"No, Thanks": The Mathematical Genius Who Turned Down 1.5 Billion Dollars from Zuckerberg
The surprising hero, the ugly incident, and the criticism despite victory: "Liverpool’s defense exposed in full"
Digital Humans Move Beyond Sci-Fi: From Virtual DJs to AI Customer Agents
YouTube will start using AI to guess your age. If it’s wrong, you’ll have to prove it
×