The Most Watched and Most Hated Music Video on YouTube

— by Parmita Borah | Bangalore
Justin Bieber & Ludacris
The contagious nature of digital media has catapulted many aspiring talents into incredible pinnacles of stardom, Justin Bieber’s being one of the most well known success stories. As of this moment, 11.11.11, time 12.15 P.M. (IST), Biber’s official music video for Baby featuring Ludacris, has registered 656,398,255hits, placing it as the Most Watched Music Video on YouTube.

‘Baby’ is the lead single from Bieber’s debut album My World 2.0. The song’s uptempo R&B blends dance-pop and hip hop elements with visible influences of doo-wop music. 'Baby' topped the popularity charts immediately after its release and received airplay, officially impacting mainstream and rhythmic radio on January 26, 2010.

Beiber’s wide spread media attention comes from his compelling influence in the social networking sphere, as suggested by a report in the UK Newspaper ‘The Observer’. According to Jan Hoffman of The New York Times, part of Bieber's appeal stems from his YouTube channel. Long before he released his EP, My World, the YouTube videos attracted millions of views.

Bieber’s voice has unarguably won the hearts of many, from screaming teenaged fans to high profile critics, but he has been often criticized of being of looking and sounding younger than his age. There’s little wonder why ‘Baby’ being the most watched music video on YouTube, has also amassed the highest number of dislikes too, 1,981,693 to be precise. He has been mocked on various occasions for his teeny pop music and image, frequent media attention and his public display of affection towards girlfriend Selena Gomez. Bieber’s songs and image has also been the subject of a horde of jokes and parodies.

Previously, American Pop Singer Rebecca Renee Black bagged the title of the most hated video on YouTube, for her single ‘Friday’. The song didn’t go down well with the critics and was panned as the ‘worst song ever’. As of June 14, 2011, the video had received more than 3,190,000 "dislikes", before being finally taken off the site. However, despite the harsh criticism, Black did become a viral star with ‘Friday’ receiving around 167 million views on YouTube. The song was later covered in the popular musical series GLEE, and Black made it to The Tonight’s Show with Jay Leno to discuss the negative reaction to it.

-by Parmita Borah