ViralWorld

Charlie bit my finger

You might remember it as Charlie bit me, Charlie bit my finger - again !

Most viral ever4 of 32

2007·Early YouTube·wholesome

The most-watched thing on YouTube for four years, and a video whose entire content is two small children and a bitten finger.

The line people quote“Charlie bit me”

At a glanceThe facts

Remembered as
Charlie bit me
First known
2007
Began as
A video upload
Format
Video
Era
Early YouTube
Made by
Howard Davies-Carr, the boys’ father, who filmed and uploaded it
Who or what it shows
Harry, aged three, and his brother Charlie, aged one
Record
Most-viewed video on YouTube from late October 2009 until it was passed by Lady Gaga’s Bad Romance
Origin
Likely original upload
Available
Playable from the source

What this wasThe story

Two brothers sit in a chair together. The younger one bites the older one’s finger; the older one puts it back and is bitten harder, protests, and then laughs anyway. It runs fifty-six seconds.

The family auctioned the video as an NFT in May 2021 for about $761,000. The buyer initially considered taking it down for good; it was off YouTube until January 2024, and is back.

Why it matteredWhat changed

For three years it was the most-watched thing on YouTube, and it was a father’s clip of his two small sons, uploaded so their grandfather could see it. It is the proof that the early platform’s biggest hits were not made for an audience at all.

TimelineIn order

  1. Posted

    Howard Davies-Carr uploads the clip so that the boys’ grandfather in the United States can see it. The file was too large to email. He first sets it to private and comes close to deleting it.1

  2. Took off

    The video passes 12 million views, up from 2.6 million at the start of February.1

  3. Record

    At the end of the month it overtakes Judson Laipply’s Evolution of Dance to become the most-viewed video on YouTube.1

  4. Later

    The family is reported to have earned more than £100,000 from advertising on the video, enough to buy a house.1

  5. Came back

    The family auctions the video as a non-fungible token. The winning bid is 760,999 US dollars, from 3F Music.1

  6. Corrected

    The video becomes publicly viewable on YouTube again, having been unavailable since the auction.1

What people misrememberSet straight

Commonly remembered asCharlie Bit Me.

ActuallyThe upload is titled “Charlie bit my finger – again!”. The “again” is because Charlie had already bitten him once.1

Commonly remembered asThe video was deleted from YouTube when it was sold as an NFT.

ActuallyThat was the announced plan. The buyer decided it should stay, and although it was unavailable to the public for more than two years it returned in January 2024.1

What it createdWhat came out of it

Later lifeAfterwards

More from hereIn this collection

RelatedMore like this

Records this one is explicitly related to — a copy, a remake, a parody, the same meme or the same maker.

Why it is here: something the internet still knows by name · a moment that changed what the internet did next · it got out of its own corner of the internet fast · still being watched and quoted years later

Where it came fromWhat we know

High-confidence original source.

View original on YouTube

Earliest known source: YouTube

Created by Howard Davies-Carr. Established by research, not by who posted the copy shown here.

When
Originally published 22 May 2007.

More from 2007You were there

ConnectedFollow it further

SourcesWhat was read

  1. Wikipedia — Charlie Bit My Finger

Sources last read on . That date is about the history on this page. Whether the media still plays is checked separately and can change any day. How ViralWorld documents things

Keep browsingElsewhere on ViralWorld