Despacito
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2017·The platform era·impressive
A Spanish-language song from Puerto Rico became the most-watched thing on YouTube, and stayed there for years.
At a glanceThe facts
- Spread in
- 2017
- Began as
- A commercial release
- Format
- Sound
- Performed by
- Luis Fonsi, featuring Daddy Yankee
- Recorded
- The video was filmed in December 2016 in La Perla, San Juan, Puerto Rico
- Record
- Most-viewed video on YouTube from 4 August 2017 to 2 November 2020
- Origin
- Not an upload originally
- Available
- Playable from the source
What this wasThe story
A reggaeton-pop single by Luis Fonsi with Daddy Yankee, released in January 2017 with a video shot in La Perla, San Juan. It was not sung in English. A remix with Justin Bieber followed in April, but the original video is the one that kept climbing.
It reshaped how labels treat Latin music worldwide and made streaming totals rather than radio the accepted measure of a global hit. Its record stood until 2020. In Puerto Rico it also drew a complicated local argument about the filming location, a neighbourhood with a long history of being represented badly by outsiders.
Why it matteredWhat changed
A song in Spanish was the most-watched thing on YouTube for more than three years and the first video anywhere to be played three, four, five and six billion times. It ended the idea that a record of that kind had to be in English.
TimelineIn order
- Posted
The video is uploaded to Luis Fonsi’s channel. The single is released the next day.1
- Remixed
A remix with Justin Bieber is released.1
- Mainstream
It reaches number one in the United States, where it stays for sixteen weeks, equalling the record.1
- Record
It becomes the most-viewed video on YouTube and, the same day, the first to three billion views.2
- Record
It is the first video to reach five billion views.1
- Later
Baby Shark overtakes it as the most-viewed video on YouTube.1
What people misrememberSet straight
Commonly remembered asA Justin Bieber song.
ActuallyBieber joined a remix three months after the original was released. On that remix it is Fonsi, not Bieber, who sings the English-language verse.1
Commonly remembered asA reggaeton song.
ActuallyIt is filed as one, and Fonsi says he does not consider it reggaeton.1
LegacyWhat it left behind
- It was the most-liked video on YouTube from July 2017 until January 2025.1
- Its sixteen weeks at number one in the United States stood as a shared record until Old Town Road passed it in August 2019.1
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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
The version shown here is an official copy on YouTube, published by a rights holder.
Where it came fromWhat we know
There is no original upload to identify: this did not begin as one. What it began as is recorded here, and what is shown is a later copy.
View the official copy on YouTube
Nothing here is claimed to be the first publication of this Moment, because the first publication was not an upload. This was released commercially before the internet carried it.
ConnectedFollow it further
- Its place was taken by Baby Shark DanceVideo · 2016
On 2 November 2020 Baby Shark overtook Despacito as the most-viewed video on YouTube.
- Its place was taken by Instagram eggPost · 2019
Within twelve days of being posted the egg had 45 million likes, passing the video for Despacito.
- Its place was taken by Old Town RoadSound · 2019
Its nineteen weeks at number one in the United States broke the sixteen-week record Despacito had shared since 2017.
SourcesWhat was read
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