One Billion Views: Adele Says 'Hello' to YouTube Record

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Adele's video for "Hello" broke a YouTube record on Thursday, reaching 1 billion views in only 87 days, beating out Psy's "Gangnam Style" (158 days).

Jan. 21, 2016, 5:50 PM EST / Updated Jan. 21, 2016, 5:50 PM EST

By Keith Wagstaff

Adele's video for "Hello" broke a YouTube record on Thursday, reaching 1 billion views in only 87 days.

The video beats out Psy's "Gangnam Style," which held the previous record of 158 days. Adele's rise shouldn't be a surprise considering her latest album, "25," was the most popular album of 2015 according to Nielsen Music.

"Hello" isn't the only member of the billion-view club. Overall, 17 videos on YouTube have reached that mark, including "Party Rock" by LMFAO and "Chandelier" by Sia. Most of them are music videos, except for a few outliers like the famous "Charlie bit my finger" clip.

But as YouTube noted on its blog, "while 1 billion views is rare, it’s occurring at a faster rate" this year. Katy Perry's "Roar" did it in 487 days, which set a record for 2013. The next year, Swift's "Blank Space" did it 97 days. Four of the 17 videos that reached a billion were released in 2015.

Still, Adele has a long way to go to beat Psy. "Gangnam Style" reigns supreme as the most viewed YouTube video of all time with 2.5 billion views and counting.

Keith Wagstaff

Keith Wagstaff is a contributing writer at NBC News. He covers technology, reporting on Internet security, mobile technology and more. He joined NBC News from The Week, where he was a staff writer covering politics. Prior to his work at The Week, he was a technology writer at TIME.

He lives in Brooklyn, N.Y.

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