We did it, folks. ‘Baby Shark’, that syrupy, childish, yet oh-so-catchy jingle which first appeared on everyone’s feed back in 2016 has become the first video on YouTube to reach 10 billion views.
The video—created by Korean children’s educational entertainment company, Pinkfong—achieved the milestone last week, 15 months after dethroning the previously most-watched YouTube sensation, Luis Fonsi’s “Despacito”, which had a humble seven billion views at the time.
Baby Shark’s success is undeniably the result of its annoyingly, albeit universally catchy melody, which has everyone from toddlers to grandparents humming and reciting the tune into rhythmic oblivion.
But what began as a two-minute video—believed to have originated from a camp song in South Korea—depicting a family of colourful cartoon sharks has since exploded into a multimedia phenomenon, spawning books, a television series and a live show.
Even celebrities have shared their takes on the video, with Elon Musk last year tweeting his congratulations to “Baby Shark” for achieving more views than there are humans on Earth, as well as celebrity parents, Cardi B and Kylie Jenner quoting the ear worm chorus in seperate posts.
Baby Shark crushes all! More views than humans. https://t.co/48Ol3ZzhjP
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 1, 2021
Baby shark tututuruturutu baby shark
— Cardi B (@iamcardib) September 2, 2018
But the cartoon’s nefarious aspects weren’t lost on all. Last November, a federal lawsuit was filed against staff at an Oklahoma County jail for inmate abuse, with one of the allegations claiming corrections officers tortured inmates by forcing them to listen to “Baby Shark” for up to four hours at a time.
Notwithstanding, having conquered the screens and emotional thresholds of the world over, what’s next for the unsung “heroes” of the Baby Shark phenomenon, Pinkfong?
“We can’t wait to introduce Baby Shark’s further adventures,” Pinkfong chief executive, Min-seok Kim told The Wall Street Journal.
Unreal.
