“Baby Shark“, the popular children’s sing-along-song about a family of sharks, has become the most-watched YouTube video on Monday, with more than seven billion plays.
The South Korea-produced song has gone from the realm of children’s YouTube to a global viral sensation, with an infectious melody depicted by a colourful video. “Baby Shark Dance”, the English-language version of the song, garnered over seven billion views on YouTube at around 0400 GMT on Monday, dethroning Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee’s “Despacito” as the most-watched video on the platform.
The widely-circulated children’s song and earworm, first uploaded to YouTube in June 2016, is a remix of an American campfire song by the Seoul-based production company Pinkfong. Its YouTube success made it to global music charts, reaching the number 32 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 in January 2019. At a time, a US town played the song on a loop, while another, Florida’s West Palm Beach, used the melody to try to discourage homeless people from congregating in a public area. It has also been pressed into anti-pandemic service, with a coronavirus-themed version, “Wash Your Hands”, teaching children the importance of personal hygiene.