The last decade has seen tremendous developments in the field of entertainment. Music videos play a significant role in an artist’s general creative vision and output. YouTube, which is the largest music streaming service and the second biggest search engine after Google has made discovering new music videos easy. Without a doubt, it has become easier to make a video, upload it online, and get a wide range of audience. This does not mean that the music industry showers all music videos with equal acceptance.
Music
on the internet is extremely short-lived. It is consumed and forgotten about daily,
if not hourly. So an artist needs something bigger, better, and different from
everyone else to get noticed. Strong creative visuals give these music videos a
substantial competitive advantage over their peers. Perhaps this is why international
music has turned so many heads recently. With their traditional styles mixed
with mainstream music trends, non-English music videos, especially Spanish,
Korean, Japanese, and French musicians top the charts regularly. Here are the top ten international music videos
that had everyone humming the tunes.
1. Macarena
This Spanish dance song by Los del Río appeared on the album A mí me gusta. Regarded as one of the iconic hits in the 90s, it gave rise to a dance craze in the latter half of 1996 and 1997. In 2002, VH1 ranked the song as the "#1 Greatest One-Hit Wonder of All Time". It also ranked at No. 1 on Billboard's All-Time Latin Songs.
The music video remixed by the Bayside Boys spent 14 weeks at No. 1 on the US Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, becoming one of the longest runs atop the Hot 100 chart in history. It still remains close to the millennials that in 2019, Tyga made 'Ayy Macarena' based on the song.
Watch
it here.
2. Mi Gente
Only possible to be described as an explosion of color and dance, J Balvin's and Willy Williams' song Mi Gente is an earworm. Featuring people from around the globe and propagating the idea of unifying everyone through music, this peppy dance number has over 2.7 billion views on YouTube.
It is the 24th most viewed video on the site and unsurprisingly, the video has won an MTV VMA. Remix versions featuring Beyoncé, Steve Aoki, Alesso, and many others were released and they were equally popular. The hit song was also featured in the FIFA 18 soundtrack.
Watch
it here.
3. Con Calma
Performed by Puerto Rican rapper Daddy Yankee and Canadian rapper Snow, this single was released in 2019 by El Cartel Records. The music video which was directed by Marlon Peña features a Memoji of Daddy Yankee dancing with a crew. Described as an uptempo electronics and dancehall song, the song topped the charts of 20 countries and reached the top 10 in ten others. It has topped the Hot Latin Songs chart for 14 weeks in the US.
The music video has received over 2.0 billion views, as of 2020. It was ranked as the most-viewed video released in 2019. The upbeat choreography in the video received a Premio Juventud for Sick Dance Routine at the 16th Premios Juventud.
Watch
it here.
4. Butter
Performed by the South Korean boy band BTS through Big Hit Music and Sony Music Entertainment, Butter is a disco-pop, dance-pop, and EDM track. Shockingly, the premiere of this music video garnered over 3.9 million peak concurrent viewers on YouTube, surpassing previous record holder Dynamite. Setting a new all-time record for the biggest music video premiere on the platform, it became the fastest YouTube video to reach 10–100 million views, achieving the former in its first 13 minutes.
With its upbeat tones and technicolor frames, the song had 11.042 million first-day streams on the Spotify global chart. Setting four new Guinness World Records with their success, as of May 2021, BTS holds the top two spots for the biggest YouTube premieres and 24-hour music debuts in the platform's history.
Watch
it here.
5. Despacito
This Latin pop song written and performed by Luis Fonsi popularized Spanish-language pop music in the mainstream market again. Ranked as the best Latin song of all time and the best songs of 2017, it is one of the most successful Spanish-language tracks in pop music history.
Topping the charts of 47 countries and reaching the top 10 of six others, the song garnered generally favorable reviews from music critics, who praised the fusion between Latin and urban rhythms, and its catchiness. In the United States, it became the first song primarily in Spanish to top the Billboard Hot 100 since Los del Río's "Macarena" in 1996
Watch
it here.
6. Gasolina
Dubbed one of the defining songs of the 2000s, Daddy Yankee's Gasolina became a hit in 2005, coming under the top 10 on some of the charts it entered. The fast beats and the motorsports history of the Dominican Republic shown in the video further enhanced the popularity of the song.
Billboard placed the song at the number nine position on the "50 Greatest Latin Songs of All Time" list in 2015. In 2017, it finished at number eight on Billboard's "12 Best Dancehall & Reggaeton Choruses of the 21st Century."
Watch
it here.
7. Dame Tu Cosita
The extended and remixed version of the 1997 song, this 2018 version of El Chambo's song received much internet popularity. Featuring an animated alien who dances along to beats, the video was the seventh most-viewed music video on YouTube worldwide in 2018. It is the 17th most-viewed video on YouTube with over 3 billion views. The remix charted at #1 on the Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart.
Watch
it here.
8. How You Like That
The colorful music video features Jennie, Lisa, Rosé, and Jisoo of the South Korean girl group Blackpink delivering a message of resilience. Showing off their dance moves in a grand domed hall where the quartet is surrounded by backup dancers, the music video accumulated several YouTube records, including the most-watched premiere as of June 2020.
It was the music video with the most views within 24 hours and the fastest to surpass 100 million, 200 million, and 500 million views at that time. It also became one of the most-liked videos on YouTube with over 20 million likes.
Watch
it here.
9. Gangnam Style
Bringing back the Korean wave that set off in the 1990s, Psy's Gangnam Style took over the world with its release. It subsequently won Best Video at the MTV Europe Music Awards held in 2012.
Gangnam Style became the first YouTube video to reach 1 billion views and has seen a growth in views up to 4 billion since then. Besides, the dance phenomenon it gave rise to gave Macarena a run for its money.
Watch
it here.
10. Bailando
Shot on the streets of the Dominican Republic, Enrique Iglesias Bailando is the first Spanish song on YouTube to have been watched over a billion times. The artist then produced the song in different languages wherein the English version of the video has received over 370 million views as of August 2020.
It is his most-viewed video and the 17th most-viewed video on YouTube. Featuring young Cubans, twirling Flamenco dancers, and skilled football maneuvers, the song is a treat for the eyes as well as the ears.
Watch
it here.
Bottom Line
With
the arrival of online streaming platforms, music videos have been on a steady
decline. When music is available anywhere and everywhere, a music video is a
focal point that draws your attention or at least helps to. With excellent marketing
strategies and strong fanbases, the international music industry is becoming
more mainstream. One has to say, this is an excellent way for the world to come
together and find peace in times of trouble.
Lately,
Hollywood mainstream media has seen a great influence from other international
music industries. With trending music videos, Korean, Japanese, and
Latin-American musicians have broken the barriers of language and entertained
us.
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