A Year On YouTube: 2022’s Top Trending
While there are some distinctly Australian creators, artists and videos that caught our attention in 2022 - comedy always tops our lists and we’re all watching Andy Cooks, right?! - there is a global culture on YouTube. And this year, around the world, we paid tribute to the loss of a legend, crowned a new most-subscribed creator, and set a record for the most-viewed face reveal on YouTube. We also vibed out to a lot of Disney hits - What Else Can I do? - and drove a new class of short-form creators to widespread success.
Before ringing in 2023, let’s take a moment to recognise and celebrate the videos, creators, and artists you took primetime over the last 12 months.
Top Trending Videos
This year’s top trending videos show that individual, online communities are more influential than ever before. Take the large presence of videos featuring personal stories, which allowed creators to intimately connect with and recognise their fans: Technoblade’s father recorded a farewell message penned by his late son to his viewers and Dream finally dropped the mask for a long-awaited hello. Meanwhile, moments involving traditional celebrities like Will Smith gained new levels of relevance because of the ways communities reinterpreted them for their audiences through memes, parodies, and more. And, of course, top creators like MrBeast continued to bring their viewers together with large-scale participatory challenges, and Mark Rober had us all trying to defeat scam callers.
In this year’s top ten you’ll also find a Halftime Show that hit a note of nostalgia, while comedic duo Superwog maintained their reign, once again making the list (honestly, I will be surprised when there’s a year they don’t make it!), along with another Aussie comic, Garn..
Altogether, viewership of the Top Trending Videos surpassed last year’s: these 10 videos were viewed more than 650 million times and the channels behind them total more than 224 million subscribers.
- Guardian News - Watch the uncensored moment Will Smith smacks Chris Rock on stage at the Oscars, drops F-bomb
- NFL - Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Mary J. Blige, Kendrick Lamar & 50 Cent FULL Pepsi SB LVI Halftime Show
- Technoblade - so long nerds
- MrBeast - World’s Most Dangerous Escape Room!
- superwog1 - McDonald’s
- Mark Rober - Pranks Destroy Scam Callers- GlitterBomb Payback
- Sidemen - SIDEMEN TINDER IN REAL LIFE 4 (USA YOUTUBE EDITION)
- Dream - hi, I’m Dream.
- Steven He - When "Asian" is a Difficulty Mode: EMOTIONAL DAMAGE
- Garn. - Every Apprentice Ever... | Garn.
Top Shorts
The first-ever Top Shorts list shows that when it comes to short-form, feel-good content — whether it’s sketch comedy, floofy pets, visually mesmerizing tricks or fascinating experiments — reigns supreme.
- Shangerdanger - Diver Cracks Egg at 45 ft Deep #Shorts
- Hingaflips - Sarah Trust Challenges
- Adrian Bliss - Welcome to the stomach #shorts
- Chris Ivan - Dave and Busters Bet Me 1000 Tickets I Couldn’t Do THIS…
- Brodie That Dood - Come with me to shave my fluffy dog! #doggrooming #grooming #goldendoodle
- King Kenny Clips - BETA SQUAD Plays Guess The BLACK Person With KSI
- Luke Davidson - Snow Days In 2019 Vs. 2022 #Shorts
- Hafu Go - 1 Inch Punch (Can You Break This Board?)
- JoJo’s World - SHE PULLED THE SWORD OUT OF THE STONE RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME IN DISNEY WORLD
- The Kelly Clarkson Show - Anne Hathaway’s GENIUS cupcake hack!
Top Creators
Among Top Creators, MrBeast claimed the No. 1 position, with so many newcomers also reaching viewers across a range of video formats.
Top Australian Creators
And when it comes to Australian creators, it’s no surprise that LazarBeam is in top spot alongside some very ocker channels.
Breakout Creators
Many of 2022’s Breakout creators, meanwhile, are finding their niches within Shorts, putting a fresh spin on Minecraft trends and finding humour in pop culture.
Australian Breakout Creators
Gaming, comedy and food creators made up the local list.
Given his breakout year, we sat down with Andy to see how he felt about being named in this year’s lists!
YT: You made this year’s top creator list and breakout creator lists, how does it feel?
Andy: I'm super flattered. I didn't expect to reach the number of people I have in the amount of time that I've been posting to YouTube.
YT: What’s it like to look back on the year and all you’ve achieved?
Andy: Really impressed with the food creator community and the support from all the food creators on YouTube. Also, the incredible community that comes back each week to watch my videos and comment - I'm very grateful and love hearing their thoughts on each video.
YT: What’s next for your channel?
Andy: To continue growing the community and push ourselves to make more engaging content in both Shorts and long-format videos. I have some exciting new concepts planned for next year where I will travel to the origins of dishes that I love to cook so much.
Top Music Videos
Finally in music, the viral success of Encanto translated into lasting hit after hit, with Harry Styles and Lizzo also pumping out tracks that Australians put on repeat.
- HarryStylesVEVO - Harry Styles - As It Was (Official Video)
- DisneyMusicVEVO - Diane Guerrero, Stephanie Beatriz - What Else Can I Do? (From "Encanto")
- DisneyMusicVEVO - 4*TOWN (From Disney and Pixar’s Turning Red) - Nobody Like U (From "Turning Red")
- BROTHERS OFFICIAL - BROTHERS, Joel Fletcher - LET'S TROT! (Official Music Video)
- Coke Studio - Coke Studio | Season 14 | Pasoori | Ali Sethi x Shae Gill
- DisneyMusicVEVO - Encanto - Cast - All Of You (From "Encanto"/Sing-Along)
- Lizzo Music - Lizzo - About Damn Time [Official Video]
- Sidhu Moose Wala - LEVELS - Official Video | Sidhu Moose Wala ft Sunny Malton | The Kidd
- Sidhu Moose Wala - THE LAST RIDE - Offical Video | Sidhu Moose Wala | Wazir Patar
- LadyGagaVEVO - Lady Gaga - Hold My Hand (From “Top Gun: Maverick”) [Official Music Video]
Top Australian Music Videos
BROTHERS’ classroom-themed Let’s Trot video was our top music video this year. And for the second, Aussie hip hop act ONEFOUR made the top five.
- BROTHERS OFFICIAL - BROTHERS, Joel Fletcher - LET'S TROT! (Official Music Video)
- Say TrueGod? NS - Say True God? - Wicked
- TheKidLAROIVEVO - The Kid LAROI - Thousand Miles (Official Video)
- YP - YP - Out Of Sight (Official Music Video)
- ONEFOUR - ONEFOUR - Cruise Control (Official Music Video)
To explore all of Australia’s top trending videos, creators, and music this year, head to yt.be/top10.
