New Zealand’s Top Trending Creators and Videos for 2021

The sequels, streams, and skits you watched this year.

With three million Kiwis watching YouTube a month*, it’s an important platform for New Zealand artists and creators to cultivate an audience. Today, we’re celebrating the clips, creators and artists most loved by Kiwis in 2021. Showcasing the diversity of content that New Zealand loves to watch on YouTube, mixed martial artist Israel Adesanya, Fortnite gamer McCreamy and comic Jimi Jackson are the top three most subscribed YouTube channels in New Zealand this year, based on local subscriber count. Samoan comedian Uce Gang and DIY guru Scott Brown Carpentry round out the top five. 

When it comes to music, the top five Kiwi artist music videos based on New Zealand views were:

1. Sons of Zion - Love on the Run ft. Jackson Owens
2. SIX60 - All She Wrote
3. Ka Hao - 35 (feat. Rob Ruha)
4. Fejoint - Come Closer (feat. Konecs, Reggie & Switch.E)
5. Lorde - Solar Power

In 2021, you tuned in to see the 36th America’s Cup on (live!) on the water, Jimi Jackson making fun of questionable mates, a new survival challenge from MrBeast, mesmerising acrylic paint in action, a Blue Tit nesting, and a classic Dream Minecraft challenge.

This year’s top trending videos saw creators convert some of their most popular content into longer running phenomena. By producing sequels in response to audience demand, these creators showed how to turn one-off wins into full-on series with fresh influence: Kiwi Torrell Tafa returned to his popular format of surprising people with languages, after success in 2020 with Samoan he experimented this year with fluent te Reo; Aussie superwog1 produced season two of their show The P Plates; Mark Rober took pranking package thieves to the next level when he used his glitter-spewing contraption to catch phone scammers; and Sidemen turned their Tinder in Real Life series into a trilogy, with a third installment that made swiping right into must-see viewing.

Top Trending Videos

1. MrBeast - I Spent 50 Hours Buried Alive
2. Sidemen - SIDEMEN TINDER IN REAL LIFE 3
3. Mark Rober - Glitterbomb Trap Catches Phone Scammer (who gets arrested)
4. Jay Lee Painting - How to Draw a Couple Walking in the Rain / Red Acrylic Painting
5. Superwog1 - Season Two - Ep 1 The P Plates
6. Dream - Minecraft Speedrunner VS 5 Hunters
7. America's Cup - The 36th America’s Cup Presented by PRADA | 🔴 LIVE Day 7
8. Jimi Jackson - When your mate eats all your food at home
9. Torrell Tafa - Asian Guy Surprises People In NZ With Maori (Te Reo) Language 🇳🇿
10. Live Nest Box Camera 2021 - Loughborough, UK - From empty nest to first egg in less than 8 minutes! - BlueTit nest box live camera highlights 2021

Top Global Creators

1. MrBeast
2. Dream
3. TommyInnit
4. SSSniperWolf
5. ZHC
6. Sidemen
7. SSundee
8. Technoblade
9. Mark Rober
10. Kallmekris

Top International Music Videos

1. Bruno Mars - Bruno Mars, Anderson .Paak, Silk Sonic - Leave the Door Open [Official Video]
2. JustinBieberVEVO - Justin Bieber - Peaches ft. Daniel Caesar, Giveon
3. dojacatVEVO - Doja Cat - Kiss Me More (Official Video) ft. SZA
4. OliviaRodrigoVEVO - Olivia Rodrigo - drivers license (Official Video)
5. TheWeekndVEVO - The Weeknd - Save Your Tears (Official Music Video)
6. LilNasXVEVO - Lil Nas X - MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name) (Official Video)
7. OliviaRodrigoVEVO - Olivia Rodrigo - good 4 u (Official Video)
8. SonsOfZionVEVO - Sons of Zion - Love on the Run ft. Jackson Owens
9. Ed Sheeran - Ed Sheeran - Bad Habits [Official Video]
10. Bella Poarch - Bella Poarch - Build a B*tch (Official Music Video)

_{*YouTube reached more than 3 million Kiwis aged 18+ in Oct 2020 (YouTube Internal Data, Oct. 2020)}