About

YouTube Rewind is an annual video series released by YouTube to showcase the top viral videos, events, memes and music of each year. Since 2012, the series featured performances by notable YouTubers and artists.

History

On December 12th, 2010, the first YouTube Rewind video was released on the YouTube Trends channel, which highlighted clips from the Bed Intruder, the 3-year-old Crying Over Justin Bieber, The Many Your Man Could Smell Like and Double Rainbow viral videos (shown below, left). Over the next seven years, the video accumuated upwards of 1.71 million views and 730 comments. The following day, the video was uploaded to the YouTube Spoitlight channel. On December 20th, 2011, "YouTube Rewind 2011" was released, which starred Rebecca Black as the host (shown below, right).

On December 17th, 2012, "YouTube Rewind Style 2012" was uploaded to the YouTube Spotlight channel, featuring various YouTubers lip dubbing the year's hit dance pop song "Gangnam Style" (shown below, left). On December 11th, 2013, "YouTube Rewind: What Does 2013 Say?" was released, featuring a mashup by DJ Earworm (shown below, right).

On December 9th, 2014, "YouTube Rewind: Turn Down for 2014" was released, featuring various YouTuber's acting out skits with a mashup of the song "Turn Down for What" playing in the background (shown below, left). On December 9th, 2015, "YouTube Rewind: Now Watch Me 2015" was uploaded to YouTube Spotlight, featuring the song "Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae)" by Silentó (shown below, right).

On December 7th, 2016, "YouTube Rewind: The Ultimate 2016 Challenge" was released, which referenced many of the viral internet challenges from the year (shown below, left). The video featuring a musical track produced by Hood Internet and Major Lazer. On December 6th, 2017, "YouTube Rewind: The Shape of 2017" was uploaded to the YouTube Spotlight channel, which showcased the songs "Shape of You" and "Despacito" (shown below, right).

Philip DeFranco's 2016 Exclusion

On November 4th, 2016, YouTuber Philip DeFranco uploaded a video in which addressed a fan-submitted question regarding his exclusion from the year's YouTube Rewind video. In response, Franco hinted that he was not invited to appear in the video because he refused to honor YouTube's request to post a video in support of Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton in the 2016 United States presidential election (shown below).

Reactions

On December 7th, 2017, YouTuber ComradeWarbear uploaded a "more accurate remake" of the 2017 YouTube Rewind (shown below).

Meanwhile, YouTuber Reactor's Second Channel uploaded a parody titled "YouTube Rewind Deleted Scence," in which the YouTube demonetization logo eclipses the sun (shown below, left). That day, YouTuber PewDiePie uploaded a video titled "Why I'm not in YouTube Rewind 2017," in which he discussed his appearance in previous year's videos and reacts to the year's video (shown below, right).

#TankTheRewind

On December 6th, 2017, YouTuber EmpLemon uploaded a video titled "YouTube Rewind Reality Check 2017 #TankTheRewind," urging viewers to dislike the "2017 YouTube Rewind" in protest of YouTube's actions over the last year (shown below). On December 13th, Redditor IVIorgz submitted a post asking "What is #tanktherewind" all about?" to /r/OutOfTheLoop.^[1]

2018 Rewind

On December 6th, 2018, YouTube released "YouTube Rewind 2018: Everyone Controls Rewind" (shown below). The video contains appearances by actor Will Smith, The Daily Show host Trevor Noah, Bongo Cat, Walmart Yodel Boy and various notable YouTubers, including Casey Neistat and Tyler Blevins. Within 24 hours, the video accumulated upwards of 28 million views and 630,000 comments. Additionally, the video received only 985,000 likes over two million dislikes.

In the comments section, many criticized the year's Rewind, noting that Stefan Karl and the site's most-subscribed channel PewDiePie were absent from the video. That evening, YouTuber Grandayy tweeted an edit of the video titled "My favorite part of the Youtube Rewind," featuring footage of PewDiePie fans supporting him in his subscriber battle against T-Series (shown below).

Also on December 6th, YouTuber Cyranek tweeted an edited clip of Will Smith from the video in which he is shown looking at the bare buttocks of Mr. Orange (shown below).

Meanwhile, YouTuber Jacksfilms uploaded a video titled "Top 5 Most EPIC Moments from YouTube Rewind 2018," which satirically riffed on the 2018 Rewind (shown below, left). That same evening, Grandayy uploaded a compilation of parody edits of the Rewind video (shown below, right).

On December 7th, PewDiePie uploaded a video reacting to the Rewind video (shown below).

Dislike Milestone

On December 10th, the FlareTV YouTube channel posted a live counter comparing the dislikes of the 2018 YouTube Rewing to the music video for "Baby" by Justin Bieber (shown below).

On December 13th, 2018, the 2018 YouTube Rewind reached 10 million dislikes, passing "Baby" as the most-disliked video on the entire platform. That day, YouTuber PewDiePie uploaded a video titled "The Youtube Rewind 2018 Roast" (shown below).

That day, the official @YouTube Twitter feed tweeted a screenshot of the FlareTV dislike comparison (shown below).

PewDiePie Version

On December 27th, 2018, PewDiePie released a video titled "YouTube Rewind 2018 but it's actually good," featuring a collaboration between YouTubers FlyingKitty, Dolan Dark, Grandayy and Partyinbackyard (shown below). Within four days, the video accumulated upwards of 29.8 million views and 6.4 million likes, making it the most-liked non-music video on the platform (shown below).

On December 30th, PewDiePie uploaded a video titled "We broke a world record!", in which he questioned why the video wasn't included on the YouTube trending page (shown below).

2019 Rewind

On December 5th, 2019, YouTube Rewind 2019 premiered, accumulating over 1.6 million views in two hours (shown below).^[1] The video received mostly negative reviews on the platform, accumulating over 155,000 likes and over 225,000 dislikes in the same period.

In 2018, we made something you didn't like. So in 2019, let's see what you DID like. Because you're better at this than we are.

Memes comparing the Rewind to a top 10 list or a WatchMojo video gained popularity following its release.

Search Interest

External References