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We all know 2014 was all about the booty. Anything else proved intensely uninteresting to our collective national Anaconda.
But there was more going on this past year than JUST Nicki Minaj, Kim Kardashian and Iggy Azalea’s rear flanks. So What’s Trending joined up with our friends at Tubular Labs and the irrepressible Yousef/FouseyTube to count down the actual Biggest Internet Trends of 2014, according to actual numbers and data. (Well, I mean, I didn’t look at the data MYSELF. But trust me… it’s there. Someone did math.)
Watch the video for the full countdown. But because this is 2014, and TL;DR is the name of the game, you can also find some of our more interesting results below.
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AND THE TOP TRENDS ARE…
TOP PRANK: Mutant Giant Spider Dog
Chica the Dog and his terrifying tarantula costume proved a massive international hit for Polish creator SA Wardega. The video was viewed over 118 million times, and went on to become Wardega’s all-time most-viewed video. (Impressive considering he’s already the guy behind “Spider-Man in Real Life”.)
TOP WEDDING PROPOSAL: Epic Proposal from 26 Countries
Jack Hyer’s global proposal took him 4 years to make. He started planning the video right after his very first date with Becca, which now in hindsight seems romantic but would probably seem weird if he told you about it at the time.
TOP CHANNEL: PewDiePie
Poods gained 13.5 million subscribers this year and his videos were viewed 3.9 billion times. Let that sink in. 3.9 billion views. This year. I’m not sure you’re getting how insane that is. 3.9 billion. He also starred as himself on 2 episodes of “South Park” and raised $630,000 for charity during his “Save the Children” campaign. So, you know, he’s doing a-ight.
TOP MUSICIAN ON YOUTUBE: Rihanna
RiRi barely released any new content all year and still dominates the VEVO charts with 15 million subscribers and 5.7 billion total views. Her competition grew stiffer in 2014, though, with artists like Katy Perry, Eminem, Shakira, One Direction and Ariana Grande all seeing huge growth spikes in their subscriber bases.
TOP MAINSTREAM CELEBRITY ON YOUTUBE Ellen DeGeneres
Ellen’s most viral moment of 2014 was actually on Twitter, where her Oscar selfie became the most re-shared image of all time. But she was also dominant on YouTube, gaining 2.53 million subscribers this year alone. Her biggest video? Sia’s live performance of “Chandelier” on “The Ellen Show.”
TOP TRADITIONAL BRAND: The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon
Jimmy Fallon took over the venerable late night institution “The Tonight Show” back in February, and he quickly became THE destination for celebrity-driven YouTube comedy. His “Lip Sync Battle” segment has become so popular online, it’s actually getting its own spinoff series in 2015.
BREAKOUT VIRAL VIDEO OF THE YEAR Official 2014 FIFA World Cup Song (“We Are One”)
“We Are One (Ole Ola)” was the official song of the 2014 FIFA World Cup, and charted in over 20 countries over the summer. So it’s not surprising that the tie-in music video – featuring Pitbull, Jennifer Lopez and Brazilian singer Claudia Leitte – was an international sensation as well, chalking up 319.5 million views and 1.1 million shares on Facebook.
TOP MUSIC VIDEO: “Dark Horse”: Katy Perry ft. Juicy J
Katy Perry’s ode to Ancient Egypt, Flaming Hot Cheetos and the Illuminati (you know, probably) was MASSIVE this year, with 725.9 million views! (The single is also among the best-selling of all time, moving 7.9 million copies.) So dominant was “Dark Horse” in 2014, it even inspired OTHER massively viral online clips. Who could forget Vin Diesel’s “Dark Horse” Facebook dance or this baby, who would only stop crying in response to Perry’s dulcet tones?
MUSIC VIDEO PARODY OF THE YEAR: “Ariana Grande ft. Iggy Azalea – Problem Parody” by Bart Baker
Bart remains arguably YouTube’s most popular musical parodist, with nearly 5 million subscribers on his main channel. In his biggest hit of 2014, Bart portrays Iggy Azalea, and he’s joined by Jessica Lesaca as Ariana Grande and special guest King Bach as Big Sean. (Trivia: Another one of Bart’s biggest parodies of the year – “Fancy” – also featured Azalea in a starring role. First things first… she’s the realest.)
MOST VIEWED TREND OF THE YEAR: The Ice Bucket Challenge
Remember this thing? When every famous person was dumping cold water on themselves, nominally to raise awareness of that one disease? Ha ha, those were the days.
Over the summer, the Ice Bucket Challenge was unavoidable if you had a Facebook account or, honestly, a steady pulse. 635,000 ice bucket challenge videos were posted to social media during the craze, racking up 1.5 billion combined views. Some of our favorite celebrity contributions included Patrick Stewart, Tina Fey and, of course, Penitent Rumplesnatch.
