Today, I’m excited to share with you some brand new data:
- Top 100 YouTube searches (US)—a list of the most popular YouTube searches in the US.
- Top 100 YouTube searches (Worldwide)—the same data but filtered to show searches outside of the United States too. And with global search volumes.
But first things first—some news:
We recently launched the new version of our Keywords Explorer tool, and we’ve added search data for YouTube. It’s currently in beta, and looks like this:
YouTube data in Ahrefs’ Keywords Explorer—now live!
So basically, you can now use Keywords Explorer to do keyword research across all the major search engines—Google, Bing, Amazon, and YouTube!
Now, without further ado, let’s find out just how popular cat videos really are!
Top 100 YouTube search queries in the US
It’s clear right away that searches for songs and musicians dominate this list.
| # | Keyword | Search Volume |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | pewdiepie | 3,860,000 |
| 2 | markiplier | 3,770,000 |
| 3 | asmr | 3,200,000 |
| 4 | jake paul | 3,020,000 |
| 5 | music | 2,770,000 |
| 6 | logan paul | 2,720,000 |
| 7 | jacksepticeye | 2,700,000 |
| 8 | dantdm | 2,160,000 |
| 9 | despacito | 2,040,000 |
| 10 | fortnite | 1,790,000 |
| 11 | game grumps | 1,670,000 |
| 12 | bts | 1,650,000 |
| 13 | snl | 1,480,000 |
| 14 | wwe | 1,480,000 |
| 15 | joe rogan | 1,420,000 |
| 16 | david dobrik | 1,400,000 |
| 17 | ricegum | 1,380,000 |
| 18 | stephen colbert | 1,310,000 |
| 19 | shane dawson | 1,290,000 |
| 20 | eminem | 1,270,000 |
| 21 | popularmmos | 1,270,000 |
| 22 | ssundee | 1,240,000 |
| 23 | minecraft | 1,200,000 |
| 24 | vanossgaming | 1,190,000 |
| 25 | buzzfeed | 1,180,000 |
| 26 | john oliver | 1,180,000 |
| 27 | taylor swift | 1,110,000 |
| 28 | cnn | 1,070,000 |
| 29 | cardi b | 1,030,000 |
| 30 | baby shark | 1,010,000 |
| 31 | drake | 1,010,000 |
| 32 | h3h3 | 996,000 |
| 33 | shane | 982,000 |
| 34 | try not to laugh | 982,000 |
| 35 | post malone | 972,000 |
| 36 | ninja | 967,000 |
| 37 | tyt | 966,000 |
| 38 | pewdiepie vs t series | 943,000 |
| 39 | fgteev | 935,000 |
| 40 | last week tonight | 933,000 |
| 41 | msnbc | 932,000 |
| 42 | ariana grande | 929,000 |
| 43 | game theory | 879,000 |
| 44 | fox news | 862,000 |
| 45 | nightcore | 853,000 |
| 46 | james charles | 845,000 |
| 47 | dude perfect | 844,000 |
| 48 | billie eilish | 839,000 |
| 49 | seth meyers | 811,000 |
| 50 | study music | 811,000 |
| 51 | songs | 808,000 |
| 52 | cnn live | 798,000 |
| 53 | xxxtentacion | 795,000 |
| 54 | dunkey | 789,000 |
| 55 | ed sheeran | 782,000 |
| 56 | peppa pig | 781,000 |
| 57 | alex jones | 773,000 |
| 58 | roblox | 761,000 |
| 59 | lofi hip hop | 753,000 |
| 60 | colbert | 749,000 |
| 61 | rick and morty | 747,000 |
| 62 | fox news live | 742,000 |
| 63 | philip defranco | 739,000 |
| 64 | trump | 739,000 |
| 65 | ben shapiro | 734,000 |
| 66 | bruno mars | 734,000 |
| 67 | idubbbz | 734,000 |
| 68 | slime | 732,000 |
| 69 | trevor noah | 718,000 |
| 70 | old town road | 715,000 |
| 71 | coryxkenshin | 698,000 |
| 72 | t series | 697,000 |
| 73 | youtube | 696,000 |
| 74 | kendrick lamar | 691,000 |
| 75 | lofi | 689,000 |
| 76 | gmm | 681,000 |
| 77 | buzzfeed unsolved | 676,000 |
| 78 | vines | 672,000 |
| 79 | react | 662,000 |
| 80 | aphmau | 661,000 |
| 81 | ufc | 659,000 |
| 82 | jontron | 657,000 |
| 83 | sml | 653,000 |
| 84 | funny videos | 652,000 |
| 85 | nicki minaj | 652,000 |
| 86 | liza koshy | 651,000 |
| 87 | michael jackson | 650,000 |
| 88 | guava juice | 645,000 |
| 89 | nba youngboy | 645,000 |
| 90 | jeffree star | 638,000 |
| 91 | jimmy fallon | 631,000 |
| 92 | watchmojo | 631,000 |
| 93 | studio c | 628,000 |
| 94 | jenna marbles | 624,000 |
| 95 | bill maher | 619,000 |
| 96 | rachel maddow | 618,000 |
| 97 | havana | 617,000 |
| 98 | jordan peterson | 616,000 |
| 99 | imagine dragons | 612,000 |
| 100 | jimmy kimmel | 612,000 |
In fact, around ¼ of the top 100 searches are music-related.
If you’ve ever been in any doubt as to just how popular Justin Bieber is, doubt no more. There are a staggering 2.04M monthly searches for Despacito (a song that—while not originally a Bieber song—saw a huge boost in popularity after the release of Justin’s remix).
So it probably comes as no surprise that the official video for Despacito (note: this is not actually the Justin Bieber version) is the most viewed video of all-time on YouTube with 6.5 BILLION views.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJQP7kiw5Fk
To put that in perspective, Gangnam Style—the first video to reach a billion views on YouTube—currently has just 3.44B views.
But it’s not all about music…
You’ll notice that 6 of the top 10 searches are “branded” searches—i.e., folks searching for channel names or YouTube personalities. This is a trend that continues beyond the top 10, with 49% of the top 100 searches being for specific YouTube personalities and channels.
Here are the top 10 most popular YouTube channels and “celebrities” according to our data:
| # | Keyword | Search Volume |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | pewdiepie | 3,860,000 |
| 2 | markiplier | 3,770,000 |
| 3 | jake paul | 3,020,000 |
| 4 | logan paul | 2,720,000 |
| 5 | jacksepticeye | 2,700,000 |
| 6 | dantdm | 2,160,000 |
| 7 | game grumps | 1,670,000 |
| 8 | snl | 1,480,000 |
| 9 | joe rogan | 1,420,000 |
| 10 | david dobrik | 1,400,000 |
These searches get a combined 24.2 MILLION searches per month in the US.
Interestingly, quite a few of these folks are gaming vloggers (or gaming vloggers turned YouTube personalities, like PewDiePie), which brings us neatly onto what appears to be the next most popular genre of videos on YouTube: gaming videos.
Here are all the searches that somehow relate to gaming (and their respective search volumes):
| # | Keyword | Search Volume |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | pewdiepie | 3,860,000 |
| 2 | markiplier | 3,770,000 |
| 3 | jacksepticeye | 2,700,000 |
| 4 | dantdm | 2,160,000 |
| 5 | fortnite | 1,790,000 |
| 6 | game grumps | 1,670,000 |
| 7 | popularmmos | 1,270,000 |
| 8 | ssundee | 1,240,000 |
| 9 | minecraft | 1,200,000 |
| 10 | vanossgaming | 1,190,000 |
| 11 | ninja | 967,000 |
| 12 | fgteev | 935,000 |
| 13 | game theory | 879,000 |
| 14 | dunkey | 789,000 |
Having looked through some of those channels myself, live gaming videos—aka, “let’s plays”—seem very popular. Not familiar with such videos? Here’s one of the most popular let’s plays from one of the most popular YouTubers on our list—jacksepticeye:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJmsCDWKCnc
Speaking of live videos, it looks like millions of people are watching live TV on YouTube. “CNN Live,” “Fox News Live,” and simply “live” each gets millions of searches per month.
Live videos are so popular, in fact, that YouTube now has a dedicated channel for live streams.
It’s not just live TV that people like watching on YouTube either: John Oliver, Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon, and many other US TV personalities also get millions of searches per month.
So, to summarise, people flock to YouTube in search of entertainment.
Hardly surprising, right? But what is surprising is this:
None of the top 100 YouTube searches in the US have anything to do with cats. That’s a shame because I love cats. 😉
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sP4NMoJcFd4
Now let’s see how these US stats compare to the Worldwide stats.
Top 100 YouTube search queries in the World
It looks like it’s not just the US that has an unhealthy obsession with the song Despacito, with monthly searches topping 27.08M worldwide!
| # | Keyword | Search Volume |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | despacito | 27,080,000 |
| 2 | bts | 15,540,000 |
| 3 | pewdiepie | 15,040,000 |
| 4 | asmr | 10,430,000 |
| 5 | bad bunny | 10,350,000 |
| 6 | ed sheeran | 9,540,000 |
| 7 | music | 9,080,000 |
| 8 | shape of you | 8,800,000 |
| 9 | minecraft | 8,500,000 |
| 10 | eminem | 8,390,000 |
| 11 | wwe | 8,330,000 |
| 12 | ozuna | 8,270,000 |
| 13 | ariana grande | 7,350,000 |
| 14 | blackpink | 7,320,000 |
| 15 | justin bieber | 7,320,000 |
| 16 | fortnite | 7,280,000 |
| 17 | baby shark | 7,240,000 |
| 18 | logan paul | 7,200,000 |
| 19 | peppa pig | 7,160,000 |
| 20 | peliculas completas en español | 6,900,000 |
| 21 | bruno mars | 6,780,000 |
| 22 | maluma | 6,690,000 |
| 23 | alan walker | 6,490,000 |
| 24 | jake paul | 6,490,000 |
| 25 | markiplier | 6,050,000 |
| 26 | taylor swift | 6,020,000 |
| 27 | havana | 6,000,000 |
| 28 | enes batur | 5,950,000 |
| 29 | youtube | 5,910,000 |
| 30 | linkin park | 5,610,000 |
| 31 | shakira | 5,470,000 |
| 32 | michael jackson | 5,460,000 |
| 33 | la rosa de guadalupe | 5,140,000 |
| 34 | musica | 5,140,000 |
| 35 | coldplay | 5,090,000 |
| 36 | jacksepticeye | 5,070,000 |
| 37 | twice | 5,060,000 |
| 38 | songs | 5,000,000 |
| 39 | sia | 4,930,000 |
| 40 | queen | 4,830,000 |
| 41 | rihanna | 4,820,000 |
| 42 | imagine dragons | 4,800,000 |
| 43 | billie eilish | 4,680,000 |
| 44 | katy perry | 4,680,000 |
| 45 | drake | 4,630,000 |
| 46 | dua lipa | 4,560,000 |
| 47 | dragon ball super | 4,390,000 |
| 48 | badabun | 4,380,000 |
| 49 | selena gomez | 4,380,000 |
| 50 | fernanfloo | 4,320,000 |
| 51 | dantdm | 4,290,000 |
| 52 | maroon 5 | 4,290,000 |
| 53 | karaoke | 4,280,000 |
| 54 | nicki minaj | 4,130,000 |
| 55 | taki taki | 4,130,000 |
| 56 | funny videos | 3,960,000 |
| 57 | doraemon | 3,950,000 |
| 58 | post malone | 3,900,000 |
| 59 | vegetta777 | 3,900,000 |
| 60 | mi gente | 3,830,000 |
| 61 | nightcore | 3,800,000 |
| 62 | pewdiepie vs t series | 3,750,000 |
| 63 | felipe neto | 3,730,000 |
| 64 | xxx | 3,710,000 |
| 65 | shawn mendes | 3,680,000 |
| 66 | squeezie | 3,680,000 |
| 67 | dross | 3,660,000 |
| 68 | cardi b | 3,650,000 |
| 69 | exo | 3,620,000 |
| 70 | adele | 3,580,000 |
| 71 | lil pump | 3,580,000 |
| 72 | roblox | 3,560,000 |
| 73 | barbie | 3,530,000 |
| 74 | faded | 3,520,000 |
| 75 | j balvin | 3,510,000 |
| 76 | 2018 fifa world cup | 3,500,000 |
| 77 | movies | 3,500,000 |
| 78 | gta 5 | 3,450,000 |
| 79 | xxxtentacion | 3,450,000 |
| 80 | romeo santos | 3,420,000 |
| 81 | tik tok | 3,420,000 |
| 82 | ninja | 3,390,000 |
| 83 | los polinesios | 3,370,000 |
| 84 | mr bean | 3,360,000 |
| 85 | ncs | 3,350,000 |
| 86 | perfect ed sheeran | 3,330,000 |
| 87 | slime | 3,290,000 |
| 88 | t series | 3,290,000 |
| 89 | live | 3,250,000 |
| 90 | rap | 3,250,000 |
| 91 | rockstar | 3,180,000 |
| 92 | chris brown | 3,160,000 |
| 93 | twenty one pilots | 3,150,000 |
| 94 | beyonce | 3,130,000 |
| 95 | game of thrones | 3,100,000 |
| 96 | believer | 3,060,000 |
| 97 | juegagerman | 3,040,000 |
| 98 | perfect | 3,030,000 |
| 99 | pubg | 3,000,000 |
| 100 | ksi | 2,990,000 |
That’s over 10 searches per SECOND on average.
And this isn’t the only song racking up the YouTube views. Searches for artists, bands and songs dominate our list of the top 100 worldwide YouTube searches with a staggering 60/100 searches (almost ⅔) being music‐related.
So compared to the US, it seems that the rest of the World uses YouTube far more for music.
What are they listening to besides Bieber? Ed Sheeran, Bruno Mars, Coldplay, and of course, South Korean boy band BTS.
Not heard of BTS? Get listening. 😉
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBdVXkSdhwU
There are also far fewer “branded” searches (i.e., for YouTube personalities) Worldwide. Only one of the top 10 searches is branded, which is quite a contrast to the US where over half the top 10 searches are.
ASMR videos appear to be popular everywhere.
Not familiar with ASMR videos either? You’re in for a treat… #DontJudge
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUUAu_aiaVw
And how about this:
There are 5.9M monthly searches on YouTube for… um, Youtube. #GoFigure
See more YouTube search data in the new Keywords Explorer!
Are you doing YouTube SEO and want to know how many searches a particular query gets on YouTube every month?
Head over to Ahrefs Keywords Explorer, enter a query and select YouTube from the dropdown.
Let’s see how many people search for “Ahrefs” each month in the US.
YouTube search volume for “Ahrefs” in the US
900 searches. Looks like Sam Oh is doing an excellent job growing our channel!
Lots of folks outside the US also seem to be looking for our channel, as the global volume for this query is 3,100. We’re especially popular in India.
But the fun doesn’t stop there…
We can use the reports on the left-hand side of the screen to delve deeper and see the specific things people are searching for in relation to the topic.
Looks like a fair few people are looking for an Ahrefs tutorial.
And they’re in luck because we have an entire playlist of Ahrefs tutorials!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZE7FbMBuJY&list=PLvJ_dXFSpd2vX2RVxjEjBmYoeX6LmJFGP
Fancy playing around with the new Keywords Explorer yourself?
