'Despacito' becomes first video to Reach 5 billion views On YouTube

It’s been less than a year and a half since Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee uploaded the official video that accompanies their soon-to-be smash “Despacito” on YouTube, but already, it has risen higher and become more popular than any other title in history...and no other clip comes even close.

The colorful, dance-filled video has just become the first video in YouTube history to rack up five billion views, Forbes.com reports.

From the moment Fonsi and Yankee posted their latest to YouTube, their massive, dedicated fan bases wasted no time in watching (and rewatching over and over again), and even before the track made a sizable impact in markets where Spanish is not the primary language, it was already on its way to becoming one of the most popular songs on YouTube.

Once Justin Bieber hopped on a remixed version of the tune, it truly went global, and nothing could stand in the way of “Despacito.” The song bolted into the top 10 on the Hot 100, and in just a few weeks, it was one of the few non-English No. 1 hits in U.S. history. It also topped rankings all around the world, with YouTube views contributing to its staying power in a number of nations where those streams are factored in, such as is the case in America. All those millions (billions, really) of plays on YouTube helped “Despacito” remain on the throne for a record-tying 16 consecutive weeks, which makes it one of the two longest-running chart-toppers in history.