I noticed Justin Beiber’s video “Baby” has over 455 million views. I can not even imagine that many people.
Do you think that this video or any other video will get a billion views?
Is it even possible for a sixth of the world to watch a single video?
Do that many people even have access to an internet connection?
You’re forgetting multiple views by some people.
Is this a technical question or just a matter of taste? There are at least 2 billion internet users in the world right now and it is growing day by day. Within a decade, most of the 7 billion+ people in the world will have internet access through one form or another. It is very possible for 1 billion+ people to watch a single video as long as they don’t all try to jump at the same time and watch it all at once. That might throw the earth off its orbit.
I think it is tragic that Beiber Fever spread so virally throughout the world but it certainly won’t be the last outbreak. A major world pandemic like the Swift Flu or Cerebral Gaga Syndrome could hit at any time given the right conditions and top the 1 billion mark.
I wonder if Youtube’s software can currently handle and display a billion views. Might it roll over to 0?
I’m sure it will go at least to 2 billion (2^31) or 4 billion (2^32).
If they planned ahead, it might go to 2^63 or 64 which will last a while…
The views for music videos are fake, so they’ll probably escalate to 1 billion rather quickly and easily.
That is a notorious fear in the pop-culture world similar to the Y2K problem. A popular hit wrapping back around to zero on Youtube means that all the ratings tank and the money stops instantly. Some fear that it would force someone like Justin Beiber to give it all up, pay back what he can, and go to work in a Canadian Fast food restaurant to make ends meet. He has purposely held back some of his most intoxicating work that tested off the charts on prepubescent girl marketing tests because of that threat.
I think it’s a certainty at this point.
Agreed. There are probably thousands of fans who’ve viewed the thing hundreds of times each.
I meant it as a technical question, but I also wanted people to suggest possible candidates for a billion views.
BTW, if it’s carried as a signed 32 bit integer on many platforms, and the rollover doesn’t otherwise cause any problems in the application, we might someday be treated to the information that some video has been viewed a hugely negative number of times.
True. You can also stop a Youtube video while it is loading, select the end frame, and then scroll through it in reverse. That removes a view from the video. I always thought that wasn’t fair but that is the way the video math works.
Man getting hit by football. The ball. His groin. It works on so many levels.
Who?
I personally have viewed some of Kim Kardashians images at least twice. If there are many, many more like me, a billion views is a certainty.
And now that the question is posted on the SD which is highly ranked in Google’s search engine, the question will come up and searched thus causing MORE people to click on it
You shoud be on Mr Beiber payroll. Have to ask the right questions in the right places
[Mike From The Young Ones]There hasn’t been a genuine number one since the Beatles split up.[/Mike From The Young Ones]. 
I just did a search for most viewed youtube videos and this one came up as #1. The article was written on January 2nd, 2011 at which time it had 425 million views. So fewer than one million/day since the start of the year which probably means that it’s slowing down. I don’t know if this one will make a billion but one will some day.