Let's get some shoes...let's party
My top 20 favorite YouTube videos of all time 🎂
This week, YouTube commemorated its 20th birthday with a compilation video set to Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up”. While Facebook and Instagram have undoubtedly had an overwhelming impact on social conventions and human behavior, YouTube has had the greatest influence on the creator economy, social media advertising, and video content as a whole – Yes, more than TikTok. (They can throw their hat in the ring in another 10 years.)
To celebrate, I would like to share my top 20 YouTube videos of all time. They are arranged chronologically by their current upload date, not the date of their original upload on YouTube or previous platforms. Please note that I could do a whole other list specifically of dance videos, but we’ll save that for another day. Enjoy, and feel free to leave an anecdote about your favorite YouTube video in the comments!
1. Numa Numa • Gary Brolsma • 4M views • Apr 1, 2017
My cousin showed me this enormously popular video circa 2006 or 2007. It features a guy named Gary dancing to Moldovan Eurodance group O-Zone’s 2003 song “Dragostea Din Tei”. He originally posted this video to a platform called Newgrounds on Dec 6, 2004, and it has racked up hundreds of millions of views across platforms. Gary was even Guinness World Records holder for Most Popular Internet Video! At the time, he was largely fame-averse and kinda embarrassed when a video he just made to entertain family and friends was seen by the whole world. Apparently he’s still a musician, although unfortunately his early internet virality predates creator monetization tools. This song will forever be associated with a very magical time on the internet!
2. Aicha • seadevilz1611 • 33k views • Aug 17, 2006
This comedy video is another one I distinctly remember watching with my cousin, originally uploaded to Ebaum’s World in 2006. Aicha depicts a guy singing karaoke to Danish hip hop band Outlandish’s “Aicha” (2003), a cover of “Aïcha” by Algerian raï artist Khaled (1996). The rudimentary pop-up text bubbles and awkward dance truly paved the way for many TikToks to come. Apparently the impassioned singer is a “Semi-Professional Actor & Singer” named Jelle Buelens aka. GellieMan. You can immediately tell this video is from the mid 2000s by the Napoleon Dynamite shirt.1
3. The Christmas Tree • CLAY WEINER • 6M views • Dec 12, 2006
My Christmas traditions: Make Italian cookies, watch Christmas movies, listen to Christmas songs, and watch this classic YouTube video. Iconic quotes include, “Look at the tree!” “Pick up all that shit.” “Who wants Bailey’s?” and “It’s cold…” There’s truly nothing better than having an Italian mom from New York.
4. Shoes • Liam Kyle Sullivan • 70M views • Feb 5, 2007
This video is kinda eerie and the ending actually kinda scares me to the point where I need to turn it off, but “Let’s get some shoes…let’s party” is a phrase I’ve uttered many, many times. As a[n Apple] Valley Girl myself, I do believe it’s appropriate to yell at someone to shut up if they try to shame you for having too many shoes.
Culturally, this video had a major impact. Kelly’s shirt says “betch” on it, which colloquialized the word “bitch” for the entire Millennial generation.2 The Betches media empire would not exist without “Shoes”, and this type of self-aware yet frivolous comedy that bleeds the boundary between ironic and post-ironic humor would define internet culture for the next ten years. ‘Betch’ would maintain dominance as the kinda offensive and/or patronizing way to describe women until many such terms followed in the Girlboss-ruled 2010s. The moral of the story here is that when Kelly’s asked what she’s gonna do with her life, she responds determinately: “I’m going to get what I want!”
5. Muffins • Liam Kyle Sullivan • 27M views • Feb 5, 2007
Another YouTube video quoted by every teenager I knew at the time. Same vibe that blurs the line between funny and creepy, but wow, imagine uploading “Shoes” and “Muffins” to YouTube on the same day? The RANGE.
6. Charlie bit my finger - again ! • HDCYT • 887M views • May 22, 2007
In high school, my friend and I would quote this all the time, even in the middle of anatomy and physiology class, because why not! Apparently, British dad Howard Davies-Carr wanted to send a clip of his sons to their godparents. The file was too big to send via email, so he put it on YouTube. Not gonna lie, I got into NFTs in 2021 because this video was sold as one for £500,000. It’s putting older brother Harry, younger brother Charlie, and their two other younger brothers through uni. Charlie stays humble though, saying, “I think it’s a bit odd that loads of people watched it.” He’s not wrong.
This video was undoubtedly more wholesome than David After Dentist, a runner up for this list, showcasing a child high on medication after undergoing dental surgery. This sparked debate on whether parents showcasing their non-consenting children on social media, particularly in a compromised state like David, was ethical. “Why is this happening to me?” is really an evergreen question I don’t think we have collectively stopped asking ourselves since the mass adoption of social media. David DeVore truly was realizing things at 7-years-old. He’s now a student at the University of Florida and is on Cameo for $15 for anyone who is interested.
7. kittens inspired by kittens • blakekelly0 • 21M views • Sep 1, 2008
Maddie Kelly picked out Kittens from her local library because she was obsessed with cats. Relatable. Maddy’s video was among those showcased in a 2015 exhibit at the Museum of the Moving Image in Queens, New York called “How Cats Took Over The Internet”.
8. OK Go - Here It Goes Again (Official Music Video) • OK Go • 67M views • Feb 26, 2009
All music videos need to be this good or they should not be made. If there’s one thing I love, it’s a full-length music video recorded in one shot. (This is not the last one on this list.)
9. Rick Astley - Never Gonna Give You Up (Official Music Video) • Rick Astley • 1.6B views • Oct 25, 2009
As a preeminent American Millennial Rick Astley fan, this one makes me so happy. I have been Rickrolled many times and I enjoy it more and more each time. People started posting links in forums, seemingly about whatever relevant topic being discussed, but the URL would instead point to Rick Astley's “Never Gonna Give You Up”. People first started doing this bait-and-switch on 4chan as a “Duckroll”, linking to an image of a duck on wheels.
One of the earliest known YouTube uploads was on May 15, 2007 under the title “Rickroll’D” by user Cotter548, who added the caption “As long as trolls are still trolling, the Rick will never stop rolling”. Rickrolling became popular after April Fools’ Day in 2008, when YouTube directed every feature video on its homepage to “Never Gonna Give You Up”. This is the only acceptable April Fools’ joke in my book.
This early internet phenomenon beautifully exemplifies The Chasm™, in this case, the shift where Gen Xers passed down cultural power to Millennials en masse. Peak Millennials (the largest single age group within the generation, born ‘90-’91) became the focal point of youth generation around this time, shaping nascent social media culture. Astley’s song was an early demonstration in ‘nowstalgia’ for Peak Millennials; we were not born when “Never Gonna Give You Up” came out. I’d only seen the music video on VH1 and heard the song on the radio on the easy listening station.3 And yet, I sang this song with pure belief and stamina, even if in a post-ironic manner.
10. Girlfriend (Jive) - Anya and Danny • Luan Derick • 299k views • Jul 3, 2011
There’s nothing I enjoy quite like watching this borderline intelligible, low fidelity video from So You Think You Can Dance Season 3. Did someone record this on their flip phone? Jive was considered ‘the dance of death’ because of how few people could do it right, and yet they did – to my favorite Avril Lavigne song, no less! Icons.4
11. 4 Chords | Music Videos | The Axis Of Awesome • The Axis Of Awesome • 49M views • Jul 20, 2011
A lot of viral YouTube videos are simply surfing the cresting wave of mass adoption. The Axis Of Awesome signaled the absolute peak between early and late adoption of mashups, piano-driven covers, and acapella stuff like Girl Talk, Glee, Pentatonix, Straight No Chaser, Boyce Avenue, et al. The contiguous nature of this song feels familiar and largely reflects my brain activity; there’s always one song or another playing in my head.
12. Hamster On A Piano (Eating Popcorn) - Parry Gripp • ParryGripp • 4.6M views • Dec 23, 2011
Me and my college roommate were so entertained by this hamster on a piano circa 2009. Parry Gripp, an Emmy Award-winning musician and writer of children’s novelty songs, started his YouTube channel started in 2006. He’d create soundtracks to internet memes and music videos for his own novelty songs. The video for “Hamster On A Piano” was created by Antonio Galati. Gripp has stayed active, with “It's Raining Tacos” going viral on Roblox. Yes you can buy a Solana-powered $HAM token. Go figure.
13. SHIT ITALIAN MOMS SAY - Part 1 (Daniel Franzese) • Daniel Franzese • 6.5M views • Feb 9, 2012
This character by Daniel Franzese from Mean Girls fame is top-tier. “Don’t eat that, that’s for Thursday” has become a part of my family’s lexicon. Those who get it, get it.
14. Stephanie Tanner - Bandz A Make Her Dance (Juicy J) Full Version • choi yena enjoyer • 940k views • May 15, 2013
My best friend and I were responsible for at least 1k of these 940k views in 2013. Stephanie Tanner’s dance from this Season 3 episode of Full House was originally to “Love Shack” by The B52’s. Apparently, “Jimmy recreated this”, but I’m not sure what that means because I’m not engaged in Full House or Fuller House fandom. (Fun fact: Ashley Olsen’s middle name is Fuller. Mary-Kate does not have a middle name.)
15. Total Eclipse of the Heart Literal Video Version • artistwithouttalent • 6M views • Sep 1, 2013
I was thoroughly entertained by the clever wordplay in this song, although due to the fact that “Total Eclipse of the Heart” came out before I was born, I didn’t know any of the original song’s lyrics until after watching this parody. Apparently, “Dustin McLean’s Take On Me was the original and first “literal video” that started the [trend] in 2008.” (This sentence originally said “started the meme” in 2008, which is outdated language in 2025.)
It’s important to distinguish the practices of circulating memes and disseminating trending content. In the 2000s, a meme was a prototype; everyone would send the same piece of pre-made, static content to one another. Meme generators bridged the gap from then to now, allowing users to become content creators versus solely content consumers. In present day, the proliferation of a trend is made possible not only by a mass amount of user-generated content, but also by an algorithmic bias or boost. The term “organic social” is outdated as well, because algorithm-driven discovery – even if not considered paid social – is artificial in and of itself.
16. Kiesza - Hideaway (Official Video) • lokallegend • 530M views • Feb 12, 2014
Ahhh yes, another single-shot music video. I love the full circle moment of Kiesza getting out of a taxi at the beginning and getting back into one that pulled up at the perfect time at the end. I like to think the unsuspecting Williamsburgian joggers ended up showing this music video to their friends and family being like, “THERE I AM! DO YOU SEE ME?”
17. Golden Girls Gospel Remix (Full Song) • Finally Aaron • 7M views • Feb 11, 2016
In the words of one YouTube commenter, “Everyone please stand for the national anthem.” I love The Golden Girls so much, and unfortunately I can’t listen to the theme song anymore without singing all these ad-libs. At GoldenCon in 2022, Pittsburgh-based creator Aaron Scott had a full-circle moment when he sang “Thank You For Being a Friend” on stage with Cindy Fee, the original singer.
18. One minute of Lady Gaga sayings she's Italian • Mudiwa Matanda • 303k views • Feb 16, 2018
I am awestruck, inspired, and delighted by Lady Gaga’s unwavering commitment to the “I’m Italian” bit. And she’s not even 100% Italian American like I am.
19. Fisher Price Dream Dollhouse (1995) • The Educational Family Fun Channel • 6.6k views • Dec 8, 2018
I remember most things from the 90s-00s, but very occasionally, I unlock a formative memory so deep that it shakes me to my innermost core. I had the Fisher Price Dream Dollhouse as a kid, and its namesake computer game was one of my absolute favorites. You could play in all the different rooms throughout the house, and for some reason, there were also mice who made ice cream. There’s a granny that says a very Mrs. Doubtfire-esque HELLOOOOOO among many other sounds that fill me with the sweetest, purest, most blissful kind of nostalgia that exists. It wasn’t until I started Nicstalgia (the podcast) in 2022 that I somehow ended up down a YouTube rabbit hole and found this gameplay. At the risk of sounding overdramatic, hearing all the old sounds again was like hearing a deceased loved one’s voicemail.
20. "The O.C." - Gameloft 2006 year • JAVA Mobile Games • 1.8k views • Jan 20, 2019
I started watching The OC when it was released on DVD in 2006, as opposed to when it originally aired in 2003.5 At the same time, a mobile phone game was released. My Californian obsession deepened, and I ensured that The OC occupied as much of my day-to-day schedule as possible. I’d play as often as I could during English and History class in 10th grade, because I knew which teachers wouldn’t notice that I was on my hot pink sparkly flip phone. Then I’d watch the show when I got home from school before dance. Life was good! Similar to the feeling I had watching the previous video, watching the gameplay of The OC mobile game – something I genuinely thought was lost forever – was preserved in time.
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Never have I ever seen Napoleon Dynamite. This movie’s gravitational pull was practically inescapable at one point, and I’m so grateful to have emerged from the 2000s unscathed.
Gen Xers had Meredith Brooks and were apparently allowed to say ‘Bitch’. Millennials had Kelly and only said the Boomer parent-friendly ‘Betch’. So much to unpack here.
Shoutout to Lite 100.5 WRCH.
I would actually love to have a DVD box set of the first 3 seasons of SYTYCD, even if it was as pixellated as this. RIP to the very talented Danny.
I only watched through the season 3 finale when [redacted] and didn’t watch season 4 until a couple years ago. Stop lying to yourself, season 4 was better than season 3. Although he is handsome, Johnny is an unbearable, underdeveloped, overwhelmingly wimpy character, and no one can tell me otherwise.
One minute of Lady Gaga sayings she's Italian