Ed Sheeran’s ‘Perfect’ and DJ Khaled’s ‘I’m the One’ hit 1 billion views on YouTube

YouTube announces that the videos for Ed Sheeran’s ‘Perfect’ and DJ Khaled’s ‘I’m the One’ have passed 1 billion views on its platform.

Sheeran already hit that milestone twice, with ‘Thinking Out Loud’ and ‘Shape of You’.

But it’s the first time for Khaled, whose track features Justin Bieber, Quavo, Chance The Rapper and Lil Wayne.

The first video to hit 1 billion views was Psy’s ‘Gangnam Style’ which enjoyed a five-year reign before being toppled in June 2017.

Justin Bieber’s ‘Baby’ was the second video to reach tha milestone.

The top of the list is ‘Despacito’ (by Luis Fonsi ft. Daddy Yankee) which passed the 5 million mark last month.

Viewing figures from 12 months ago had ‘See You Again’ by  Wiz Khalifa ft. Charlie Puth at 3.46 billion,  Sheeran’s ‘Shape Of You’ at 3.4 billion, ‘Gangnam Style’ at 3.2 billion and ‘Uptown Funk’ by Mark Ronson ft. Bruno Mars at 3 billion.

Yesterday, YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki announced during a presentation to advertisers that 1.8 billion registered users are watching videos on the platform each month.

This is up from 1.5 billion registered users this time last year.

This figure does not include those who click into YouTube without an account.

These explain such figures as Beyonce setting 41 million livestream views at the Coachella festival, and this week’s astounding figures for the premier this week  of the first episode of TV series Cobra Kai.

It’s a dynamic spinoff of the Karate Kids movies from the 1980s.

They remain popular, with millions of YouTube users watching clips and uploading their versions onto the platform.

The premiere drew 5.4 million on its first day.

As Decider notes, this was nearly double the reported 3.2 million Day 1 views last month for Netflix’s Lost in Space.

YouTube’s 1.8 billion registered users looms well over Netflix’s 125 million subscribers.

Wojcicki used the presentation to address problems faced by YouTube, as conspiracy theories and inappropriate kids’ videos.

“This is the impact of an open platform: it brings the world together in ways that were just not possible before,” she said,

“But we’ve also seen that with openness comes challenges, as some have tried to take advantage of our services.

“It is incredibly important to me and to everyone at YouTube that we grow responsibly.”

YouTube previously mused initiatives as YouTube Kids for those uploaded by users, and the hiring of 10,000 moderators.