Vevo Reveals Its Top 10 Most-Viewed Music Videos to Celebrate 10th Anniversary
It would be hard to imagine a more dynamic list of artists falling into one single category, but Vevo's list of the highest-performing country music videos over the last decade features a mix of singers and songs as diverse as the genre.
Vevo turns 10 in 2019, and to celebrate, the premium music video platform has partnered with Taste of Country to reveal the 10 most-viewed videos, using Vevo's internal analytics. Genre-blurring songs compete with uncompromising traditional country sounds for the top spot. Florida Georgia Line and Keith Urban sit side by side with songs that are thematically similar, but sonically worlds apart.
Teenaged Taylor Swift makes this list of the top music videos of the last 10 years, as does Kane Brown and a class of 2017 that might prove to be as influential as the famous Class of '89 (Clint Black, Garth Brooks, etc ...).
“It’s crazy to think that Vevo is turning 10," Tyler Hubbard of Florida Georgia Line shares before showing appreciation for what the platform has done for them since "Cruise."
"Y’all are FGL lifers and we’re ready for the next 10," his bandmate Brian Kelley adds.
- 10
161 Million: Luke Combs, "Hurricane"
Released: Oct. 31, 2016Has a song's title ever more aptly described the path of an artist's career? We first met the Cat. 5 storm that is Luke Combs in the fall of 2016, and he's never really let up. Combs is the only artist to make this Top 10 list with a debut music video, but it's easy to argue the best is yet to come from the North Carolina native. He'll drop his next album in November and continue to headline in the years to come. Hurricane Combs may be here to stay.
- 9
167 Million: Darius Rucker, "Wagon Wheel"
Released: March 21, 2013Before Darius Rucker recorded "Wagon Wheel," the song was an underground hit for Old Crow Medicine Show, but the Top 40 hitmaker added the polish and confidence needed to make it a Grammy-winning song. He also filmed a stylized, cinematic music video full of old time charm and Lady Antebellum. The Duck Dynasty crew make cameos a clip that's as much fun to watch as it is to listen to.
- 8
189 Million: Sam Hunt, "Body Like a Back Road"
Released: Feb. 2, 2017Vevo's list of Top 10 videos mixes songs and stories that hurt so good with those that just feel good. "Body Like a Back Road" falls with "Wagon Wheel" in the second group. The pop-crossover audio video notched nearly 200 million views with little more than a static photo. This is a song you sought out again and again throughout 2017, 2018 and 2019.
- 7
202 Million: Kane Brown (Feat. Lauren Alaina), "What Ifs"
Released: May 14, 2017Kane Brown's ascension to the top of any and all newcomers lists was boosted by "What Ifs," and its accompanying music video. Lauren Alaina joins him for the seaside lover's message. The pair show unmistakable chemistry during a nearly four-minute video that went all the way in introducing country and pop music fans to Brown and his progressive style. A spicy performance at the 2018 ACM Awards surely brought even more people to the clip. Brown has done a lot of things right since emerging on the scene in 2016, and partnering with Alaina for this romantic video is tops on that list.
- 6
204 Million: Keith Urban, "Blue Ain't Your Color"
Released: Sept. 15, 2016Country music's best songs don't always come with great music videos, but Keith Urban's "Blue Ain't Your Color" sure did. The black-and-white video is a simple empty barroom clip that follows a woman hurt by love and Urban and his band doing their best to provide a soundtrack to her happiness. Neither star in the video was made to look perfect — Urban's tie is loose and the woman's makeup is wearing thin as she lilts about the place. It's very Lower Broadway on any given afternoon, which is a very Nashville way of saying it's real.
- 5
228 Million: Florida Georgia Line, "H.O.L.Y."
Released: April 28, 2016Florida Georgia Line may be No. 5 on this list of Vevo's highest performing videos, but they have the No. 1 most exotic music video listed. The country duo traveled to Australia to film "H.O.L.Y" at the 12 Apostles. Both Brian Kelley and Tyler Hubbard's wives appear in a video that accompanied the first single from their Dig Your Roots album, an album that showed FGL could and had matured.
- 4
232 Million: Taylor Swift, "You Belong With Me"
Released: June 16, 2009Taylor Swift's "You Belong With Me" video led to her first larger-than-life career moment. While accepting her Best Female Video VMA for the video at the MTV Video Music Awards in 2009, Kanye West rushed the stage and told viewers Beyonce should have won. It's a moment that's been replayed almost as many times as the number of people who watched this clip for her chart-topping country hit. Without the drama, the video still had plenty of intrigue. Actor Lucas Till plays Swift's love interest, and the singer herself plays both protagonist and antagonist in a story that's symbolic of what she brought visually to the country format.
- 3
244 Million: Brett Young, "In Case You Didn't Know"
Released: Jan. 12, 2017Four of the 10 videos on Vevo's list were released in 2017, including "In Case You Didn't Know," the breakthrough hit from Brett Young. The power of this love ballad brought fans to want to see him sing it on repeat. It probably didn't hurt that Young is pretty easy on the eyes, too. Taste of Country chose Young as a 2017 RISERS star, and his acoustic version of "In Case You Didn't Know" tallied another 40 million views, laying the foundation for the new artist program. The singer's subsequent videos haven't done quite as well, but whose have?
- 2
278 Million: Kane Brown, "Heaven"
Released: Oct. 6, 2017Kane Brown is the only artist with two songs on Vevo's Top 10 list. "Heaven" checks in at No. 2 with nearly 280 million views. Unlike his video for "What Ifs," this is a simpler concept. Find Brown alone in a room of candles singing to his love during the mid-tempo heart-warmer from his self-titled album. It's worth noting that the Top 3 videos on this list are all love songs, performed with minimal instrumentation and delivered visually with few obstacles.
- 1
308 Million: Chris Stapleton, "Tennessee Whiskey"
Released: April 23, 2015Just one video has cracked 300 million views, and it's visually the least complicated. The audio video for Chris Stapleton's "Tennessee Whiskey" dropped in April 2015 but took off after his big night at the CMA Awards six months later. Soon Stapleton was headlining arenas and festivals and picking up award after award — the overnight nature of his success was both shocking and satisfying, and refreshing. Talent alone drove views of this video, the No. 1 video on Vevo's Top 10 Country Videos.