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''Despacito'' Dominates YouTube Music's Most Popular Videos of the Decade

YouTube Music will soon release a breakdown of their most watched music videos of all time. It comes as no surprise that Luis Fonsi's "Despacito" continues to dominate the charts.

By Pamela Avila Dec 11, 2019 1:00 PMTags

Unless you've been hiding under a rock for the past decade, then you've definitely heard the song that marked a major shift in Latinx music and the music industry in general, at least once—or maybe a dozen times. 

In January 2017, Puerto Rican reggaeton artist Daddy Yankee and singer Luis Fonsi took the world by storm with the release of their hit song, "Despacito." What's more, Justin Bieber joined the two boricua artists to remix the song later that same year in April—catapulting the song further into the mainstream. 

Now as culture and music critics get ready for the end of a decade, it's no doubt that "Despacito" is making onto their lists of the best songs and music videos of the last ten years. 

For starters, YouTube Music has exclusively given E! News a decade by decade breakdown of their most-watched music videos of all time. And guess who's still leading the charts for the 2010s? The "Despacito" music video, which is currently at a whopping 6 billion views and counting. 

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Inside the History of "Despacito" & Its Game-Changing Impact

As NPR states, "Despacito" was "more than a very popular hit song. It was the culmination of a decade-long rise of sociological and musical forces that eventually birthed and cemented a style now called urbano."

Aside from amassing billions of views on YouTube Music, "Despacito" broke many other records as well. 

Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images

Written by Fonsi, Daddy Yankee and Erika Ender, "Despacito" topped the charts of 47 countries and reached the top 10 of six others, making it the Puerto Rican duo's most successful single to date. In the U.S., it became the first song primarily in Spanish to top the Billboard Hot 100 since "Macarena" in 1996. 

It also became the longest-running number-one on the Hot Latin Songs chart for 56 weeks and it became the first Latin music song to receive a diamond certification by the Recording Industry Association of America.

Then, in August of 2017, it officially became the most-viewed YouTube video of all time after receiving its three billionth view—and the list (and video views) goes on. 

Other YouTube Music videos that made it into the top ten for this past decade include Ed Sheeran's "Shade of You," Wiz Khalifa's "See You Again" featuring Charlie PuthMark Ronson's "Uptown Funk" featuring Bruno Mars and PSY's "GANGNAM STYLE," respectively.

Artists like Bieber, Maroon 5Katy Perry, and One Republic also made the top 10 for this decade. 

Watch: Luis Fonsi Weighs in on "Despacito" Success

Further, "Despacito" recently made it on Rolling Stones "The 100 Best Songs of the 2010s" list at no. 23.

"For a song that's all about the pleasure of a slow, sensual​​ ​​advance, 2017's "Despacito" hastened a massive historical turn in American music, demonstrating the mainstream viability of Spanish-language pop," writes Suzy Exposito of RS

Gabe Ginsberg/Getty Images for LARAS

When speaking to E! News about the massive success that "Despacito" had, Fonsi said creating the hit song happened in a matter of hours. 

"I woke up one morning with this despacito in my head, and it was pretty much that chorus melody and obviously just the word despacito...that's all I had. So then I recorded it on my phone," Fonsi told E! News in May of 2017. "Then we were at the studio in my house with Erika Ender, she's a great songwriter from Panama, and that's where I said, ‘Maybe we can pick up from this idea that I had. It's a feel-good song and let's just mess around with the word despacito.' That was kind of where we started, and that afternoon we finished the song."

He added: "Daddy Yankee added his magic to it. The rap part was all him. He had some amazing ideas for the song as well. His featuring was a special on because it was so much more than him just rapping his verse. He really added a creative layer on top of what I had."

Now, "Despacito" continues to keep its mark in music history as one of YouTube Music's best of the decade.