From Encanto to Bad Bunny to Karol G and beyond, find out which songs claimed ultimate streaming bragging rights on YouTube this year in the US.
Hov gave us “a million dollars worth of game for $9.99” when Tidal became a thing. Major platforms like Apple Music and Spotify have been driving the conversation in the music streaming game for years. But before Jay-Z, Cupertino, and Daniel Ek ushered in this whole paradigm, music lovers were left to browse through a host of different, disparate resources to track down all the mixtapes, show tunes, and chart-toppers they desired. SoundCloud is one of them, and it must be said that YouTube — the world’s first real video streaming giant — is still very much relevant in this space.
Now, as we embrace the season of Spotify’s 2022 Wrapped songs and artists of the year, YouTube has compiled its own list. Several songs and artists in YouTube’s top 10 align with Spotify’s own list, while some are absolute wild cards, providing an intriguing window into the different ways we use these platforms.
The songs that appear on the YouTube list are inclusive of official music videos, lyric videos, and user-generated content that uses the full official song between Jan. 1, 2022 to Nov. 15, 2022.
Let’s take a gander at YouTube’s top songs of the year.
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YouTube’s Top Songs of the Year in the US
1. Encanto cast: “We Don’t Talk About Bruno”
Here’s the perfect example in differentiating a list like Spotify’s and a list like YouTube’s. Encanto Cast is a 2021 Disney movie about a family from Colombia who live in a charmed place called Encanto. Its popularity is evident through the numbers, raking in $256.8 million at the box office with a 91% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Apparently the movies’ popularity translated over to its hit song “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” which held the No. 1 position on the Billboard 200 and Hot 100 simultaneously for five consecutive weeks. It currently has 503 million views on YouTube.
2. Kodak Black: “Super Gremlin”
Back for his fourth studio album in February, Kodak Black earned a platinum plaque for “Super Gremlin” — an accusation of betrayal diss track towards former Sniper Gang artist Jackboy. Kodak’s “Super Gremlin” didn’t make any of Spotify’s lists, but it sits second for most plays on YouTube with 235.5 million views.
It isn’t doing so bad on Spotify, however as it’s generated 187 million streams globally.
3. Jessica Darrow: “Surface Pressure”
You didn’t make it very far through the list to see that another song from the “Encanto” soundtrack is back with a bang. The song — performed by Jessica Darrow as the character Luisa — was in the Billboard Hot 100 top-10 hit section in Jan. 2022.
It currently has 292 million views on YouTube.
4. Bad Bunny: “Tití Me Preguntó”
Look familiar? “Tití Me Preguntó” was Spotify’s fifth-most streamed song globally, and garnered four nominations at the Latin Grammys, Billboard Latin Music Awards, and MTV. Bad Bunny brought in $232.5 million across 21 shows during his World’s Hottest Tour. This is far from a shock, as the Puerto-Rican born musician continues his three-year tear.
The music video currently has 559 million views.
5. Future – “Wait for U” feat. Drake & Tems
Featured on Future’s I NEVER LIKED YOU album, “Wait For U” is up for three Grammy’s alone — Best Rap Song, Best Melodic Rap Performance, and Rap Performance. The album is also up for Rap Album of the Year. “Wait For U” has more than 324 million streams on Spotify — his fourth-highest streamed song of his storied catalogue. Future returned to Billboard’s R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart for the first time in five year, thanks to “Wait For U.”
The official music video currently has 62 million views.
The Rest of the List
6. Bad Bunny & Chencho Corleone – “Me Porto Bonito”
7. Karol G & Becky G – “Mamiii”
8. Imagine Dragons & JID – “Enemy”
9. Karol G – “Provenza”
10. Lil Baby – “In a Minute”
Click here to read YouTube’s full 2022 Trends overview, from music to viral videos and beyond.
Apple Music Top Songs of 2022
- The Kid Laroi & Justin Bieber — “STAY”
- Harry Styles — “As It Was”
- Future feat. Drake & Tems — “WAIT FOR U”
- Kodak Black — “Super Gremlin”
- Adele — “Easy On Me”
Spotify Top Songs of 2022
- Harry Styles — “As It Was”
- Glass Animals — “Heat Waves”
- The Kid Laroi & Justin Bieber — “STAY”
- Bad Bunny & Chencho Corleone — “Me Porto Bonito”
- Bad Bunny — “Tití Me Preguntó”
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