Vevo 2020 Review - the music videos that kept us going through the pandemic

15 December 2020 - Press release

Vevo, the world’s leading premium music video service, has reached weekend daily highs of one billion global views, a record milestone, according to Vevo’s annual year-end lookback released today. 

Vevo has seen significant spikes in viewership around global events: 

• The moment the UK left the EU saw Europe’s ‘The Final Countdown’ jump by over 161% to 17.8K views on the 31st January - showing how music was there to help console and celebrate the momentous date in the country’s history.  

• R.E.M. 's “It’s the End of the World” video saw a 2,719% lift in views after COVID-19 was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) in March. As we all got used to social distancing, The Police ‘Don’t Stand So Close To Me’ lifted moods with a 1070% rise in views.  

• During the global social justice movements across June, Childish Gambino’s “This Is America” saw a +225% increase in monthly views, and The Black Eyed Peas’ “Where Is The Love?” saw a 351% lift in views. These moments highlight the role music videos play for people during pivotal societal moments, as they turn to music to soundtrack their lives.  

• Future and Drake’s “Life is Good” is the most viewed Vevo video of 2020, with over 58.3M views in the UK and 1.3B views globally with viewers loving this 5.35-minute long look at the world’s top rappers living more ‘ordinary’ lives. The video maintained the top spot throughout the year, beating the second and third spot by both versions of “Blinding Lights” by The Weeknd which held 30.4M views combined.  

• British artists also did well, with Little Mix securing the overall most watched artists spot - securing over 90.3M views, with Sweet Melody coming in as the group’s top song with over 5.4M views. Coming in second and third place were Ariana Grande with over 88.5M views and Billie Eilish with over 86.8M watches.  

UK Top Videos  

Rank	Artist & Title	Genre	YouTube Publish Date	UK Views (12/1/19-12/1/20)
1	Future - Life Is Good (Official Music Video) ft. Drake	Rap/Hip-Hop	2020-01-09	58,322,762
2	Idina Menzel, AURORA - Into the Unknown (From "Frozen 2")	Soundtrack/Score	2019-12-04	16,558,065
3	The Weeknd - Blinding Lights (Official Music Video)	R&B	2020-01-21	15,773,801
4	Lady Gaga, Ariana Grande - Rain On Me (Official Music Video)	Pop	2020-05-22	13,998,261
5	Drake - Toosie Slide (Official Music Video)	Rap/Hip-Hop	2020-04-02	13,239,578
6	Justin Bieber - Yummy (Official Video)	Pop	2020-01-04	12,948,166
7	Doja Cat - Say So (Official Video)	R&B	2020-02-27	11,596,237
8	Idina Menzel, Evan Rachel Wood - Show Yourself (From "Frozen 2"/ Sing-Along)	Soundtrack/Score	2020-03-27	10,800,337
9	Lewis Capaldi - Before You Go (Official Video)	Pop	2020-01-24	10,420,218
10	Justin Bieber - Intentions (Official Video (Short Version)) ft. Quavo	Pop	2020-02-12	9,627,202

UK Top Artists 

Rank	Artist	UK Views (12/1/19-12/1/20)
1	Little Mix	90,337,037
2	Ariana Grande	88,584,319
3	Billie Eilish	86,848,933
4	Eminem	85,092,351
5	Lewis Capaldi	81,884,231
6	The Weeknd	80,797,813
7	Lady Gaga	80,643,634
8	Taylor Swift	76,228,480
9	Future	75,816,244
10	Chris Brown	73,295,420

UK Top Genres

Rank	Genre	UK Views (12/1/19-12/1/20)
1	Pop	3,751,511,448
2	Rap/Hip-Hop	1,528,302,242
3	Rock	692,630,935
4	R&B	593,525,509
5	EDM	566,479,943
6	Soundtrack/Score	373,343,822
7	Other	246,324,302
8	Country	204,898,194
9	Latin	201,597,186
10	Alternative/Indie	192,064,349

A Major Year for Connected TV (CTV) with Music Videos Coming back into the Home 

This year, Vevo has been hyper-focused on its distribution strategy and expansion into the home via an array of OTT partners, including Samsung TV Plus, VIZIO and Netrange. Through these partnerships, Vevo is not only bringing music videos back to home television screens, but also greatly increasing its scale and reach. As a result, UK viewership via connected television is up 24% from January through November 2020 vs. the same period in 2019 (Source: Vevo Internal Analytics, 2020 viewing metrics through 11.29.20). 

Notably, SamsungTV Plus and Pluto TV have together contributed on average nearly ten million average daily views, including nearly two million daily views of the Vevo Holiday Channel, which launched in November. 

"In a year when the world grappled with a global pandemic and demanded social justice for all, music was a unifier. There's no doubt, it's a key part of our lives," said Alan Price, Chief Executive Officer, Vevo. "On the business front, we saw our audience grow as people watched more music videos than ever before. In part, that's due to our expansion into the living room, which brought new levels of engagement across our platform, These year-end trends exemplify the power and depth of our catalogue, and show how, at scale, we deliver culturally relevant content that reveals true artistic creativity. Vevo is poised for a successful 2021, and we look forward to continuing to add value to our partners.”