YouTube Rewind: The Ultimate 2016 Challenge

The video above is YouTube’s annual Rewind, “Celebrating the videos, people, music and moves that made 2016.” As usual, it features some of the most popular YouTubers, as well as well as the popular trends and videos of the year.

I have to admit that I recognised very few of the YouTubers (not counting those popular outside of YouTube), and among those I did recognise, I only subscribe to a couple of their channels. There’s only so much time in a day, after all.

Probably because these videos feature so many popular YouTubers, they’re enormously popular in themselves. There were a mere 67 million views in the first two days (which is when I first saw it), but by the time I was preparing this post—some 8 or 9 days after the video was posted—there were more than 143 million views. That’s pretty popular.

These videos are just silly and fun, and at a time when maybe we need it the most. So what if I don’t recognise most of the people in it, or get all the references—is that even necessary?

YouTube said in the final screen of the video: “Dedicated to all the moments that brought us together this year, and to love and understanding in 2017.” That alone is reason enough for the video, I think.

A complete list of all the participants can be found in the YouTube description.