It's 2020. A deadly virus plagues the land. Protests against fascism occur worldwide. "Baby Shark" has over 7 billion views. It's difficult to choose which of these topics to cover because they all result in mental anguish. So after flipping a coin which landed in a storm drain, "Baby Shark" wins.
These days, the most surefire way to determine if someone is a liar is if they say they haven't heard "Baby Shark." Even for those without children, this song is not actively sought out, it is imposed. It's impossible to avoid. It's like that song a radio station randomly decides to play over and over for no obvious reason, except the radio station is Earth. So it's no real surprise that its view count is nearly as high as the entire planet's population.
After being uploaded in June of 2016, "Baby Shark" only tormented a modest amount of parents for a time until 2018 when its popularity began to skyrocket. Reaching 2.5 billion views by April of 2019, it continued to pick up steam like the little engine that shouldn't and hasn't shown any signs of slowing down to this day, even after reaching its spot as YouTube's most watched video of all time. In fact, its momentum seems to have picked up even more in 2020, serving up the unrelenting earworm as a lovely garnish for all the anxiety.
The video has only just surpassed "Despacito," which previously held the dubious honor for 3 years and still maintains a respectable 7.038 billion views. Though it remains just shy of the 7.046 billion count of "Baby Shark," which looks small in this context, but that difference alone would be enough to call any other video a massive viral success. Trailing behind the two are Ed Sheeran’s “Shape of You” with 5.05 billion, Wiz Khalifa’s “See You Again” with 4.8 billion, “Uptown Funk” with 3.99 billion. and “Gangnam Style” with 3.8 billion. Slackers.
Looking back at those numbers, some may question that "Baby Shark" went from 2.5 billion to 7.04 billion in a year and a half. But don't forget this is 2020. Everybody needs something to keep their mind off, well, everything. It just so happens that, for a large amount of children and a slightly concerning amount of adults, that something is this catchy bit of tinnitus.
Joking aside, it's kind of nice to have something frivolous like this to rag on. Sometimes that "something" which helps people cope can just be a little impotent rage. It's honestly good that so many people seem to find comfort in this song, as strange as that sounds. Everybody's got their own thing, so as long as it isn't actively hurting anyone else (debatable in this case), let them have their fun.
Source: The Verge