CBS' Late, Late Show hosted by UK native James Corden has officially surpassed one billion YouTube views. The massive number can be attributed largely to the huge popularity of Corden's "Carpool Karaoke" segments, in which the host drives around Los Angeles chatting with famous pop stars and sings along with them to some of their greatest hits and other top tunes.
The "Carpool Karaoke" segments have been, by far, the greatest success of the fledgling show. Tubular Labs data indicates that the most popular "Carpool Karaoke" video on YouTube so far has been the segment with Adele, which has thus far amassed a whopping 98 million views. The second-most popular has been a Justin Bieber segment. Bieber has stated that the setting provides fans with the most natural indication of his "real" personality as opposed to his flashy stage persona, and the singer enjoys the rides so much that he has participated in "Carpool Karaoke" three separate times, the only artist to do so.
The intimate, low-key setting of riding around the streets of Hollywood, along with Corden's engaging, friendly personality, hit a note with artists, who allow themselves to relax and be seen more candidly. Other pop stars who have participated include One Direction, Jennifer Hudson, Jason Derulo, Stevie Wonder, Iggy Azalea, Rod Stewart, Carrie Underwood, Sia, Chris Martin and Elton John.
Last month, CBS aired a primetime James Corden "Carpool Karaoke" special that featured a brand new segment starring Jennifer Lopez. The show achieved respectable ratings, and producers are now shopping for a separate TV series based on the concept.
It's not just "Carpool Karaoke," however, that has helped Corden's show break the billion view mark. Other popular segments from the show on YouTube added to the numbers, including "Pitch Perfect Riff-Off with Anna Kendrick & the Filharmonics" with 24 million views, "Dodgeball with One Direction" with 19 million views and "James Corden and Tom Hanks Act Out Tom's Filmography" with 16 million views. Corden's latest viral video, a parody of Beyoncé's Lemonade visual album entitled "Lemonjames" was just released, and is already well on its way to one million views.
In its regular late-night network airings in the 12:30 a.m. time slot, Corden's Late, Late Show itself has been performing respectably. Although it still places third behind NBC's Late Night with Seth Meyers (1.62 million viewers) and ABC's Nightline (1.55 million viewers), the race is tight, with Corden capturing 1.27 million viewers on average each night, not bad for the freshman show.
