YouTube has announced the top 10 music videos of 2016, according to the total number of views of each clip on the video streaming service. Fifth Harmony's "Work From Home" has captured the top spot for the year, while Calvin Harris and Rihanna's "This Is What You Came For" came in second.
"Work" vs. "Work From Home"
Fifth Harmony played second fiddle to Rihanna all year long when it came to their respective work related songs, but when it came to top video clip of the year on YouTube, it was the girl group who emerged victorious, as the music video for their hit song "Work From Home" topped Rihanna's EDM collaboration with producer Calvin Harris, garnering more than 1 billion YouTube views since the video was released in February.
Ironically, the group had to change the title of their song from simply "Work" to "Work From Home" in order to distinguish it from Rihanna's recent release.
"Our song was originally called 'Work' and when Rihanna dropped, it was like, 'Hell no, can't have the same song as the queen.' So we put in 'from home,' just added two words," explained Fifth Harmony member Dinah Jane. Rihanna's "Work" came in at number five on the list of top 10 YouTube music videos of 2016, making her the only artist with more than one song on the list.
Video Views Or Streaming Listens?
The clip for "Work From Home" features the girls interacting with a number of shirtless construction workers, which probably helped inspire some of the chart topping views of the video.
"When you watch this video you can't help but stare at these men! But of course when you're doing construction work, you need some men to help you out, you can't be the only one lifting," joked Jane.
However, with YouTube acting not only as a defacto music streaming service, but as the top streamer in the entire world, ahead of Spotify, Apple Music, Pandora and others, was it really the videos themselves or rather the songs that led to the views of many of the year's biggest videos?
The inclusion on the list of two lyric videos (meaning no official video for the song was filmed) for what were also two of the year's biggest hit songs, The Chainsmokers' "Closer (Lyric) ft. Halsey" at number four and and Sia's "Cheap Thrills (Lyric Video) ft. Sean Paul" at number seven, indicated that it was interest in those songs themselves and not the secondary video content that often inspired their YouTube "views."
On the other hand, number 10 clip "Heathens" by Twenty One Pilots from the soundtrack to Suicide Squad surely racked up views based on the inclusion of cameos by characters and scene clips from the film, which had not yet been released upon the video's debut, while Zayn's number eight "Pillowtalk" clip was surely bolstered by the video's sexy scenes between the former One Direction heartthrob and his supermodel girlfriend Gigi Hadid.
You can view the full top 10 list below along with Fifth Harmony's chart topping "Work From Home" below.
Top 10 Most Viewed Music Videos Of 2016
1. Fifth Harmony, "Work from Home ft. Ty Dolla $ign"
2. Calvin Harris, "This Is What You Came For ft. Rihanna"
3. Nicky Jam, "Hasta el Amanecer"
4. The Chainsmokers, "Closer (Lyric) ft. Halsey"
5. Rihanna, "Work ft. Drake"
6. Mike Posner, "I Took A Pill In Ibiza (Seeb Remix)"
7. Sia, "Cheap Thrills (Lyric Video) ft. Sean Paul"
8. Zayn, "Pillowtalk"
9. Coldplay, "Hymn For The Weekend"
10. Twenty One Pilots, "Heathens" (from Suicide Squad: The Album)
