YouTube Rewind: YouTube Canada reveals Canada's top trending videos of 2016

TORONTO, Dec. 7, 2016 /CNW/ - A Beyonce cameo that brought the house down, Canada's biggest YouTube star and the Sexiest Man Alive, Drake and Rihanna turning a local Toronto restaurant into a dance party, tips for Americans on how to move to Canada and an out of control fire that dominated news headlines-- these were just some of the videos that brought Canadians to YouTube in 2016 to laugh, to share, to learn and to remember.

As the year comes to a close, YouTube Canada looks at the videos Canadians shared, liked, interacted with and more to identify the videos that everybody was talking about in 2016.

"This year's list of Top Trending Videos shows the breadth of content that Canadians are watching. From sports trick shots, to education videos, to comedy and pranks, Canadians are heading to YouTube to laugh, to learn and to be entertained like never before," said Nicole Bell from YouTube Canada.

Canada's Top Trending Videos
"Looking at the list of Top Trending Videos, there is no doubt that TV moments have taken on a life of their own through YouTube," explained Bell. "Television shows have embraced creating content for the highly engaged and influential YouTube audience. In fact, the number of hours that people spent catching up on late night TV clips nearly doubled in the last year alone."

This year's Trending list also includes a few notable Canadian news moments. The epic scale of the fire in Fort McMurray was captured behind Global News reporter Reid Fiest as cars streamed out of the city, lending visible perspective to a story that dominated headlines for weeks. And who could forget President Obama's attempt to pronounce Mississauga during the State Dinner he hosted for Prime Minister Trudeau?

1. Channing Tatum & Beyonce's "Run The World (Girls)" vs. Jenna Dewan-Tatum's "Pony" | Lip Sync Battle by LipSync Battle on Spike
2. Adele Carpool Karaoke by The Late Late Show
3. So You Want to Move to Canada, Eh? by The Ellen Show 
4. How To Be a YouTube Star (ft. The Rock) by IISuperwomanII
5. Wheel of Musical Impressions with Céline Dion by latenight
6. What's inside a Rattlesnake Rattle? by lincolnmarkham
7. Brothers Convince Little Sister of Zombie Apocalypse by Cabot Phillips
8. Soccer Trick Shots | Dude Perfect by DudePerfect
9. Obama pronouncing Mississauga by TomJackson
10. Caught on camera: Fort McMurray fire erupts behind Global News reporter by Global News

Canada's Top Trending Music Videos
Canadian musicians also had a strong year on YouTube. Drake and Rihanna's video for Work took the top trending music video spot, and were joined by both The Weeknd and Shawn Mendes among the most-watched artists on YouTube. Edmonton's Ruth B burst onto the scene with Lost Boy, which she released for the first time on YouTube. In just a few months, her video has reached nearly 39M views around the world.

Globally, Calvin Harris' video for This is What You Came For reached 1 BILLION views in just 167 days, making it his biggest YouTube video to-date. It was also Rihanna's second guest performance to cross 1 billion views. (The first was with Eminem on Love the Way You Life which hit 1.2B views).

1. Rihanna - Work (Explicit) ft. Drake by RihannaVEVO
2. Fifth Harmony - Work from Home ft. Ty Dolla $ign by FifthHarmonyVEVO
3. The Chainsmokers - Closer (Lyric) ft. Halsey by ChainsmokersVEVO
4. Calvin Harris - This Is What You Came For (Official Video) ft. Rihanna by CalvinHarrisVEVO
5. ZAYN - PILLOWTALK by ZaynVEVO
6. twenty one pilots: Heathens (from Suicide Squad: The Album) [OFFICIAL VIDEO] by FueledByRamen
7. CAN'T STOP THE FEELING! (From DreamWorks Animation's "Trolls") (Official Video) by justintimberlakeVEVO
8. The Weeknd - Starboy ft. Daft Punk by TheWeekndVEVO
9. Shawn Mendes - Treat You Better by ShawnMendesVEVO
10. Ruth B - Lost Boy (Official Video) by RuthBVEVO

Canada's Top Trending Movie Trailers
"Before Canadians go to the movies, they head to YouTube to check out trailers - and this year, we saw a number of highly anticipated trailers for blockbuster franchises," explained Bell.  "Chief among them was Suicide Squad, the darkly comedic action movie featuring the antiheroes from the DC Comics universe. Filmed in Toronto, Suicide Squad not only delivered the most-watched trailer, but also the most-searched Halloween costume on Google, for Harley Quinn."

1. Suicide Squad - Official Trailer 1 [HD] by WarnerBrosPictures
2. Marvel's Captain America: Civil War - Trailer 2 by MARVEL
3. ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY Official Teaser Trailer by StarWars
4. GHOSTBUSTERS - Official Trailer (HD) by SonyPicturesEntertainment
5. SAUSAGE PARTY - Official Restricted Trailer - In Cinemas August 11 by SonyPictures Releasing Australia
6. WONDER WOMAN Comic-Con Trailer by WarnerBrosPictures
7. Neighbors 2 - Official Trailer (HD) by UniversalPictures
8. Marvel's Doctor Strange Teaser Trailer by MARVEL
9. THE SHALLOWS - Official Trailer #2 (HD) by SonyPicturesEntertainment
10. Jason Bourne - Official Trailer (HD) by UniversalPictures

Canada's Magical Moments on YouTube in 2016:
In addition to the top trending videos, trailers and music videos, there were a few magical moments for Canada on YouTube in 2016:

• We set a new Canadian record this summer, as Canadians both at home and around the world flocked to YouTube to watch CBC's livestream of the Tragically Hip's final concert in Kingston. Viewers from 188 different countries tuned in to watch the concert and post-concert show, which really brings home the incredible global reach of YouTube.
  
  
• We also turned to YouTube to remember Leonard Cohen. Following the announcement of the poet and songwriter's death on November 10th, the video for his performance of Hallelujah was the most-watched video on YouTube that day. Hallelujah is actually THE most frequently covered song from before 2010 on YouTube, with 8.7K covers. Jeff Buckley's cover of the iconic song remains the most popular cover on YouTube, with 84 million views.
  
  
• The first US presidential debate also broke records on YouTube, with nearly 2 million concurrent views around the world - 14X more live viewership than the debates in 2012. Canada was the top country outside of the US that turned into the debate on YouTube.
  
  
• 2016 was also an incredible year for Canadian Creators. We saw 199 channels reach the 100k subscriber mark, 42 hit the 1M subscriber mark, and Canada's biggest YouTube star, Lilly Singh, hit the 10M subscriber mark.

About YouTube
YouTube™ is the world's most popular online video community allowing millions of people to discover, watch and share original videos. YouTube provides a forum for people to connect, inform and inspire others across the globe and acts as a distribution platform for original content creators and advertisers large and small. YouTube, LLC is based in San Bruno, Calif., and is a subsidiary of Google Inc.

SOURCE Google Canada

Nicole Bell, Google Canada, [email protected]; Wendy Manton, Media Profile, [email protected], 416-342-1834