While music videos don’t demand the same attention they did just ten years ago, they remain an integral part of the music industry, and it’s always interesting to see how an artist will adapt a record to the small screen.
Vevo, the industry’s leader in music video streaming, has been compiling lists of the most-watched videos and artists for years now. Last year, following the release of his critically-acclaimed record My Turn, Lil Baby topped Vevo’s 2020 most-watched artist list and this year, the “Emotionally Scarred” rapper held onto that top spot.
Racking up 770 million views throughout 2021, Lil Baby was Vevo’s most watched artist this year, followed by The Weeknd with 559 million views and Future with 481 million views.
Chris Brown (476 million) and Taylor Swift (471 million) round out Vevo’s top-five, while Ariana Grande (438 million), Doja Cat (429 million), Drake (428 million), Lil Nas X (382 million) and country artist Morgan Wallen (379 million) complete the top-ten.
While neither Lil Baby nor The Weeknd released solo projects in 2021, both artists cleaned up with a handful of singles and collaborations including Baby’s joint tape, The Voice Of The Heroes, with Lil Durk, and The Weeknd’s “Save Your Tears” and its remix with Grande. (Both artists appeared on Kanye West’s “Hurricane,” however there is no music video for the record.)
With both Apple Music and Spotify providing listeners with their stats every year, we already know who everybody was listening to all year, but the real question is who were you watching? Let us know which artists dominated your screens this year and drop your favorite music video of 2021 down in the comments.