Guns N’ Roses’ “Sweet Child O’ Mine” Becomes First ’80s Music Video to Hit One Billion YouTube Views
Just how popular do Guns N’ Roses remain nearly 30 years after the release of any new music that people actually gave a shit about? Really fucking popular!
The band’s ongoing “Not in This Lifetime” reunion tour continues to sell like gangbusters, having grossed $557.4 million through the end of 2018. But the band just passed a new milestone: “Sweet Child O’ Mine” has become the only video on YouTube of a song released in the ’80s to pass the one billion views mark. Incredibly, that’s more than any single Michael Jackson video.
The iconic clip joins the billion views club with another unforgettable GN’R video, “November Rain,” which last year became the only YouTube billion views club member for a song released in the ’90s.
By comparison, more modern tracks stand a better chance of breaking the one billion barrier; Avicii’s “Wake Me Up” (1.8B), Taylor Swift’s “Blank Space” (2.5B) and Ed Sheeran’s “Perfect” (2.1B), for example. Still, that should take nothing away from GN’R’s accomplishments, as it’s remarkable how much staying power their music has had all these years later.
Here are the top five YouTube videos for the ’80s:
- Guns N’ Roses – Sweet Child O’ Mine (Official Music Video) – 1B
- a-ha – Take On Me (Official Music Video) – 943M
- Cyndi Lauper – Girls Just Want To Have Fun (Official Video) – 786M
- The Police – Every Breath You Take (Official Music Video) – 699M
- Michael Jackson – Billie Jean (Official Music Video) – 694M
And for the ’90s:
- Guns N’ Roses – November Rain – 1.2B
- Nirvana – Smells Like Teen Spirit (Official Music Video) – 968M
- The Cranberries – Zombie (Official Music Video) – 962M
- Whitney Houston – I Will Always Love You (Official Music Video) – 859M
- 4 Non Blondes – What’s Up (Official Video) – 765M
Guns N’ Roses have some live dates planned in Mexico and a few in America through the end of the year; get dates and tickets here!
