‘Cotton Eye Joe’ has inspired a new world record on YouTube with three billion views in just 26 days.
The viral event ‘Gedagedigedagedago’ – which is based on Rednex’s classic party hit – has taken over social media with a viewcount 28 times higher than the top music video on the video sharing platform, and 13 times greater than the leading streamed song on Spotify.
‘Cotton Eye Joe’ hit one billion views in eight days, storming past Adele’s ‘Hello’ which took 87 days to hit the same number.
It follows the growth of YouTube Shorts, with the viral phenomenon generating 20 million hours of listening time in a 26-day period, which is the equivalent of 700 million traditional views.
‘Hello’ took 34 days to reach 500 million.
In a statement, Pat Reiniz – Rednez founder and ‘Cotten Eye Joe’ producer – said: “A paradigm shift is happening where we’re asking: how is music success best measured?
“This event was created thanks to millions of video creators generating billions of fragmented plays of Rednex’s music, rather than as a result of the traditional way of listening.
“It will be a challenge for the music industry to reflect these various counts in charts and measurements and even poses the question, ‘Is the basic use and concept of music itself changing?’ ”
Danish singer Razi Irawani’s warped lyrics of the hit kicked off the trend with 28 million bviews on TikTok.
After a singing chicken nugget was added, the phenomenon has gone from strength to strength with 500 videos on YouTube bringing in more than one million views each.
Rednez’s Pervis the Palergator said: “With 3 billion views in 26 days, we claim a world record! Do you want to beat us? Share stats.