The 1 billion views club on YouTube gets bigger and bigger. However, most of the videos in that club are from this century. Interestingly, even though the music video genre really got going in the 80s, there are only 8 videos from that decade with more than 1 billion views.

Not One Music Video From The 80s Ranks In The Top 30

YouTube is an amazing video sharing platform that began in San Bruno, California. It launched in February 2005. According to Wikipedia.org, every video that has hit the top of the “most viewed” list on that website since 2009 has been a music video. However, in their list of the 30 most viewed videos, there are none from the 1980’s.

I checked out Statista.com to find out the ten most viewed videos of all time. Would you believe that six out of the top ten are children’s videos? Without a doubt, those toddlers are racking up the YouTube views. Is YouTube the new babysitter? Indeed, the #1 video, with more than 13 billion views, is “Baby Shark Dance” by Pinkfong. When I was growing up, it was Popeye cartoons, The Flintstones, and reruns of I Love Lucy and Lassie.

Iconic Music Videos That Are Not In The 1 Billion Views Club

So, there are only 8 music videos from the 80s that have 1 billion views or more. I guess that’s not too bad. Due to the fact that a large proportion of the YouTube audience are younger generations. For the most part, they didn’t grow up during the “MTV Decade.” Basically, our generation created the music video. Now, MTV rarely airs music videos.

There are many iconic music videos of the 80s that are not in the 1 billion views club yet. Why isn’t “Thriller” in there? How about “Sledgehammer” by Peter Gabriel, or “Addicted To Love” by Robert Palmer? Surprisingly, not one video from the “Queen of Pop,” Madonna, is in that exclusive club yet. Nonetheless, here are the “Elite Eight” music videos from the 80s!

• 1) "Sweet Child O' Mine" - Guns N' Roses

  This was the first music video from the 80s to reach 1 billion views on YouTube. It’s from the best-selling debut album in history, Appetite For Destruction. It spent two weeks at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in September 1988. It’s ranked at #198 on Rolling Stone Magazine’s list of the “500 Greatest Songs of All Time.”

• 2) "Take On Me" - A-ha

  Here’s the only recording act from the Scandinavian country of Norway to ever top the pop charts in the USA. It happened in 1985, thanks to this heavily played video on MTV. It’s an iconic video from the 80s, and it pretty much blew my mind the first time I saw it. It would go on to win six MTV Video Music Awards in 1986. Incidentally, the young lady featured in the video is actress Bunty Bailey. She was the girlfriend of A-ha’s lead singer, Morten Harket, at that time.

• 3) "Billie Jean" - Michael Jackson

  I figured the “King of Pop” would be on this list, but I would have bet the “Thriller” video would have been the one to hit 1 billion views by now. But no, it’s the second single released from the best-selling album in history. “Billie Jean” spent an incredible seven consecutive weeks at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 in 1983. That single has sold more than 10 million copies. It also busted open the racial barrier on MTV. Prior to this smash debuting on the cable music channel in March 1983, they did not regularly play music videos from African-American recording artists.

• 4) "Never Gonna Give You Up" - Rick Astley

  Let’s go “rickrolling!” That popular internet meme got going in 2007 where people posted misleading links that would take you to this music video. Well, it worked, because the popularity for this #1 hit from 1988 surged big time. It even became an April Fool’s Day joke in 2008 when millions of people got “rickrolled.” He’s everyone’s favorite red-headed baritone from England. Enjoy!

• 5) "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" - Cyndi Lauper

  Cyndi Lauper’s signature song became one of the biggest female empowerment songs of the 80s. Maybe even of all time! Did you know that Cyndi’s real Mom, Catrine, played the mother in this music video? Of course, by now you know that’s former professional wrestler and manager “Captain” Lou Albano playing Lauper’s father in the video. He was one of her close personal friends until he passed away in 2009. Also featured in the music videos cast: Lauper’s manager, David Wolf, her brother Butch, musician Steve Forbert, her attorney, Elliot Hoffman, and a bunch of secretaries from her record label.

• 6) "The Final Countdown" - Europe

  To be honest, I was surprised that this music video has joined the 1 billion views club. However, we have to remember that YouTube is a website viewed by people from all over the world. So, its not just American recording artists who would do well on the platform. The music video uses film from two different concerts the band did in their home country of Sweden, as well as some edits from the sound checks for those shows.

• 7) "Every Breath You Take" - The Police

  This is the most played song in radio history according to BMI (Broadcast Music, Inc.). It beat out “Billie Jean” as Billboard Magazine‘s top-selling single of 1983, spending 8 consecutive weeks at #1 on the Hot 100. It won a Grammy Award for “Song of the Year,” and its ranked at #84 on Rolling Stone’s list of the “500 Greatest Songs of All Time.” The video has been praised for its cinematography and ranks very high on many “best of” lists.

• 8) "Careless Whisper" - George Michael and Wham!

  This is the most recent music video from the 80s to surpass 1 billion views. It happened earlier this year in March. The song features one of the most iconic saxophone riffs of the MTV decade. That was back when a lot of bands and recording artists included sax solos on their records. The music video was shot almost entirely in Miami, Florida. The performance footage included in the video was shot at the Lyceum Theater in London, England.

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