Guns N’ Roses’ ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine’ Becomes First ’80s Music Video to Hit 1 Billion YouTube Views
By BreAnna Bell
LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – “Sweet Child O’ Mine,” Guns N Roses’ smash single from 1987, has joined ’s billion views club. It is not only the first music video from the ’80s to pass that landmark, the band is now the top artist of both the ’80s and ’90s on the platform
The band’s top ’90s song is “November Rain,” which is also the first and only music video from its decade to pass the billion-views mark.
Breaking records is nothing new to the rock band. Their first album made history as the best-selling U.S. debut album ever, selling more than 30 million copies worldwide. The Rock & Roll Hall of Famers’ continued success of the ‘Not In This Lifetime’ international tour now holds the 4th spot on the list of the most successful tours in music history on its first two years.
The full breakdown from both decades is below:
1980s
- 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
1990s
- 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
