World Record on YouTube – Three Billion Views in 26 Days

‘Cotton Eye Joe’ Inspired the Viral Event Gedagedigedagedago, Making Rednex the Most Played Artist in the World

BRUNKEFLO, Idaho (16 April 2024) — The classic party hit ‘Cotton Eye Joe’ is the inspiration behind a ground-breaking new record which is taking over social media. The viral event Gedagedigedagedago, which is based on the song, has already achieved a record three billion views in just 26 days. This count is 28 times higher than that of the top music video on YouTube, 13 times greater than the leading streamed song on Spotify, and twice as high as the count for the most viewed artist in the world, Alka Yagnik.

Reaching one billion views in just eight days, Rednex’s song is ahead of Adele’s ‘Hello’, which generated the same number in 87 days. In the wake of the explosive growth of YouTube Shorts, this latest viral phenomenon has generated 20 million hours of listening time in a 26-day period. That’s equivalent to 700 million traditional views. By comparison, it took ‘Hello’ 34 days to reach 500 million views.

“A paradigm shift is happening where we’re asking: how is music success best measured?”, said Pat Reiniz, Rednex's co-founder and the producer of ‘Cotton Eye Joe’. “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?’”

Kicking-off the frenzy was Danish singer Razi Irawani, whose warped lyrics of ‘Cotton Eye Joe’ led to 28 million views on TikTok. Shortly thereafter, a singing chicken nugget was added, whereupon the phenomenon exploded into millions of versions, including 500 videos on YouTube each with more than one million views, offering another example of how organic growth topples financial marketing power.

This year, the song has been heard by 12% of all YouTube viewers and 4% of the world’s population, giving Rednex performer Pervis the Palergator a reason to brag: “With 3 billion views in 26 days, we claim a world record! Do you want to beat us? Share stats.” Fans of Rednex can also look forward to the group’s newest party song, ‘Another Round’, which was released today and features a music video of 80-year-olds getting outrageously drunk. With sample-friendly catchphrases, it has been released with the Shorts audience in mind. To watch the video for ‘Another Round’, visit https://youtu.be/7JKDIlX2yIE.

Pre-save links – https://rednex.ffm.to/anotherroundandgedagedigedagedagoep

ABOUT REDNEX

Rednex is a musical group known for its blend of American folk music and Eurodance. The band’s appearance and stage name draw inspiration from the American redneck stereotypes. For more information on Rednex, visit www.rednexmusic.com.