Of the millions upon millions of clips on social video site YouTube — of all of the bad Karaoke and Daily Show clips, of all of the music videos and funny dog tricks, you might be wondering what the absolute best video that the site has managed to produce is. After a bit of research (a very little bit) I managed to find out. The clip that wins it all is Evolution of Dance, a video submitted by user judsonlaipply in April of 2006.

Do The Evolution

Here are the vital statistics.

Evolution of Dance is a six minute long clip of Judson Laipply twisting and shouting his way through dozens of great songs. It combines everything that makes a YouTube video popular in one brilliant package: music, comedy and silly human tricks. Not only that, but when it was submitted (in early ’06) YouTube had not yet been inundated with “me too” alternatives. It was a much younger site that could still be thrilled by something as simple as wacky dance moves.

So, how well did Evolution of Dance do?

If you don’t count the clones, this clip has received a staggering 59 Million views, 170,000 ratings, and 68,000 comments. That is better than a lot of network television shows get for their entire runs. I don’t know whether this clip has launched Mr. Laipply’s career as a dance impresario, but it certainly stands as a case study in the power of social media to drive a massive viewership.

Web 2.0 Roundup

The next three best videos are unsurprisingly music videos by major artists.

1. Avril Lavigne – Girlfriend – 55 Million views

2. My Chemical Romance – Famous Last Words – 37 Million views

3. My Chemical Romance – Teenagers – 32 Million

There are two lessons that we can learn from this. Despite what certain artists might believe, having your music on YouTube can lead to massive exposure. There aren’t too many ways to deny the positive affects of 55 Million people hearing your hit single. The second lesson is that, well, YouTube viewers like My Chemical Romance a little too much.

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