Overnight Internet sensation Rebecca Black’s widely panned song “Friday” has been viewed nearly 31 million times on YouTube.
Late Monday afternoon, the official “Friday” video had tallied 30.974 million views.
The song has been panned by critics and Web viewers since Los Angeles-based Ark Music Factory posted it last month.
For example, a Yahoo! music blog called it a “mind-meltingly horrific song,” while Time magazine called the song a “train wreck” and the video “hilariously dreadful.”
Nearly 23,000 YouTube viewers have hit the “like” button on for the song while almost 190,000 have clicked on “dislike.”
In interviews, the 13-year-old California singer said she has been hurt by the all the angry online comments, including “I hope you cut yourself, and I hope you’ll get an eating disorder so you’ll look pretty.”
“When I first saw all the nasty comments, I did cry. … I don’t think I’m the worst singer, but I don’t think I’m the best,” Black said Friday on Good Morning America.
Still, “Friday” does have some fans, including Simon Cowell, who called it and the buzz surrounding it “brilliant.”
And on Monday, the song was No. 45 on the iTunes list of best-selling 99-cent singles.
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