Taylor Swift Hits Over 65 Million YouTube Views in 24 Hours With Single ‘ME!’

Taylor Swift’s return to music is already challenging YouTube viewership records. 

After fans eagerly anticipated new music from the singer-songwriter, she released her colorful bop “ME!” at midnight Thursday, which gained viewing numbers in the tens of millions within its first 24 hours.

The kaleidoscopic video for the song featuring Brendon Urie of Panic! at the Disco racked up 33 million views by midday Friday, and ultimately increased to 56.9 million by the end of the day. The views quickly rose to over 65 million by the 24th hour.

According to YouTube, Swift broke multiple records with the debut: She now has the all-time leading female and solo 24-hour debut for any music video on the streaming platform. Additional records broken: “ME!” is the biggest 24-hour debut for any music video by a solo (female or male) artist; it is the biggest 24-hour debut for any Swift video; the video got more likes in its first 24 hours than any other video from Swift; and it is the second biggest 24-hour debut for any video on YouTube. Swift herself is also the only solo artist to have two videos in YouTube’s Top 24-hr. debuts.

According to Fortune, the video for “ME!” garnered 4 million views per hour. The song is also currently ranked as the top-selling song on iTunes. 

Though a celebratory moment, Swift is no stranger to setting records with new music. Her last album, Reputation, sold 1.05 million copies within four days of release and was recognized as 2017’s top-selling album. Reputation also became Swift’s sixth album to sell more than two million copies in the U.S. The album’s lead single  “Look What You Made Me Do” also held the title for most YouTube global streams in a 24-hour period, with 43.2 million views. At the time, the music video reigned over previous record-holder Psy’s “Gentleman,” which acquired 36 million views in 2013. 

Prior to Swift dominating YouTube, pop princess Ariana Grande was a former record holder for biggest music video debut in the streaming platform’s history with “Thank U, Next” being viewed 55.4 million times in the first 24 hours upon its release. K-pop groups Blackpink and BTS eventually went beyond that with 56.7 million and 74.6 million views, respectively. 

“ME!” marks Swift’s first music since leaving Big Machine Records and signing a new worldwide deal with Universal Music Group in November.

The singer has remained coy as to when her seventh album will be released. However, on Friday, Swift teased some clues about the album in a tweet: “So… the new album title is actually revealed somewhere in the video AND so is the title of the second single, but I haven’t seen people finding them yet…” This contributed to the rapid rise of YouTube views. 

April 27, 3:58 p.m. Updated with YouTube’s statement.

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