YouTube has been the dominant force in video streaming for well over a decade, with music being a huge driver of the platform’s growth.

However, there seems to have been a demographic shift in YouTube’s audience over the years.

As Visual Capitalist's Freny Fernandes details below, while commercial music videos once dominated the rankings of the most-viewed videos on YouTube, they have since faced stiff competition from an unlikely source: nursery rhymes and children’s educational videos.

This graphic pulls up the 20 most viewed videos on YouTube, revealing the rising demand for kid-focused content and videos as of August 2023.

Launched in 2016 by Korean education brand Pinkfong, the catchy “Baby Shark (do-do, do-do-do-do)” dance video became the first music video ever to cross 10 billion views in January 2021.

Nine of the top 20 most-viewed YouTube videos today offer content geared toward children:

RankYouTube VideoChannelViews (August 2023)1Baby Shark DancePinkfong13.0B2DespacitoLuis Fonsi8.2B3Johny Johny Yes PapaLooLoo Kids6.7B4Bath SongCocomelon6.3B5Shape of YouEd Sheeran6.0B6See You AgainWiz Khalifa5.9B7Wheels on the BusCocomelon5.4B8Phonics Song with TWO WordsChuChu TV5.4B9Uptown FunkMark Ronson4.9B10Learning Colors - Colorful Eggs on a FarmMiroshka TV4.9B11Gangnam StylePsy4.8B12Masha and The Bear - Episode 17Get Movies4.5B13Dame Tu CositaUltra Records4.4B14Axel FCrazy Frog3.9B15SugarMaroon 53.9B16RoarKaty Perry3.8B17Counting StarsOneRepublic3.8B18Baa Baa Black SheepCocomelon3.7B19SorryJustin Bieber3.6B20Waka Waka (This Time for Africa)Shakira3.6B

With total views of 13 billion today, “Baby Shark” surpasses the music video for Luis Fonsi’s “Despacito” (previously the most-viewed YouTube video) by almost five billion views.

And other popular child-focused music videos are close behind. “Johny Johny Yes Papa” (#3) and Cocomelon’s “Bath Song” (#4) nudged Ed Sheeran’s “Shape of You” and Wiz Khalifa’s “See You Again” down to the fifth and sixth rank in the list of most-viewed YouTube videos.

While many attribute the popularity of kid-focused videos to repetitive lyrics, familiar nursery rhymes, or otherwise catchy music that can’t get out of your head, research says otherwise.

A study by the Pew Research Center found that YouTube plays a key role in providing content for children. 81% of parents of kids aged 11 and younger allow their children to watch YouTube, with 35% of these kids using the platform regularly.

And this has become a lucrative business too. In 2021, the company behind Cocomelon and other popular kids channels was acquired for around $3 billion.

If these trends keep up, we may see more kid-focused content climb up this Top 20 list in the future as well.