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The Most Watched YouTube Videos Of 2011: See All 10

The Huffington Post     First Posted: 12/20/2011 8:12 am   Updated: 12/20/2011 8:16 am

What do Andy Samberg, a flying Pop-Tart cat, and a mini-Darth Vader have in common?

Yes, they're all adorable. But more importantly, they've all made YouTube's list of the 10 most-watched videos of 2011.

Users hit play on YouTube videos over 1 trillion times this year, with Rebecca Black's viral sensation "Friday" taking the top spot as the most-watched clip. Though the current "Friday" video on YouTube has only 12 million views (around 60 million fewer than the second most-watched video), the number is misleading as an earlier version of Black's music video received around 167 million plays before it was pulled, adding up to a total of 179,869,966 views for "Friday" as of December 16, when YouTube assembled the list.

YouTube's ranking tallies all views from around the world and notably excludes "videos from major music labels."

Volkswagen's "The Force" commercial (over 45 million views) was the only ad to make YouTube's list, while The Lonely Island crew, led by 'SNL' star Andy Samberg, were the only group with two videos ("Jack Sparrow", with over 60 million views, and "The Creep," with over 48 million) in the top ten.

YouTube writes of its annual YouTube Rewind feature:

Today, we rewind through the videos and channels that absorbed our collective global attention this year. To compile these lists, we looked at global view counts of popular videos uploaded throughout this year, and, in some instances, we aggregated views across multiple versions of the same video. 2011 was a year of amazing new channels and new stars being discovered, awesome creativity, and of course, Rebecca Black. It was also a year of powerful news stories playing out on YouTube, as people witnessed and documented uprisings and natural disasters, touching personal moments and moments of protest.

Last year's roundup was slightly more ad heavy -- it included the "Twilight" trailer and an Old Spice commercial -- but Lady Gaga covers and fantastical animated creatures remained among the favorites.

Click through the slideshow below to see the year's most popular YouTube videos.

Q+A With YouTube's Trends Manager
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YouTube Trends Manager Kevin Alloca answers HuffPostTech's five questions about this year's top videos. Check out his take on the big surprises, what makes videos go viral, and more.
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02:43 PM on 06/12/2012
Now we can all see congress in action without going to DC.
08:16 AM on 06/06/2012
hi friends , keep smile every body
12:40 AM on 05/29/2012
must see
04:50 PM on 03/06/2012
Hi My Name is Kelvin Doiron Born in Houston Texas and if you knew more about me you will fall in Love with me over and over agin. Cheek me out on YouTube on Ch.kdoiron10 under GGG, YOU WILL FALL IN LOVE WITH MY WORD SEE FOR YOUR SELF.
04:43 PM on 03/06/2012
Cheek out kdoiron10 "Good eye Bad EYE on youtube AND TELL ME WHAT'S GOING ON AND WHY?
10:19 PM on 03/03/2012
很难懂诶
04:04 PM on 01/29/2012
My brother likes dark vator why did you dress up like him? WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW.LOL
03:57 PM on 01/29/2012
I think that little boy is crazzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzy.lol
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07:59 AM on 01/04/2012
Dog tease is my favorite. That's hilarious.
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Paul Houston
British and a London resident
03:23 PM on 12/24/2011
What! No racist woman on a tram!
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
MikeyJaii
Free $$ For Everyone.
11:53 PM on 12/22/2011
Only the Darth Vader was good..
10:39 PM on 02/07/2012
all of them sucked!!!!!!
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webwzrd
Reality is liberal indoctrination
01:10 AM on 12/22/2011
The VW "Force" commercial is priceless. I watch it over and over again.
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webwzrd
Reality is liberal indoctrination
09:03 PM on 04/25/2012
I agree 100% on that one. It's awesome.
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elblanc0
Whatever good things we build end up building us.
09:03 PM on 12/21/2011
Seriously, no honey badger? This is no 'best of' list.
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petuniafish
This little piggie is a libbie
04:38 AM on 12/22/2011
Really! Not a "best list" without honey badger.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Rynox
My patience is over taxed.
10:16 AM on 12/21/2011
Never seen the dog one. So funny.
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trumbull desi
If I have something pithy to say, see below
12:18 PM on 12/21/2011
My absolute favorite. Makes me laugh every time I see it. Sometimes my husband, while standing in front of the fridge, will ask "what's int there?". In the dog voice, of course.
07:08 AM on 12/21/2011
I don't know about you, but the photo of the You Tube Trends Manager ---the guy looks alittle tipsy!