Texas Artists Who Made Waves in the YouTube Billion View Club
Out of the millions & millions of videos uploaded onto YouTube, only a few videos sit with over a billion views. YouTube has inducted these chosen videos as part of their Billion View Club. Out of those lucky few videos, how many belong to Texas musicians? Well as it turns out, only a handful of Texas artists HAVE videos in the billion view club. Let's start with two from Houston, Texas.
Queen B, Beyonce, is part of the YouTube Billion View Club
No shock there. Houston's Beyonce, aka Queen B, IS part of the billion view club. However what's surprisingly is the amount of videos in the club; only 1 (so far). Halo is the sole video from Beyonce to join the club. But given the fact that she has an additional 8 videos with over half a million views, you will most likely see more videos join the club.
Travis Scott is also part of the YouTube billion view club
Fellow Houston native, Travis Scott, also has one video in the billion view club: his song "SICKO MODE (Feat. Drake)".
There are two more Texas artists in the Billion View Club
Nelly (while he's mostly known for growing up in St Louis, WAS born in Austin, Texas. He has a sole video with over a billion views: Dilemma (ft. Kelly Rowland).
And El Paso's Khalid also has a video with over a million views; his collaboration with Billie Ellish, Lovely. He also has more videos that are very close to hitting a billion views.
Which Texas artists are close to joining the billion view club?
It's surprising to see how many huge names are NOT in the YouTube Billion View Club. That includes some huge names in pop, rock & country music:
Kelly Clarkson: Arguably one of the biggest stars from Texas in the pop world, the closest video Kelly has to reaching a billion views is Because of You. It current has over 519 million views.
Usher: The pop superstar that was born in Dallas might be the closest to join the billion view club next. His song "Yeah!" with Ludacris & Lil Jon has over 826 million views.
Selena: The Queen of Tejano Music from Lake Jackson has yet to join the billion view club. She has a view videos that are close; the closest one is "Como La Flor (Live at the Alamodome)" with over 607 million.
Fun fact, her concert at the Alamodome was one of the biggest ever held in the state of Texas.
ZZ Top: The quintessential Texas rock band is NOT in the BVC club; Gimme All Your Lovin' currently sits with over 160 million views. (Not bad for the Texas boys).
Pantera: One of the heaviest bands to come out of Arlington, Pantera has one video with over a quarter million views. The one that's sure to...walk on home...to the billion view club would most likely be "Walk" (259 million views).
Drowning Pool: The heavy metal band from Dallas is most known for Bodies; that video has a whopping 189 million views. Not too shabby,
Cigarettes After Sex: Yes the El Paso band that Breaking Bad's Aaron Paul has known to show a deep love & affection for, Cigarettes After Sex does have one video (or rather song) with over 163 million views: Apocalypse.
Miranda Lambert: One of the biggest country stars, Longview's Miranda Lambert has one song with over 150 million views; her duet with fellow country superstar Carrie Underwood: Somethin' Bad.
Willie Nelson: Good ol' Willie, his most viewed video is just shy of 100 million views; his duet with Ray Charles, Seven Spanish Angels has 98 million.
George Strait: Even the King of Country. His most viewed video is Troubador with over 113 million views.
Of course most of these artists got huge BEFORE the days of YouTube so their numbers could have easily been higher if it existed before the 2000s.
Who will be the next Texas artist to join the Billion View Club? Only time will tell...