The music landscape is constantly changing, and YouTube remains one of the top platforms for discovering and consuming music. In this article, we’ll look at the most-listened to music videos on YouTube during 2024, highlighting emerging trends, dominant genres, and key artists. To do this, Python tools are used that visualize the plays of the most popular songs of that year using the YouTube API.
Data Collection
For this analysis, data has been collected using the YouTube Data API, extracting information on daily views, comments and popularity metrics of the main songs.
Songs with the Most Views
The first code shows the most played songs on YouTube during 2024. The top 10 songs with the highest number of views are represented, you have to replace the api_key with your own:
import requests
import json
# Replace with your YouTube API key
api_key = "**********************************"
# Configure the API request URL
base_url = "https://www.googleapis.com/youtube/v3/search"
params = {
"part": "snippet",
"order": "viewCount",
"type": "video",
"videoCategoryId": 10, # Music category
"publishedAfter": "2024-01-01T00:00:00Z",
"publishedBefore": "2025-01-01T00:00:00Z",
"maxResults": 50, # Adjust maximum number of results
"key": api_key
}
# Make the API request
response = requests.get(base_url, params=params)
# Check if the request was successful
if response.status_code == 200:
data = json.loads(response.text)
items = data["items"]
for item in items:
title = item["snippet"]["title"]
channel_title = item["snippet"]["channelTitle"]
published_at = item["snippet"]["publishedAt"]
video_id = item["id"]["videoId"]
video_url = f"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v={video_id}"
print(f"Title: {title}")
print(f"Channel: {channel_title}")
print(f"Publication date: {published_at}")
print(f"Video ID: {video_id}")
print(f"Video URL: {video_url}")
print("-" * 30)
else:
print("Error making request:", response.status_code)
Analysis of Results
Executing the above code yields the following output:
Title: Benson Boone - Beautiful Things (Official Music Video) Channel: Benson Boone Publish Date: 2024-01-18T23:00:13Z Video ID: Oa_RSwwpPaA URL del video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oa_RSwwpPaA ------------------------------ Title: MESITA, NICKI NICOLE, EMILIA, TIAGO PZK - UNA FOTO REMIX (official video) Canal: Mesita Publish Date: 2024-01-05T00:00:11Z Video ID: LWdAMW_4Yq0 URL del video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWdAMW_4Yq0 ------------------------------ Title: Luis R Conriquez, Neton Vega - If You Don't Want No (Official Video) Channel: Luis R Conriquez Publish Date: 2024-03-10T19:59:38Z ID del video: -V-sywKOCwQ URL del video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-V-sywKOCwQ ------------------------------ Tutulo: Tonight - Full Song |Female 2|Tamannaah Bhatia |Rajkummar Rao |Sachin-Jigar|Madhubanti|Divya|Amitabha Canal: Saregama Music Publish Date: 2024-10-24T11:30:37Z Video ID: hxMNYkLN7tI URL del video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxMNYkLN7tI ------------------------------ Título: 5 Little Ducks(Learn Colors Song) | Lalafun Nursery Rhymes & Kids Songs ... Publish Date: 2024-08-16T13:00:13Z ID share video: DYeB8NNfXfI URL del video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYeB8NNfXfI
The most listened to song is Beautiful Thing by Benson Boone, which was released on January 18, 2024. Then a photo Remix from the Mesita channel. The genres based on artists and songs would be:
5 Little Ducks -> Children’s Music
Benson Boone – Beautiful Things -> Pop/Pop Rock
MESITA, NICKI NICOLE, EMILIA, TIAGO PZK – A REMIX PHOTO -> Reggaeton/Urbano Latino
Luis R Conriquez, Neton Vega – If You Don’t Want Not -> Regional Mexican
Tonight – Stree 2 -> Bollywood/Pop India
Search for other years
To find out other years, just change the code, the “publishedAfter” field and the “publishedBefore” field. For example, for 2023 it would be:
import requests
import json
# Replace with your YouTube API key
api_key = "****************************"
# Configure the API request URL
base_url = "https://www.googleapis.com/youtube/v3/search"
params = {
"part": "snippet",
"order": "viewCount",
"type": "video",
"videoCategoryId": 10, # Categoría de música
"publishedAfter": "2023-01-01T00:00:00Z",
"publishedBefore": "2024-01-01T00:00:00Z",
"maxResults": 50, # Ajusta el número máximo de resultados
"key": api_key
}
# Make the API request
response = requests.get(base_url, params=params)
# Check if the request was successful
if response.status_code == 200:
data = json.loads(response.text)
items = data["items"]
for item in items:
title = item["snippet"]["title"]
channel_title = item["snippet"]["channelTitle"]
published_at = item["snippet"]["publishedAt"]
video_id = item["id"]["videoId"]
video_url = f"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v={video_id}"
print(f"Título: {title}")
print(f"Canal: {channel_title}")
print(f"Fecha de publicación: {published_at}")
print(f"ID del video: {video_id}")
print(f"URL del video: {video_url}")
print("-" * 30)
else:
print("Error making request:", response.status_code)
The result obtained would be:
Title: KAROL G, Shakira - TQG (Official Video) Channel: KarolGVEVO Publish Date: 2023-02-24T05:00:09Z Video ID: jZGpkLElSu8 URL del video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZGpkLElSu8 ------------------------------ Title: Yng Lvcas & Peso Pluma - La Bebe (Remix) [Official Video] Channel: In Lvcas Date published: 2023-03-23T00:00:09Z ID del video: 3mchJ-EW9rM URL del video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mchJ-EW9rM ------------------------------ Title: Miley Cyrus - Flowers (Official Video) Channel: MileyCyrusVEVO Publish Date: 2023-01-13T00:00:09Z Video ID: G7KNmW9a75Y URL del video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7KNmW9a75Y ------------------------------ Title: Little Bee ♫ Nursery Songs ♫ Plim Plim Channel: The Clown Plim Plim Publish Date: 2023-05-06T14:00:12Z ID Dell Video: BA-V3TU7O URL del video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bya-v3tww7o ------------------------------ Title: Ella Baila Sola - (Official Video) - Eslabon Armado y Peso Pluma - DEL Records 2023 ... Date published: 2023-01-13T00:03:00Z ID share video: BkSSOGNeWTM URL del video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkSSOGNeWTM
Conclusions
Through this analysis, it is observed that music consumption on YouTube of music videos follows an upward trend, especially driven by virality on short video platforms such as YouTube Shorts. Artists of all genres Reggaeton continue to capture global attention, with a sustained growth in views. Promotion strategies and the ability to leverage these viral formats play a crucial role in their success.
