Trending This Week: A Celebrity Supergroup for Ebola

November 21, 2014

With temps turning arctic (at least at YouTube Trends HQ) and the holidays careening ‘round the corner, might we suggest curling up by the hearth with a steaming mug of viral videos?

This week on the Spotlight channel, we heard the moving voices and vlogs of the transgender community and unearthed the incredibly bizarre, fascinating ASMR phenomenon.

And here’s what else hit it big this week:



Band Aid 30 - Do They Know It’s Christmas?

There’s truly nothing we love more than a celebrity supergroup coming together for charity (we still can’t think about “We Are the World” without getting a little tingly, and it’s been like 30 years). Thirty years after leading his first “Band Aid” single, Bob Geldof brought together big names like Bono, Ed Sheeran, Ellie Goulding, and One Direction this week to raise money for Ebola. The track is headed for #1 on the British pop charts, but views and downloads aside, the only important metric is the money it raises for the cause – and the organization announced they raised $1 million in the first five minutes. Big claps for this charitable kick-off to the holiday season.



The Holderness Family - All About That Baste

You know this family: sporty, squeaky clean, super healthy-looking, dad who’s literally impervious to embarrassment … they’re now on YouTube. The Holderness family has been pumping out wholesome parodies (see their back to school spectacular “Baby Got Class” or last year’s resplendent holiday offering “#XMASJAMMIES”) for a year and picked up over 30 million views in total. We’d say “keep it up,” but we’re pretty sure they don’t need the encouragement.



The Hoonigans - KEN BLOCK’S GYMKHANA SEVEN: WILD IN THE STREETS OF LOS ANGELES

Stunt driver and general insane human being Ken Block is back with a new installment in his “Gymkhana” series. Captured via some epic cinematography, he races a souped-up, 845 horsepower Mustang around the sexy streets of L.A., and the result is a captivating, stomach-churning watch. The Gymkhana videos have been massive YouTube hits – episode five racked up 68 million views – and the latest installment is proving no exception, with over 10 million views in the first 48 hours on YouTube.



OrsaraRecipes - How to pronounce Worcestershire Sauce?

Our “aww”-inducing pick of the week features 75-year-old YouTube chef Pasquale Sciarappa of New Jersey trying (and failing) to pronounce the classic British sauce (he also gets points for his great “no sweat, no sauce” tee). Gramps: this hug’s for you.

--Claire Stapleton

Comments

arrow