What is the most disliked music video on YouTube?
The internet is a trove of the good, the bad, and the ugly. Originally invented as a means to streamline government operations, it morphed into something far more unpredictable, with sites like YouTube becoming a hub for almost everything you could ever think of. As David Bowie once said, “The potential of what the Internet is going to do to society, both good and bad, is unimaginable.”
While predicting the future of technology is always a point of contention, Bowie was right on the mark. After all, what was once just a tool for smoothening communication has become an endless black hole of discovery, where countless communities come together to share views, debate disagreements, and celebrate artistic creativity. An episode of Black Mirror, if you will.
It’s certainly easy to point out the positives when it comes to the internet, with platforms like YouTube hosting immediately accessible content for fans to sink their teeth into before migrating to comments sections to share their thoughts on what they’d just seen. YouTube and many other video platforms have created more avenues where fans can actively engage in things they enjoy, taking their appreciation to the next level and feeling a part of something bigger.
However, by some inexplicable measure, YouTube also fosters factions sourcing some of the worst content on the internet, with certain videos attracting dislikes by the millions, proving that virality isn’t always the best demonstration of success. This has been the case with countless videos over the years, from Justin Bieber’s ‘Baby’ to the more recent storm, JoJo Siwa’s ‘Karma’.
So, what is the most disliked video on YouTube?
Still, the most disliked video ever was something only a few actually remember. Between 2010 and 2019, YouTube posted a series of videos wrapping up the biggest and most memorable cultural moments of the year, appropriately titled YouTube Rewind. Viewers and fans unanimously decided that the 2018 edition, YouTube Rewind 2018: Everyone Controls Rewind, was the worst video on the entire platform, cursing it with over 10 million dislikes just one week after upload.
The reasons were simple. Most argued that the wrapup was too dated and excluded many of the year’s most prominent moments, drawing criticisms about its credibility. Being out of touch with the YouTube community in this capacity wasn’t just a bad look; it also placed the platform in a difficult position, making it look like it lost its grip on current trends or only favoured mainstream developments.
For a platform that thrives on the cultish appeal of alternative content, such a move made it feel like YouTube had suddenly fallen victim to meaningless and directionless commercial content, alienating audiences who felt it was pushing in the opposite direction. YouTube has its flaws, of course, but this was a particularly low point in the broader YouTube-corporate-pandering debate.
