Guns N’Roses have become the first act to pass a billion views for a video from the 1990s. November Rain is the first video from the pre-YouTube era ever to reach the milestone.
The video averaged nearly 560,000 views per day last year. YouTube said it enjoys a spike in popularity every November.
Other popular GNR videos from the ‘90s include Don’t Cry (471m views) and Estranged (111m views).
Sweet Child O’ Mine is the biggest ‘80s video on YouTube with more than 692 million views.
While newer guitar bands tend to struggle on streaming, Guns N’Roses are one of the classic hard rock groups who have made an impact on digital platforms. Sweet Child O’ Mine is one of the most popular tracks classified as heavy rock or metal by the Official Charts Company. The track has sales of 107,266 (including downloads and sales equivalent streams) in the year to date, according to the Official Charts Company.
The reunited band have also been busy on the road and recently put out the reissue of their debut Appetite For Destruction.
YouTube revealed that 83% of GNR's 2018 views came from outside the US. While the US had the most views so far in 2018 (89m), the band have a strong following in South America with big YouTube numbers in Brazil (69m), Mexico (66m), Argentina (28m) and Colombia (23m).