Exclusive: YouTube's top trending entertainment videos for April 2016
Paste BN presents YouTube's exclusive ranking of its top trending clips for April 2016, determined by their total number of views, shares and virality.
1. 'Rogue One: A Star Wars Story' trailer
The video for the Star Wars standalone film was seen more than 16 million times in just the first 24 hours, and that number has grown by at least 50,000 a day since its April 7 posting, eight months before its theatrical release. (The Force Awakens trailer got 25 million views in its first 24 hours).
Date posted: April 7
Total views: 35.1 million
2. 'Game of Thrones' Season 6 trailer
The second trailer for the new season, which premiered April 24, got 18 million pair of eyeballs, more than double the number that saw the first teaser. Chalk it up to its longer length and fans' demand for clues about the fate of Jon Snow.
Date posted: April 11
Total views: 18.8 million
3. 'X-Men: Apocalypse' final trailer
The last preview for the ninth X-Men film, due May 27, has been seen 17.1 million times in its first week.
Date posted: April 25
Total views: 17.1 million
4. 'Marvel's Doctor Strange' trailer
Marvel's first look at Benedict Cumberbatch as the surgeon-turned-wizard received more than 6.8 million views in its first 24 hours, fueled by excitement over his casting as well as controversy over Tilda Swinton being tapped to play the Ancient One, an Asian character from the comic books.
Date posted: April 12
Total views: 16.5 million
5. 'Late Late Show': Carpool Karaoke with Jennifer Lopez'
The JLo edition of the show's flagship Carpool Karaoke sketch also cracked the March edition of this list, earning 22.7 million views in its first three days.
Date posted: March 29
Total views: 36 million
6. 'The zombie apocalypse is coming'
The lone amateur clip on the list came from Cabot and Barrett Phillips, a pair of Virginia brothers, who took maximum advantage of their sister being whacked out on pain meds following wisdom-teeth extraction to pull this epic prank. The clip, in which they convince her the zombie apocalypse is afoot, was the USA's most-viewed video for a week following its April 11 release.
Date posted: April 11
Total views: 19.9 million
7. 'Kelly Ripa returns to 'Live!'
The youngest clip on this month's list is this April 26 excerpt from Live in which the host addresses the imminent departure of colleague Michael Strahan for Good Morning America. She learned about the switch just minutes before the news went public and took the next few days off to "process" the news. In the days following her return, the show's YouTube channel traffic skyrocketed from 60,000 daily views to over a million.
Date posted: April 26
Total views: 2.7 million
8. 'Tonight Show': Melissa McCarthy Lip Sync Battle'
Though Lip Sync Battle has become a successful spinoff for Spike, Tonight, where the skit originated, brings it back for special guests such as Melissa McCarthy, who performed Colors of the Wind from Pocahantas.
Date posted: April 4
Total views: 14.6 million
9. 'Taylor Swift vs. treadmill'
The once-testy relationship between the pop star and Apple Music has warmed to the point where she's willing to faceplant on a treadmill (or get a stunt double to do it) for a commercial.
Date posted: April 1
Total views: 16.7 million
10. 'Saturday Night Live': God Is a Boob Man'
The late-night institution weighs in on the religious liberty debate with this God's Not Dead 2 parody featuring Vanessa Bayer as a baker who refuses to provide a wedding cake to a gay couple.
Date posted: April 27
Total views: 3.9 million