This is Bad Apple!!, a shadow art video to a vocal remix of a song from an independent Japanese video game series, Touhou.
Bad Apple was uploaded in October of 2009 on the Japan's Youtube equivalent, and became the most viewed video of all time on the site, and remains so to this day.
It was also uploaded on Youtube by various fans. When the most popular uploads of the original video are combined, they equally around 25 million views.
In addition, various covers, parodies, and remixes have achieved great views as well, with around 30 different tributes to the video getting 1m+ views.
Do you think Bad Apple could've been a major viral hit ala The Fox or Harlem Shake had it been released in the era of streaming? When the video was this well received with a Japanese song and as a tribute to a piece of Japanese pop culture, do you think it could've really blown up with an English song instead, or maybe even referencing another franchise more familiar to the West? (ie. Disney, Pokemon, Super Smash Bros...) tbh, if it had been released in 2013, I think this could've been a number one hit with streaming.
