The top trending YouTube videos in Singapore for 2021

On Dec 1, YouTube unveiled their lists of the most watched videos in Singapore for the year 2021. 

Most notably, six out of 10 Top Trending (non-music) Videos in Singapore were produced by local creators or had local context, reflecting Singaporean’s increasing support for local content and creators. 

Here’s a breakdown of the top six trending (non-music) videos in 2021, in order of popularity among Singaporeans. 

On the top of the list is Night Owl Cinematics’ (NOC) Co-Founder Sylvia Chan breaking her silence with Xiaxue regarding the controversial claims against her. 

The video came out more than two weeks after allegations were raised against Sylvia online. This was the first time she was discussing the allegations on camera.

Although this video came out in the last quarter of the year, it still garnered close to 1.3 million views and found its way to the top of this list.

COVID-19 has been a trending topic for years now, and one of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s addresses to the nation also made it to this list. 

The speech was streamed live on May 31, 2021, when Singapore was on the Heightened Alert phase for three weeks, as PM Lee outlined his “test, trace, vaccinate” strategy to fight against the virus in the next phase. 

With around 5,700 likes, this was also the speech that outlined the vaccination rollout schedule for the general population, with the target of getting anyone who wants the vaccination jabbed by National Day.

As most of us continued to stay home, house tours like NOC’s Singapore’s Modern Peranakan Shophouse Tour became popular.

Uploaded on May 1, NOC members Sylvia, Ryan and Aiken bring us on a tour of the well-renovated beautiful Peranakan-style house.

YouTuber JianHao Tan, who has 5.18 million subscribers, has always been making humorous parody videos.

This year, his ‘13 Types of People in SQUID GAME’ uploaded on Oct 3 received an impressive amount of 341,000 likes. 

The South China Morning Post’s video showing the home of one of the founders of Sheng Siong was popular among local audiences.

The video showing one of the founders of Sheng Siong’s beautiful and luxurious home also received many praises in the comments about the founder’s humble personality. 

Inspirational and sincere journeys have always been many’s favourite.

MothershipSG’s Feature on Charlene Chew, 23-year-old who suffered third-degree burns in an accident in the kitchen, touched many hearts and amassed 44,000 likes.

Charlene also actively shares her recovery journey on social media, giving hope and comfort to other burn survivors. 

Apart from these trending videos, this year’s National Day theme song The Road Ahead seemed to be a hit among us. The song ended up on the top of the list for Top Music Videos, beating international hits like Butter from BTS and The Weeknd’s Save Your Tears.

YouTube also released its Top Creators list to highlight creators based in Singapore who have grown. Over 450 local channels have over 100,000 subscribers, an increase of over 35 per cent from last year.