Tion Wayne and Russ Millions’ ‘Body 2’ is the UK’s most-watched YouTube music video of 2021
The drill duo's star-studded collaboration racked up more than 77 million views
By Joe Goggins
Tion Wayne and Russ Millions’ ‘Body 2’ has been named the UK’s top music video of 2021 by YouTube Music.
The London drill pair’s all-star rework of their own ‘Body’ collaboration, which topped the singles chart in April, has been viewed more than 77 million times. The track features ArrDee, 3x3E1 & ZT, Bugzy Malone, Fivio Foreign, Darkoo and Buni. It beats out videos from the likes of Ed Sheeran and The Weeknd. The video for the original ‘Body’ came in seventh on the list, with over 59 million views.
Sheeran’s ‘Bad Habits’ was in second, with The Weeknd’s ‘Save Your Tears’ third. Olivia Rodrigo and Lil Nas X rounded out the top five with ‘good 4 u’ and ‘Montero (Call Me by Your Name)’ respectively; Rodrigo is also in sixth, with ‘drivers license’. Six of the top ten videos are from British artists.
The top ten is an impressive testament to the burgeoning popularity of drill in the UK; in addition to the two ‘Body’ videos, ‘Commitment Issues’, by another of the genre’s London proponents, Central Cee, is eighth on the rundown.
The ‘Body’ videos were the only ones on the list not to have been uploaded to the artist’s official channel; instead, they were posted by GRM Daily, a grime-centric platform with more than 4.7 million subscribers that, according to an official YouTube Music statement, has “played a vital role in elevating UK genres such as drill and grime from the underground to become the dominant sound in contemporary youth culture.”
Dan Chalmers, Director of Music for YouTube EMEA, hailed the site’s platforming of drill. “YouTube has always been the place where any artist of any genre can break,” he said, “and this list is testament to that, with drill at number one and featuring the same video twice in one list. It’s a true reflection of what is going on in Britain today.“
In total, there have been more than two billion views of music videos on YouTube in 2021. The full top ten list for the UK is as follows:
- Tion Wayne & Russ Millions – ‘Body 2 [feat. Arrdee, 3x3E! & ZT, Bugzy Malone, Fivio Foreign, Darkoo & Buni]’
- Ed Sheeran – ‘Bad Habits’
- The Weeknd – ‘Save Your Tears’
- Olivia Rodrigo – ‘good 4 u’
- Lil Nas X – ‘MONTERO (Call Me by Your Name)’
- Olivia Rodrigo – ‘drivers license’
- Tion Wayne & Russ Millions – ‘Body’
- Dave – ‘Clash’
- Central C – ‘Commitment Issues’
- Anne-Marie, KSI & Digital Farm Animals – ‘Don’t Play’