TED is dedicated to ideas worth spreading. And that leaves many wondering exactly which ideas have been spread the most widely in the six years that TEDTalks videos have been available online. Here, a list of the 20 most-watched talks on all the platforms we track: TED.com, YouTube, iTunes, embed and download, Hulu and more, as of November 2012.
From education to brain function to inspiring messages to techno-possibilities, this list represents quite a breadth of topics.
- Sir Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity (2006): 14,850,200 views
- Jill Bolte Taylor‘s stroke of insight (2008): 11,225,783
- Pranav Mistry on the thrilling potential of SixthSense (2009): 9,897,347
- David Gallo‘s underwater astonishments (2007): 8,204,051
- Pattie Maes and Pranav Mistry demo SixthSense (2009): 7,747,690
- Tony Robbins asks Why we do what we do (2006): 7,564,235
- Simon Sinek on how great leaders inspire action (2010): 7,539,516
- Brene Brown talks about the power of vulnerability (2010): 5,861,510
- Steve Jobs on how to live before you die (2005): 5,444,022
- Daniel Pink on the surprising science of motivation (2009): 5,534,123
- Hans Rosling shows the best stats you’ve ever seen (2006): 5,249,928
- Elizabeth Gilbert on nurturing your creative genius (2009): 5,020,869
- Arthur Benjamin does mathemagic (2005): 4,951,918
- Mary Roach on 10 things you didn’t know about orgasm (2009): 4,793,334
- Dan Gilbert asks: Why are we happy? (2004): 4,759,217
- Keith Barry does brain magic (2004): 4,475,303
- Stephen Hawking asks big questions about the universe (2008): 4,470,236
- Johnny Lee shows Wii Remote hacks for educators (2008): 3,997,174
- Jeff Han demos his breakthrough multi-touchscreen (2006): 3,982,775
- Barry Schwartz explores the paradox of choice (2005): 3,836,350
Compare and contrast how the 2012 list of the most popular talks stacks up to the 2011 list, written on the fifth birthday of TEDTalks videos.
Note: This post was updated November 8, 2012.
































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commented on Aug 21 2012
Reblogged this on make a powerful point.
commented on Aug 21 2012
Pranav Mistry is the Gujarati Eric Bana.
Williams Wimsatt commented on Aug 21 2012
http://blog.ted.com/2012/06/27/realizing-the-promise-of-stem-cells-susan-solomon-at-tedglobal-2012/
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commented on Aug 21 2012
Reblogged this on Ode To Capitalism.
Josh Karges commented on Aug 21 2012
The speaker’s name for lecture #20 is misspelled. Vijay Kumar is my graduate advisor at UPenn.
Josh Karges commented on Aug 22 2012
Cool. Thanks.
andrew forsyth commented on Aug 22 2012
Now, please weight these by years since release and Kumar does even better.
TED Wgt Name
20 1 Vijay Kumar
3 2 Pranav Mistry
7 3 Simon Sinek
2 4 Jill Bolte Taylor‘s
5 5 Pattie Maes and Pranav Mistry
10 6 Brene Brown
1 7 Sir Ken Robinson
4 8 David Gallo‘s
11 9 Daniel Pink
13 10 Elizabeth Gilbert
19 11 Mary Roach
6 12 Tony Robbins
15 13 Stephen Hawking
17 14 Johnny Lee
9 15 Hans Rosling
8 16 Steve Jobs
12 17 Arthur Benjamin
16 18 Jeff Han
14 19 Dan Gilbert
18 20 Keith Barry
John Johnson commented on Oct 27 2012
If you want an accurate weighting, you’d also have to normalize it relative to TED audience size over time. New videos are now more likely to reach larger audiences than the new videos did back then.
Emily McManus commented on Oct 29 2012
Exactly — it’s interesting that just given sheer numbers, these older talks are still quite competitive. Sir Ken Robinson was launched when the platform had 0 viewers.
Brock Lee commented on Aug 21 2012
One of the best TED talks not mentioned: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4zSRkBMPng
commented on Aug 21 2012
I think i am biggest fan of Ted. I download these talks on my galaxy s2 and also listen them while travelling. TED is doing a great job.
Wivina Belmonte commented on Aug 22 2012
the ‘biggest fan of TED talks’ — now that’s a competition!
commented on Aug 22 2012
oh :P
Valentin Kravtchenko commented on Aug 22 2012
I join in! Watched about 400 videos so far – the goal: get the all!
George C Carroll III commented on Aug 21 2012
The world is a better place – and getting better – because of TED Talks! Go TED!
John Heylin commented on Aug 21 2012
It would be nice for this list to include views from videos posted on YouTube as well. I bet the list would change a bit.
commented on Aug 21 2012
From the description: “…on all the platforms we track: TED.com, YouTube, iTunes, embed and download, Hulu and more.”
Mahmut Demir commented on Aug 21 2012
Not sure if they are included.. “hidden beauty of pollination” video has been watched 22 million times on youtube but it’s not on the list
Ekin Caglar commented on Aug 22 2012
Could it be because the copy of that video that got 22m views was uploaded to YouTube by “mdemirst” and not TED? ;)
commented on Aug 21 2012
Reblogged this on Eric Ryan Grant and commented:
Absolutely Inspiring. Amazing people giving amazing talks – thanks for posting TED Blog!!
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Antonio Sy commented on Aug 21 2012
Hi. It would be nice if this list was posted as a subscription on Itunes!