Ariana Grande sets YouTube, VEVO record

“Thank U, Next” features a star-studded cast of cameos

The highly anticipated official music video from Ariana Grande “thank u, next” has broken YouTube and VEVO records. The video was released to both platforms on Friday (Nov 30th) at 3 pm ET and was viewed more than 50 million times within 24 hours on VEVO, and had more than 829,000 simultaneous viewers on YouTube during its peak.

The video also broke YouTube records for users sending out more than 516,000 chat messages during the premiere.

The “thank u, next” video features Kris Jenner playing Ariana’s mom as well as a playful representation of some of the most iconic romantic comedies including Mean Girls and 13 Going On 30. The scenes feature cameos from Jennifer Coolidge, Jonathan Bennett, Troye Sivan, Colleen Ballinger, Daniella Monet, Elizabeth Gillies and Stefanie Drummond.

“It’s with great pleasure that we announce that Ariana Grande’s ‘thank u, next’ has broken the Vevo 24 hour view-count record.” states JP Evangelista, Vevo Head Content, Programming & Marketing. “This video continues a string of immensely creative visual work that Ariana has released on our platform this year. Each video has been meticulously crafted and has had a brilliant lead up campaign. Ariana and Hannah Lux Davis’ entertaining work now joins the ranks of some of our most successful videos of all time. We congratulate Ariana and the Republic family on this massive success.”

The breakup anthem is Grande’s first No. 1 single on the Billboard Hot 100, where it has remained for the past three weeks. Grande was the first woman to debut at No. 1 since Adele took “Hello” to the top in 2015. The song is from her No. 1 Billboard 200 album, Sweetener, that was released in August.

Last month, Billboard named Grande 2018 Woman of the Year. The award-winning singer, songwriter, actress and activist will accept the honor at the 13th annual Women in Music dinner and awards ceremony on December 6th in New York City. The highly-regarded event, held in conjunction with the release of Billboard’s Women in Music issue, will also honor the most powerful female executives in the industry.

Grande will launch The Sweetener World Tour in March in North America. Stops include the tour kickoff in Albany, Philadelphia, Washington DC, St. Louis, Chicago, Sacramento, Los Angeles and Phoenix before wrapping in New York City. International dates will be announced at a later date.

Buddy Iahn
Buddy Iahn

Buddy Iahn founded The Music Universe when he decided to juxtapose his love of web design and music. As a lifelong drummer, he decided to take a hiatus from playing music to report it. The website began as a fun project in 2013 to one of the top independent news sites. Email: info@themusicuniverse.com