Gangnam, Justin Bieber and a finger-biting baby called Charlie power YouTube to a phenomenal one BILLION users every month

YouTube crossed the one billion threshold five months after Facebook reached that figure for the first time.

Most popular video ever on the site is South Korean rapper Psy's breakout hit Gangnam Style.

Google bought YouTube for $1.76billion in 2006 when the video site had an estimated 50 million users worldwide.

YouTube has powered to a phenomenal one billion users every single month thanks to hits by Psy and Justin Bieber - and the perennially funny Charlie bit my finger.
Gangnam Style by Psy is the video sharing site's most popular clip ever, with nearly 1.5billion views in total as the billion-user milestone was announced last night at an event in Santa Monica, California.
That makes the South Korean rapper's breakthrough hit nearly twice as popular as the second place clip, the music video for Justin Bieber and Ludacris's hit track Baby.

1. PSY GanGnam Style

South Korean rapper Psy in his music video for the track Gangnam Style, which is far and away the most popular video on YouTube, the video-sharing website which has hit the one billion users a month mark.

Oooh, baby baby: Gangnam Style has been viewed nearly 1.5billion times on YouTube

The only clip in the top ten not promoting a recording industry artist was the perennially amusing Charlie Bit My Finger - again !, which was the sixth most watched of all time with nearly 520million views.

2. Justin Bieber  

Baby, Canadian teen popper Justin Bieber's collaboration with southern U.S. rapper Ludacris, was the second most watched YouTube video of all time as the announcement was made.

No one artist had more than one video in the top ten and, other than the apparently universally appealing Gangnam Style, the only non-English language video was Brazilian folk singer Michel Teló's Ai Se Eu Te Pego!.
YouTube announced it had reached the billion users a month milestone at a swish event last night aimed at advertisers and featuring performances from some of the website's biggest stars.

3. Charlie bit my finger 

Charlie bit my finger - again! The super-cute viral video featuring two young brothers was the only video in YouTube's all-time top ten that doesn't feature a music industry artist

It crossed the threshold five months after online social network Facebook said it had reached that figure for the first time.

The vast audience - up from 800million a month in October 2011 - has given YouTube's owner Google another lucrative channel for selling online ads beyond its dominant internet search engine.
Google snapped up YouTube for $1.76billion (£1.16billion) in 2006 when the video site had an estimated 50million users worldwide.

THE TOP TEN MOST POPULAR YOUTUBE VIDEOS OF ALL TIME

Place	Video name	Artist	Channel	Views
1	Gangnam Style	Psy	officialpsy	1,452,252,796
2	Baby ft. Ludacris	Justin Bieber	JustinBieberVEVO	841,647,354
3	On The Floor ft. Pitbull	Jennifer Lopez	JenniferLopezVEVO	658,498,595
4	Love The Way You Lie ft. Rihanna	Eminem	EminemVEVO	547,774,851
5	Party Rock Anthem ft. Lauren Bennett, GoonRock	LMFAO	LMFAOVEVO	528,013,483
6	Charlie bit my finger - again !	N/A	HDCYT	518,004,893
7	Waka Waka (This Time for Africa)	Shakira	shakiraVEVO	513,391,424
8	Bad Romance	Lady Gaga	LadyGagaVEVO	512,755,668
9	Ai Se Eu Te Pego	Michel Teló	MichelTelo11	488,918,823
10	Call Me Maybe	Carly Rae Jepson	CarlyRaeJepsenVEVO	428,942,474

YouTube has since late 2011 refocused its site to prioritise watching along distinct channels of its creators. Such channels were seen as better allowing advertisers to focus on certain genres of content like beauty or music.
The company in 2012 ploughed $100million (£659million) into funding 96 channels to help them accelerate that growth, in many cases partnering with big-name Hollywood producers and directors.
Later, YouTube vowed to spend another $200million (£132million) marketing the channels to boost viewers.
But last night's event focused largely on stars who made it big through YouTube before the new channel-funding strategy, such as Michelle Phan, a video author who has been giving viewers make-up tips via the site since 2006.

YouTube vice-president Robert Kyncl, who is the company's global head of content partnernships, admitted after the event that the channel funding strategy had not worked as well as hoped.
Asked whether the channel funding investment had paid off, Mr Kyncl said: 'Every year we reserve the right to get smarter.'
While YouTube was committed to continuing to invest in content, he said, more of such investment in the future would go to those channels that had already proven they can be successful at building an audience on their own.
'What we're looking for is the acceleration of those who are figuring out how to retail their content,' he said.