The two-minute chorus that broke YouTube's view count records

History · Published 6 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: In 2008, a pop-punk anthem became the first video in history to hit 100 million views on YouTube. While critics debated its departure from rock roots, the song's infectious energy and strategic multilingual release turned a 'joke' of a concept into a global phenomenon.

Released on February 27, 2007, 'Girlfriend' served as the lead single for Avril Lavigne's third studio album, The Best Damn Thing. Written alongside producer Dr. Luke, the track was born from a moment of intoxication, with Lavigne noting the chorus took only two minutes to compose. Though she initially viewed the song as a joke, its commercial impact was undeniable, reaching number one in eight countries including Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, and marking her first top spot on the US Billboard Hot 100.

The song's global strategy involved recording the chorus in seven languages—Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, German, Japanese, and Mandarin—to engage non-English markets. Lavigne reportedly spent hours studying these languages to ensure correct pronunciation. This effort helped the track achieve massive scale, with worldwide sales estimated at over 10 million copies. In Japan alone, the song became the best-selling single by a Western female artist, driven by over 1,000,000 ringtone sales and 750,000 platinum-level sales.

However, the song's ascent was not without controversy. In July 2007, a lawsuit was filed alleging copyright infringement against Lavigne and her team, claiming the track plagiarized the 1979 Rubinoos single 'I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend.' While a confidential settlement was reached in early 2008, the plaintiffs later issued a statement exonerating the artists. Additionally, the song's legendary YouTube milestone was complicated by 'view inflation' tactics used by fansites, though the music video remains a digital titan with over 695 million views on its official upload.

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