Despacito, a song banned on Malaysian radio stations, just made YouTube history

The most-watched video on YouTube continues to reign supreme.

Despacito, a catchy Latin pop number by singer Luis Fonsi featuring rapper Daddy Yankee, has just made YouTube history by becoming the first video to hit a whopping six billion views.

The song was first released in January 2017 and the music video was uploaded onto YouTube in the same month. It then became the platform's most-watched video with more than three billion views in August 2017.

Now with six billion views achieved this month, it has surpassed other popular videos like Ed Sheeran's Shape Of You and Wiz Khalifa's See You Again. Both videos currently have more than four billion views.

Korean pop star Psy's Gangnam Style, which was the first video to hit the one billion-views milestone on YouTube back in 2012, is now stuck at 3.3 billion views.

Just how many views was Despacito getting on an average day? According to Forbes, Despacito recorded an average 2.8 million views daily prior to hitting the six billion mark. The highest on a single day comes at 25.7 million views

Despacito has a rather interesting controversial history in Malaysia. In July 2017, Reuters reported that Malaysia had banned the song from being played on government-owned RTM radio and television broadcasts. The ban was announced by former Communications and Multimedia Minister Salleh Said Keruak.

The decision to ban the song was made due to complaints by members of the public about the song's sexy lyrics. Despacito means "slowly" in Spanish and the English translation of the lyrics tells the story of an attempt to form a romantic relationship.

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