In just 22 hours, the first trailer for "Grand Theft Auto 6" (GTA6) received 85 million views, breaking MrBeast's video's record for the most YouTube views in 24 hours. This ranking does not include music videos, but the hype surrounding the long-awaited game may continue to break these records as well - currently, the most viewed YouTube video in a 24-hour period is the music video for K-pop superstar BTS' song "Butter," which has been viewed 108 million times in 24 hours.
The popularity of "Grand Theft Auto" has lasted for ten years. The last game in the series, Grand Theft Auto V, was released ten years ago in September 2013. According to Guinness World Records, the game broke the record for "highest revenue generated by an entertainment product in 24 hours", selling 11.21 million copies on the day of release and earning $815.7 million. However, it remains the second-best-selling video game of all time, behind only Minecraft.
Rockstar Games, the publisher of the Grand Theft Auto series, had planned to release a trailer on Tuesday morning. However, the trailer was leaked on X (Twitter) one day in advance, and Rockstar released the trailer as scheduled and took down the leaked version.
Rockstar wrote on X: "Our trailer has been leaked, please watch the real thing on YouTube."
In addition to music videos, MrBeast previously held the record for the most views on YouTube in a 24-hour period. The top influencer's video in August pitted contestants from "every country" in the world against each other in a series of competitions, garnering 59.4 million views on its first day. In another of the 25-year-old YouTuber's most popular videos, he recreated Netflix's hit video "The Squidward Game" (without hurting anyone in the process).
We will update this article if Grand Theft Auto succeeds in knocking BTS off their throne.