Rihanna Shines Bright As ‘Diamonds’ Video Shoots to 2 Billion Views on YouTube

It’s been almost 10 years since Rihanna encouraged her loyal fans to “shine bright like a diamond.” Now, a new milestone is proving that they were listening.

Rihanna’s music video for her 2012 single “Diamonds” has officially surpassed 2 billion views on the platform. “Diamonds” joins two other songs from the Barbadian superstar in the prestigious category — her feature on Calvin Harris’s “This is What You Came for ” as well as her feature on Eminem’s “Love the way you lie”.

That means that “Diamonds” officially becomes Rihanna’s first video as a solo performer to reach this height.

Directed by Anthony Madler, the “Diamonds” video used artistic shots of hands touching, vases breaking, and rooms falling apart in reverse, while Rihanna poses and sprints through scenic landscapes representing each of the four elements — earth, wind, fire and water.

“Diamonds” remains one of Rihanna’s biggest hits on the Billboard charts. The track peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 back in December 2012, marking her 12th entry at the chart’s summit and tying her (at the time) with Madonna and the Supremes  for the fourth-most No. 1’s in the Hot 100’s history. Today, Rihanna has logged 14 No. 1 hits, which is the third-highest of any artist in the Hot 100’s history, only behind The Beatles(20 No. 1’s) and Mariah Carey (19 No. 1’s).
Rihanna is far from the only artist to have an older hit reach 2 billion views this year. In 2022 alone, Rosalía & J Balvin’s “Con Altura ,” Bruno Mars’ “That’s What I Like” and Adele’s “Rolling in The Deep ” all reached the rare milestone. The most-viewed music video in YouTube’s history is still Pinkfong’s “Baby Shark Dance ” which currently sits at more than 11 billion views.

Billboard