Today, YouTube released its annual lists ranking the top moments, creators, and music on the platform across the Middle East & North Africa. For the first time, YouTube also unveiled the Top Topics in MENA, which highlight the top moments in news, trends, pop-culture, and more that resonated across the platform.

Commenting on this year’s lists, Javid Aslanov, Head of YouTube in the Middle East & North Africa said “This year’s YouTube End-of-Year lists reveal how YouTube mirrors the most important events in MENA. From breaking news and sporting moments to the latest gaming trends and breakout musical artists, these lists showcase how creators give life to MENA’s most important stories, sharing their perspectives and engage audiences across diverse formats – including Shorts, long-form videos, live streams, and podcasts – on the topics that matter most to them.”

News & Sports:

The impact of war in the region was reflected in YouTube’s Top Trending lists. Three of YouTube’s Trending Topics in MENA, were related to the war – with searches for Rafah, Houthi movement and Southern Lebanon all trending through the year. Likewise, regional representation in the Olympics was also centre stage with Algerian Boxer Imane Khlief appearing in the Trending Topics. According to YouTube’s Culture & Trends team, in MENA, there have been over 950M views on videos related to EA FC 24 in 2024

Gaming:

The top trending topics on YouTube in 2024 including games like EA Sports FC 24, Free Fire MAX and Poppy Playtime. At the same time gaming creators like AboFlah, BanderitaX, ShongBong, Abo Noo7, POWR Suhaib topped YouTube’s Top Creators list, reflecting the growing popularity of gaming content and content creators on YouTube.

Pop Culture, Entertainment & Trends:

YouTube native dating reality show “Qesma w Naseeb” was also among the Trending Topics in MENA. YouTube data indicates that there were over 1 billion views of videos on Qesma w Naseeb’s official channel this year alone. The Asoka makeup trend also made waves in the trending topics with people styling with traditional Indian bridal hair, makeup, and outfits.

Breakout musician Al Shami also featured in YouTube’s Trending topics and Top songs for 2024 reflecting his growing popularity across the region. Mohamed Lazaar’s (Lazaro) breakout success with his single “Mahboul Ana” reached the top songs chart exemplifies YouTube’s ability to propel emerging artists to new heights of recognition. Tamer Ashour’s “Haygyly Mawgoo” and Mohamed Lazar’s “Mahboul Ana” were the top two songs on YouTube.

YouTube’s End of Year lists are generated by the YouTube Culture and Trends team using internal YouTube data. More on the methodology of each list:

• Trending Topics: Highlights top moments in culture – movies, memes, music, and more – as reflected on YouTube, based on analysis of a variety of signals, including views, uploads, and creator activity around these topics. Only topics determined to have conspicuous popularity this year, either because they were new to 2024 or because they experienced significant increases in user interest metrics, were eligible.
• Top Creators: Channel rankings based on in-country subscribers gained in 2024.
• Top Songs: Based on in-country views of songs that debuted in 2024 or saw significant year-over-year growth. Including official music videos, lyric videos, and art track videos.

YouTube 2024 End of Year Lists:

Trending Topics (not ranked):

• EA Sports FC 24
• Free Fire MAX
• Al Shami
• Rafah
• Houthi movement
• Southern Lebanon
• Asoka (makeup trend)
• Poppy Playtime: Chapter 3
• Imane Khelif
• Qesma w Naseeb

Top Creators:

1. AboFlah: Kuwaiti gaming sensation continues to top YouTube’s top creators lists for the fourth year in a row with over 43 million subscribers, his videos have amassed more than 6.5 billion views.
2. Majd Alzakout: UAE-based Syrian artist & lifestyle creator Majd continues to gain popularity across MENA, with over 2.2 billion views, including his most popular shorts video with over 47 million views.
3. BanderitaX: Saudi gaming creator Bandar’s authenticity continues to attract audiences across MENA with over 5.4 billion views and 18.1 million subscribers.
4. Abo Nooh: Saudi Gaming creator Abo Nooh appeared in the top trending creators list for the second year in the row.
5. Shawar: Egyptian creator Shawar’s humour captured the attention of over 13.1 million subscribers. His top three shorts have over 383 million views alone.
6. ShongxBong: Another force in the world of gaming content, Saudi Arabia’s SHoNgxBoNg’s unique gaming style continues to attract billions of views.
7. Alkaisr: Egyptian multiformat comedy creator Alkaisr’s blend of long-form, livestream and shorts amassed over 7 billion views.
8. Abo Rany: Palestinian creator Abo Rany’s daily vlogs caught the attention of over 3 million subscribers.
9. POWR Suhaib: Saudi-based Palestinian creator Suhaib is another renowned name in the world of gaming in Saudi Arabia with over 7.3 million subscribers.
10. Alkhal Mahdi: Lebanon based Mahdi’s skits and mini-dramedies have amassed over 678 million views.

Top Songs:

1. Tamer Ashor – Haygyly Mawgoo3 (Egypt)
2. Mohamed Lazaar (Lazaro) – Mahboul Ana (Morocco)
3. Mahmoud El Leithy – Am Elmagaal (Egypt)
4. Assala & Ahmed Saad – Sabab Farhity (Syria & Egypt)
5. Assala – Fouq (Syria)
6. Cheb Hichem Tgv – Fatou Liyam (Algeria)
7. Lbenj – Hawasy (Morocco)
8. Wael Jassar – Koul Waad (Lebanon)
9. Cheb Hamidou – 3achkek idman (Algeria)
10. AL SHAMI – Sabran (Syria)