Israel’s Eurovision winner ‘Toy’ passes 100 million YouTube views

Netta Barzilai’s hit song isn’t most viewed music video in Israel.

Netta Barzilai (photo credit: GUY YECHIELY)
Netta Barzilai
(photo credit: GUY YECHIELY)
Israeli wunderkind Netta Barzilai has passed yet another milestone: More than 100 million views on YouTube for her Eurovision-winning song “Toy.”
As of Tuesday morning, the song on the official Eurovision channel had just over 25,000 views past the one million mark. Overall, the song has been seen more than 100 million times; if you count the version uploaded by Israeli broadcaster KAN as well as clips from the final and semifinal, “Toy” has been viewed more than 185 million times already.
Back in May – two weeks after Barzilai’s big win in Lisbon – “Toy” became the most watched song ever on the Eurovision’s YouTube channel. The song has now easily eclipsed the video in second place, which is Germany’s “Satellite” by Lena. That song – which won the 2010 contest – has close to 60 million views.
The year 2018 has been an outstanding time for Barzilai and for Israel. Last week, Twitter revealed that the singer’s three-word tweet after winning: “Thank you Europe” was the most re-tweeted in Israel in 2018. And YouTube revealed last week that “Toy” was just the second-most viewed music video in Israel in the past year, coming in after Omer Adam’s “Shnei Meshugaim” (Two Crazy People). While Adam’s video has just under 48 million views, most of the hits came from within Israel.