It’s not even May, but one Eurovision 2017 star is already making history. Earlier today, the official music video for Francesco Gabbani’s “Occidentali’s Karma” — Italy’s entry for Kyiv — passed 86 million views on YouTube.

Not only does this give Francesco and his gorilla the honour of having the most watched video of the 2017 season, it also means that “Occidentali’s Karma” is officially the single most viewed Eurovision song of all-time on the Google-owned video sharing platform. Namasté alé indeed!

Since it was first uploaded to Francesco’s Vevo channel on 9 February 2017, the video has seen its view count rise exponentially. This could be down to a number of factors.

As with the song itself, the clip is packed full of scientific and philosophical references, encouraging repeat viewings as fans try to find each and every one.

Then of course there’s the simple fact that “Occidentali’s Karma” is ridiculously catchy.

Francesco Gabbani Occidentali’s Karma (Official Music Video)

Francesco inherits the YouTube crown from his fellow countrymen Il Volo. The Eurovision 2015 trio only took the record in January, almost two years after the music video for “Grande Amore” was published on their Vevo channel.

At the time of writing, the clip has 85.9 million views.

Il Volo “Grande Amore” (Official Music Video)

Alexander Rybak lies in third place with “Fairytale”. Up to 2017, the grand final performance of Norway’s 2009 winning entry was consistently the most watched Eurovision video since it was first uploaded almost eight years ago.

It has currently amassed a tally of 81.3 million views.

Alexander Rybak “Fairytale” (Eurovision 2009 Grand Final Performance)

Eurovision stars with 100 million views

While Francesco is riding high when it comes to views for a Eurovision entry, he has a little way to go before he enters the exclusive 100 million club.

In 2015, Turkey’s 2009 singer Hadise became only the second Eurovision alum to pass the milestone with her single “Prenses”. She joined Switzerland’s 1988 winner Celine Dion, who had previously reached 100 million views with her Titanic mega-hit “My Heart Will Go On”.

However, a plethora of past acts have joined the two divas in the interim. These include Alexey Vorobyov (Russia 2011), t.A.T.u (Russia 2003), Serebro (Russia 2007), ABBA (Sweden 1974), Bonnie Tyler (UK 2013), and Olivia Newton John (UK 1974).

All of the above mentioned acts hit 100 million YouTube views with non-Eurovision songs. At this rate, Francesco will be the first act to have a Eurovision song with over 100 million views on the site.

N.B: None of the above statistics are consolidated. All the view counts mentioned relate to individual videos.

Does this YouTube success cement Francesco Gabbani’s status as Eurovision 2017 favourite? Will “Occidentali’s Karma” take us to Italy in 2018? Let us know in the comments below or react using the wiwibloggs app.

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