Baby Shark

Jonathan Wright, a children's entertainer from Endwell, New York, known as Johnny Only,[6] was a DJ at a kids' summer camp in the 1990s where the counselors regularly performed the song with the campers.

[14] "Baby Shark" was greatly popularized by a version of the song produced by Pinkfong, an education brand owned by South Korean entertainment company SmartStudy.

The original music video for "Baby Shark" (Korean: 아기 상어; RR: Agi sang-eo) without child actors was uploaded on November 25, 2015.

This version was sung by then-10-year-old Korean-American singer Hope Segoine, and the music video featured two child actors, Park Geon Roung of South Korea and Elaine Kim Johnston of New Zealand.

[16][17] On November 2, 2020, more than four years after it was first uploaded, this version amassed 7.04 billion views to become the most-viewed YouTube video of all time, surpassing Luis Fonsi's "Despacito".

[21] "Baby Shark Dance" has received over 15 billion views worldwide and over 44 million likes as of November 2024[update], making it the most-viewed video on YouTube.

[23] Other popular K-pop groups, both locally- and internationally known, have also sung and danced to the song in the original beat or in their own rendition that are shared on the internet, including Twice, Monsta X, GOT7, Mamamoo, and several more.

[25] In July 2019, Kellogg's announced that it had entered a partnership with Pinkfong to introduce a new Baby Shark cereal, a berry-flavored variant of Froot Loops with marshmallows added.

[8][33] In May 2018, the Liberty Korea Party started using "Baby Shark" to promote its candidates, prompting SmartStudy to threaten legal action over copyright infringement.

[8][33] Prior to this, the Liberty Korea Party had contacted Wright for permission, who admits to having told the political group that the song was in the public domain.

The ruling cited the Korea Copyright Commission judgement that Wright's version simply added an instrument to an existing folk song.

By this time, Pinkfong was also marketing a wide variety of merchandise based on their song and video, including clothing, bedding, toys and fishing tackle.

[41] In June 2020, Pinkfong announced the television series Baby Shark's Big Show!, which premiered on Educational Broadcasting System (EBS) in South Korea.

[44] In the American comedy-drama television series Ted Lasso, fictional soccer player Jamie Tartt (played by English actor Phil Dunster) uses the tune of the song as his goal celebration anthem, in which the words "Baby Shark" are replaced with his name.

[47] Professional baseball player Gerardo Parra of the Washington Nationals, having discovered the song through his young daughter, adopted it as his walk-up music to energize the flagging team on June 19, 2019.

[52] The Choral Arts Society, though winning the bet, returned the honor by performing live on TV a mashup rendition of Baby Shark and Deep in the Heart of Texas.

[63][64] In July 2019, officials in West Palm Beach, Florida were criticized for playing a continuous loop of "Baby Shark", alongside "Raining Tacos" throughout the night outside the Waterfront Lake Pavilion as a way of deterring vagrants.

[65] In October 2020, two former detention officers and a supervisor at an Oklahoma County jail were charged with counts of misdemeanor cruelty to a prisoner and conspiracy for forcing inmates to listen to the song on a loop at loud volumes while standing and handcuffed for an extended period.

[70] Also on Carpool Karaoke, when asked if the members would sing rounds while they were bored, K-pop boyband BTS gave Baby Shark as an example and sang it on the spot, mixing the chorus with LMFAO's Shots.