Music vs Gaming vs News: Which Categories Dominate YouTube Worldwide?

Walk into any country’s YouTube trending page and you’ll see very different content. Gaming content dominates globally. Music videos are nearly as popular. Entertainment rounds out the top three. But what are the global patterns, and what do they tell us about different cultures?

At TrendTube, we track trending videos across 100+ countries every day, categorizing and analyzing them to understand the global landscape of content consumption. Here’s what our current data reveals.

The Global Category Breakdown

Based on our analysis of trending videos across all countries we track, here’s how content categories currently distribute:

Gaming’s dominance reflects the global rise of gaming culture, esports, and streaming. Music remains incredibly popular across all regions. These global averages hide fascinating regional differences—let’s break it down by region and country.

Gaming: The Global Phenomenon

Gaming content has exploded on YouTube, now representing the largest category of trending videos worldwide. This includes gaming streams, esports tournaments, let’s plays, game reviews, and gaming news.

Gaming Powerhouses

In our data, gaming dominates across most regions:

Why gaming dominates:

• Rise of esports and competitive gaming
• Gaming streamers as mainstream celebrities
• Mobile gaming explosion worldwide
• COVID-19 accelerated digital entertainment shift
• YouTube Gaming and Twitch popularized game streaming

Music: The Universal Language

Music remains incredibly strong, appearing in trending across every single country we track. While gaming has overtaken it globally, music still dominates in specific markets.

Regional Music Patterns

Our data shows music competes strongly with gaming across all regions:

Why music remains strong:

• Universal appeal across all demographics
• Music videos are highly shareable
• Strong integration with social media (TikTok, Instagram)
• YouTube as de facto music streaming service in many markets
• Local music scenes create region-specific trends

India’s Diverse Landscape

India shows interesting balance in our data:

• Gaming: 30%
• Music: 28%
• Entertainment: 20%

Bollywood music releases still create massive spikes, with film songs dominating during major releases. But gaming has grown substantially, reflecting India’s young, mobile-first population.

Entertainment: The Broad Category

Entertainment is YouTube’s catch-all category, including talk shows, celebrity content, variety shows, and viral moments. It represents about 12% of global trending content.

Where Entertainment Thrives

Entertainment performs particularly well in markets with:

• Strong TV culture that transitions to YouTube
• Celebrity-driven content
• Reality shows and competitions
• Late-night show clips (especially in English-speaking markets)

In our data, India shows Entertainment at 20%, reflecting the strong influence of Bollywood celebrity culture and TV show content on YouTube.

News & Politics: The Rare Category

Interestingly, News & Politics content rarely appears in YouTube trending. In our current data, it represents less than 0.1% of trending videos globally.

When news does trend:

• Major global events (natural disasters, significant political events)
• Viral news moments that cross into entertainment
• Presidential speeches or major announcements
• Election night coverage

During these exceptional moments, news can spike to 10-20% of trending, but this is rare and temporary.

Other Categories: The Supporting Cast

Beyond the big three (Gaming, Music, Entertainment), several other categories appear regularly:

People & Blogs (~6% globally):

• Lifestyle vloggers
• Daily life content
• Personal vlogs
• Influencer content

Film & Animation (~6% globally):

• Movie trailers and clips
• Animated content
• Film reviews
• Behind-the-scenes footage

Sports (~2% globally in our current snapshot):

• Highlight reels
• Major sporting events
• Athlete content
• Sports commentary

Other Categories (Comedy, Travel, How-to, etc.): These categories collectively represent about 3% of trending content, appearing occasionally but not consistently across most countries.

Regional Patterns and Cultural Insights

Looking at our data across regions, gaming and music dominate everywhere, but with interesting cultural variations:

How Categories Change Over Time

Our historical data reveals trends:

Rising Categories (2023-2024)

Educational Content: Up 140%

• How-to videos and tutorials
• Skill-building content
• Science and technology explainers
• Language learning

Finance & Business: Up 95%

• Cryptocurrency and investment content
• Entrepreneurship and side hustles
• Personal finance advice
• Economic news and analysis

Declining Categories

Pranks & Challenges: Down 60%

• Audience fatigue with low-effort content
• Platform policy changes
• Shift toward more substantive content

Vlogging: Down 35%

• Market saturation
• Preference for more structured content
• Rise of TikTok for daily life content

Stable Categories

Music, Gaming, News, Sports: Minimal change year-over-year

• Core content types with established audiences
• Seasonal fluctuations but stable long-term
• Foundation of YouTube trending

What This Means for Creators

Understanding category trends helps you:

1. Identify Opportunities

• Underserved categories in your region: If everyone creates music content, gaming might be open
• Cross-regional potential: Create content that trends well in multiple markets
• Emerging categories: Get in early on growing content types

2. Optimize Upload Strategy

• Know your competition: In music-heavy markets, you compete with major labels
• Timing matters: Upload when your category typically performs best
• Category switching: Some creators succeed by pivoting to less saturated categories

3. Localization Decisions

• Double down on popular categories: In gaming-heavy markets, lean into gaming
• Find your niche: In saturated categories, specialize further
• Consider category-region fit: Some content types don’t translate everywhere

Explore the Data Yourself

Want to see these patterns in real-time?

• Global trending: See which categories dominate worldwide right now
• Country pages: Check category breakdowns for specific countries
• Insights dashboard: Interactive category analysis and charts
• Weekly reports: Category trends week-by-week

Our data updates daily, showing you exactly what’s trending in each category across 100+ countries.

Conclusion

As of October 2025, gaming has emerged as YouTube’s dominant trending category globally, with music running a close second. Together, these two categories account for nearly three-quarters of all trending content worldwide.

What’s fascinating isn’t just gaming’s rise—it’s how consistent the pattern is across regions. From South Korea to Brazil to the United States, gaming leads, followed by music. This represents a significant shift from traditional media consumption and reflects the global rise of gaming culture, esports, and streaming as mainstream entertainment.

Understanding these patterns isn’t just academically interesting—it’s actionable intelligence for creators, marketers, and anyone trying to understand modern media consumption.

The question isn’t “What’s trending on YouTube?” It’s “What’s trending where, when, and why?”

Remember: These patterns evolve. Check back regularly as we update our analysis with fresh data.

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