Guns N’ Roses’ video for Sweet Child O’ Mine creates history

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By ( Classic Rock ) published

After their video for November Rain broke records last year, Guns N’ Roses have done it again with the Appetite For Destruction classic

Guns N' Roses
Guns N' Roses in 1987 (Image credit: Paul Natkin/WireImage - Getty)

In July last year, Guns N’ Roses hit the headlines after their video for 1992’s November Rain surpassed one billion views on YouTube.

The epic nine-minute shoot – which portrayed frontman Axl Rose marrying his then girlfriend Stephanie Seymour and saw Slash deliver the track’s memorable guitar solo outside a New Mexico church – became the first promo from the decade to surpass the tally.

Now, 15 months later, the 1988 video for Guns N’ Roses’ track Sweet Child O’ Mine has also smashed through the one billion views mark – making it the first video from the 80s to achieve such a feat.

At the time of writing, the video for the track – which appeared on the band's 1987 debut album Appetite For Destruction – has clocked up 1,000,339,220  views – an average of almost 600,000 daily views.

Forbes report that Guns N’ Roses have now racked up an astonishing 895m YouTube views in 2019 alone – an average of 3.1m views a day.

Guns N’ Roses celebrated the news by posting a video on Twitter, which mixes the original video with up-to-date live footage, with the caption: “Guns N’ Roses family made this moment. Sweet Child O’ Mine has hit over one billion views on YouTube.”

The band also updated their Facebook cover pic to mark the news.

Guns N’ Roses are currently continuing their mammoth Not In This Lifetime tour, with their next show taking place in Guadalajara in Mexico on Friday night.

Scott Munro
Scott Munro
Louder e-commerce editor

Scott has spent 37 years in newspapers, magazines and online as an editor, production editor, sub-editor, designer, writer and reviewer. Scott joined our news desk in 2014 before moving into e-commerce in 2020. Scott maintains Louder’s buyer’s guides, highlights deals, and reviews headphones, speakers, earplugs and more. Over the last 12 years, Scott has written more than 11,500 articles across Louder, Classic Rock, Metal Hammer and Prog. He's previously written for publications including IGN, Sunday Mirror, Daily Record and The Herald, covering everything from news and features, to tech reviews, video games, travel and whisky. Scott's favourite bands are Fields Of The Nephilim, The Cure, New Model Army, All About Eve, The Mission, Cocteau Twins, Drab Majesty, Marillion and Rush.