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TED Reveals Top 20 Most-Watched Talks, Sir Ken Robinson Tops The List

Matt Burns @mjburnsy / 12 years

Warning: Clicking through to see the top 20 most watched TEDTalks is akin to finding a new show on Netflix. It will kill your day. If you must (and you really do) see the top 20 talks in TED six-year history, clear your calendar, shut off your email, go to the bathroom and open your mind. You’re about to learn something.

TED tabulated data from its top sources including TED.com, YouTube, Hulu, iTunes, and several others. Sir Ken Robinson’s 2006 talk about how schools kill creativity tops the list with 13,409,417 views. It’s followed by brain researcher Jill Bolte Taylor’s epic story about suffering a stroke — and documenting her body shutting down. Next is Pranav Mistry, David Gallo and then again by Pranav Mistry and Pattie Maes with an astounding demo of SixthSense, a wearable projection computer. Further down the list is Tony Robbins, Steve Jobs, Stephen Hawking, and Mary Roach’s talk on 10 things you didn’t know about an orgasm. It’s an impressive collection of fascinating lectures.

  1. Sir Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity(2006): 13,409,417 views
  2. Jill Bolte Taylor‘s stroke of insight(2008): 10,409,851
  3. Pranav Mistry on the thrilling potential of SixthSense(2009): 9,223,263
  4. David Gallo‘s underwater astonishments(2007): 7,879,541
  5. Pattie Maes and Pranav Mistry demo SixthSense(2009): 7,467,580
  6. Tony Robbins asks Why we do what we do(2006): 6,879,488
  7. Simon Sinek on how great leaders inspire action(2010): 6,050,294
  8. Steve Jobs on how to live before you die(2005): 5,444,022
  9. Hans Rosling shows the best stats you’ve ever seen(2006): 4,966,643
  10. Brene Brown talks about the power of vulnerability(2010): 4,763,038
  11. Daniel Pink on the surprising science of motivation(2009): 4,706,241
  12. Arthur Benjamin does mathemagic(2005): 4,658,425
  13. Elizabeth Gilbert on nurturing your genius(2009): 4,538,037
  14. Dan Gilbert asks: Why are we happy?(2004): 4,269,082
  15. Stephen Hawking asks big questions about the universe(2008): 4,153,105
  16. Jeff Han demos his breakthrough multi-touchscreen(2006): 3,891,251
  17. Johnny Lee shows Wii Remote hacks for educators(2008): 3,869,417
  18. Keith Barry does brain magic(2004): 3,847,893
  19. Mary Roach 10 things you didn’t know about orgasm(2009): 3,810,630
  20. Vijay Kumar demos robots that fly like birds (2012): 3,535,340

The TED blog links to the top 20 list published last year. It’s very similar, in fact, with the notable addition of Steve Jobs’ genuine 2005 talk on how to live before you die.