If you like it, then you should’ve put a ring on it — but a billion views isn’t a bad compromise. Fresh off of being named Billboard‘s No. 1 greatest pop star of the 21st century, Beyoncé‘s iconic music video for “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)” has surpassed one billion views on YouTube a full 15 years after it was first uploaded, becoming her second visual to reach the milestone after “Halo.”
In the three-and-a-half-minute black-and-white video, Bey — flanked by two other dancers in leggy black leotards — dances her heart out for the entirety of the empowering, insanely catchy I Am… Sasha Fierce single. “If you liked it then you shoulda put a ring on it/ Don’t be mad once you see that he want it,” she sings, staring down the camera.
Both the track and visual serve as some of the most iconic pieces in Bey’s career. In addition to “Single Ladies” spending four weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2008, the Jake Nava-directed visual’s continuous dance sequence — choreographed by Frank Gatson Jr. and JaQuel Knight — found the 32-time Grammy winner flawlessly executing a series of generation-defining moves that are still being replicated today.
Plus, the “Single Ladies” video was behind one of the buzziest moments of 2009: Ye, then known still as Kanye West, memorably interrupting Taylor Swift’s VMAs acceptance speech for best female video and declaring that Bey’s project — being “one of the best videos of all time,” as he put it — should’ve won instead.
In the moment, the “Texas Hold ‘Em” singer was stunned — and a little horrified — but flipped the script when “Single Ladies” later won video of the year. Forfeiting her own acceptance-speech time, Bey famously invited Billboard‘s future No. 2 greatest pop star of the 21st century back on stage to finish her thank yous.
Add your view to more than a billion others by watching “Single Ladies” above.
