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"Baby Shark" is a children's song associated to a dance involving hand movements that originated as a campfire song dating back to at least the 20th century. In 2016, "Baby Shark" became very popular when Pinkfong, a South Korean entertainment company, released a version of the song with a YouTube music video that went viral across social media, online video and radio. In January 2022, it became the first YouTube video to reach 10 billion views. In November 2020, Pinkfong's version became the most-viewed YouTube video of all time, with over 11 billion views.
"Baby Shark" originated as a campfire song or chant. The original song dates back to at least the 20th century, potentially created by camp counselors inspired by the movie Jaws. In the chant, each member of a family of sharks is introduced, with campers using their hands to imitate the sharks' jaws. Different versions of the song have the sharks hunting fish, eating a sailor, or killing people who then go to heaven.
Various entities have copyrighted original videos and sound recordings of the song, and some have trademarked merchandise based on their versions. However, according to The New York Times, the underlying song and characters are believed to be in the public domain.