YouTube: Me at the zoo - 15 years since first video published

It's hard to believe there was a time when there was no home for cat videos, hilarious pranks or ridiculous dance crazes.

YouTube - the world's biggest video streaming platform - offered a place for all of this content when it came along. Today marks 15 years since its very first video was uploaded.

Since 2005, YouTube has grown to be the second most popular website on the internet.

But this rise has not been without drama or controversy.

Check out 15 memorable years of YouTube below!

Have we missed anything? Tell us in the comments!

2005 - The first video is uploaded to YouTube

Jawed Karim, Chad Hurley and Steve Chen, who founded YouTube, uploaded the first-ever video to their new video-sharing website on 23 April 2005.

Me at the zoo shows Jawed on a trip to the San Diego Zoo in California. The clip has had 90 million views but, we'll be honest, not a lot happens.

YouTube wasn't officially launched until December 2005 - by which time its videos were being watched eight million times a day.

2006 - YouTube's popularity grows

Time Magazine named 'you' as its person of the year as a way to celebrate all the people making things for platforms like YouTube.

Popular videos this year included the Evolution of Dance - a mash up of famous dances through different eras - people putting mint sweets inside of coke bottles and Gary Brolsma (the Numa Numa Guy) dancing to the catchy Dragostea Din Tei.

Neil Cicierega also released his first Potter Puppet Pals videos - Snape, Snape, Severus Snape anyone?

2007 - The memes are here

A significant year for YouTube, as the internet starts using the platform to share the weirdest videos they can find.

In May, the first recorded Rick Roll happened - a prank where people click on a link thinking it will take them to an interesting or relevant page, and instead they are shown a Rick Astley music video!

Keyboard Cat, Dramatic Chipmunk and the zombie boy who loves turtles all achieved viral fame this year.

Chocolate Rain was released by Tay Zonday and became hugely popular - to date it has had more than 125 million views.

And who could forget 'Charlie Bit My Finger'?

Here's what happened when Ricky met the two brothers behind that video in 2015:

2008 - Pre-video adverts appear

TomSka released the first in his famous ASDFMovie videos - I like trains.

Fred, a fast-talking, hyperactive character, posted his first ever video.

YouTube started playing adverts before videos this year - yes, there was a time when adverts did not appear when you watched videos on YouTube.

2009 - A billion views a day

"Ring ding ding daa baa, Baa aramba baa bom baa barooumba..."

If these lyrics seem horribly familiar, you might have been on YouTube in 2009 when Crazy Frog by Axel F became a massive hit, four years after its creation.

Scottish singer Susan Boyle's performance on the third series of Britain's Got Talent was uploaded to the platform, making her a worldwide sensation overnight.

British YouTuber Zoella released her first ever video and duo Dan and Phil started vlogging together.

YouTube hit a billion views a day for the very first time this year.

2010 - Love it or hate it?

15-year-old singer Justin Bieber became one of the biggest stars in the world after he released his single, Baby. It became an international success.

The music video for Baby caused some controversy, however, when it became the most-disliked video on YouTube.

It remains the second most-disliked video on YouTube to this day (more on that later), with 11 million dislikes.

Bringing a bit of sunshine into our lives was the guy who can't get over how amazing a double rainbow is.

And YouTube's most-subscribed creator Felix Kjellberg, better known as PewDiePie, started his channel.

Mukbangs - where a host eats food while interacting with their audience - became popular in South Korea.

2011 - Gotta get down on Friday

Nyan Cat, an eight-bit animation, became the most-loved AND most-hated music sensation in April 2011, until 13-year-old Rebecca Black, uploaded her birthday present to YouTube - a music video called Friday.

Friday - which featured Rebecca singing and included performances from her friends - quickly went viral after it was uploaded.

The lyrics and music video were made fun of by lots of people - Rebecca was attacked on social media and bullied at school.

Later on Rebecca would admit that the negative attention caused her to become depressed and feel isolated, showing the impact of negative attention on YouTube.

However, Rebecca braved the critics and saw the fun in the single that made her famous. Since then she's gone on to release her own music and has even appeared in a music video with Katy Perry.

2012 - Gangnam style

South Korea artist Psy 'broke the internet' with his single celebrating life in the Seoul distract of Gangnam.

Inspiring a new dance craze that looks like you're riding a horse with a bad limp, Gangnam Style became the very first video on YouTube to reach 1 billion views!

In September 2012, it also was awarded a Guinness World Record for being the most-liked video on YouTube.

In the same year, YouTube partnered with US television channel ABC News to air its first ever livestream of a presidential debate.

The Diamond Minecart channel - created by YouTuber DanTDM - launched this year too, while Wroetoshaw (or W2S) was created by Harry Lewis.

2013 - What does the box... I mean fox, say?

Unboxing - videos where people take stuff out of boxes, plastic wrapping or eggs - became a thing.

A song about what foxes say also became a thing.

A screaming sheep became a thing.

And then this song called the Harlem Shake came along and the world was swept up in a whole new dancing craze.

Yes, people were doing this before TikTok came along!

2014 - Ice, ice crazy!

The world showed YouTube the cold shoulder when the ice bucket challenge hit.

Celebrities such as Taylor Swift, Chris Pratt and Selena Gomez poured ice cold water over themselves to raise money for charity.

The viral challenge reportedly raised millions worldwide for Motor Neurone Disease charities.

In the same year, YouTube got into trouble for saying it would not allow artists from indie music labels to share their music videos on the site.

2015 - Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's John Cena!

Unexpected John Cena became 2015's version of the Rick Roll, where wrestler John Cena appeared unexpectedly in shared videos.

Transformers actor, Shia LaBoeuf, chose to rebrand himself as a meme when he filmed himself giving a motivational speech in front of a green screen.

That led to people editing Shia's speech into famous scenes from movies like The Avengers and Star Wars.

Minecraft became the most-streamed game on YouTube.

2016 - Why is everybody whispering?

ASMR videos - where people speak very quietly or perform small actions near a microphone - became popular in 2016.

And two brand new challenges arrived!

The Mannequin Challenge involved people posing perfectly still as if they were frozen in time like a clothes model in a shop.

The bottle flip challenge - which sees players try to flip a bottle (or many bottles) so that it lands upright instead of toppling over - also took the internet by storm.

2017 - Creator controversies

Gamer and YouTube star PewDiePie was heavily criticised for using racist words.

This followed criticism from earlier in the year where he uploaded a video that made fun of anti-Semitism.

Jake Paul and Team 10 dropped the diss track, It's Everyday Bro, which took aim at lots of internet personalities and became one of YouTube's most-disliked videos.

Latin-American track Despacito blew all competition out of the water when it became the most streamed song of all time.

Released in January of 2017, by the summer it had become the most viewed video of all time on YouTube and it still is to this day. Currently the track has a whopping 6.7 billion views!

YouTube also promised to end 30-second unskippable ads on their videos following criticism from users.

2018 - Worst YouTube Rewind EVER?

2018 was a difficult year for YouTube, full of controversy and criticism.

While a little-known nursery rhyme went viral, YouTube's annual rewind nose-dived in 2018.

The platform's annual video that highlights the best moments on YouTube throughout the year was criticised for excluding popular (and some controversial) creators and ignoring more popular memes in favour of safer stories from the year.

It is currently the most-disliked video on YouTube with 17.71 million down-votes.

At least Justin Bieber had something to celebrate!

Logan Paul was forced to apologise after releasing a series of controversial videos

Meanwhile, creator Logan Paul was criticised for a series of controversial videos and his channel was suspended.

Throughout the year, YouTube was criticised for not doing more to protect young people from harmful content.

Many creators accused YouTube of creating an algorithm that meant more controversial and daring content was promoted over safer brands.

On the plus side, there was Bongo Cat!

2019 - The most popular platform for young people

UK broadcast regulator Ofcom found that young people were watching more content on YouTube than they were on broadcast television.

This showed a massive shift in the way people entertain themselves.

K-Pop group BTS's collaboration with Halsey became the video with the most views its first 24 hours. Boy Wiv Luv racked up 74.6 million views in its first day.

Stunt YouTuber MrBeast attempted to make the second most-liked non-music video on YouTube and ended up with the most-liked non-music video on YouTube.

And gymnast Katelyn Ohashi wowed with her perfect-10 gym routine set to Michael Jackson's Thriller.

2020 - YouTube comes out on top

Now, 15 years after YouTube was launched, it ranks as the second most popular website on the internet, after Google.

Over the years YouTube has faced some controversies and criticisms - but it has become a huge part of our culture.

What do you think will be the big trends of this year?

What are you favourite and least favourite things about YouTube?

What do you think could be the next big platform after YouTube?

Let us know in the comments!