The 10 Most Viral YouTube Videos of 2012

1. KONY 2012

Invisible Children, a movement seeking to end the conflict in Uganda, created the film Kony 2012. They hoped it would accelerate the arrest of Lords Resistance Army (LRA) leader Joseph Kony, who has been kidnapping and abducting Ugandas youth for nearly three decades.With more than 100 million views in six days, Kony 2012 became the most viral video in history.The movement, however, ended quite strangely. The video's creator, Jason Russell, was detained in the Pacific Beach neighborhood, with charges of public drunkenness and lewd behavior.

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At Mashable, we love viral videos.

This year, it felt like we encountered a brand new, need-to-watch YouTube video about three times per day. In this age of instantaneous knowledge, what was funny in the morning is old news by dinner.

Only a select few of the videos -- "Gangnam Style," "Call Me Maybe" and "Kony 2012," for instance -- can survive the test of time.

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These 10 videos were shared more often than any others this year -- they made us laugh, they made us cry, they made us create an untoward amount of parody videos and covers.

What was your favorite YouTube video of 2012? Let us know in the comments.

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