YouTube's Top 2007 Videos include "Obama Girl," "Leave Britney Alone," "Battle at Kruger"

As we wind down the year 2007, everyone's releasing their top 10 list, and YouTube is no different. This week they released their Top 10 Videos list, but it's not just about views. According to the press release, the "formula" includes: view counts, most shared, most discussed, top rated and general popularity. General popularity?

Here's the top 10 list (unclear if it's listed in a any particular order):

• Battle at Kruger
• Chocolate Rain
• LEAVE BRITNEY ALONE!
• Me singing "what goes around" Justin Timberlake
• NORA the Piano Playing Cat
• Obama Girl (below)
  
• Otters holding hands
• PARIS IN JAIL: The Music Video
• Soulja Boy Tellem
• UFO Haiti

Battle at Kruger shows a literal battle between a herd of water buffalo, a pride of lions and crocodiles. Quite honestly, it's incredible footage, and according to the blurb at the video:

National Geographic has sent us back to Africa to develop a special giving the behind-the-scenes story on how we got this amazing footage. Potential airdate: Spring 2008.

On the other hand LEAVE BRITNEY ALONE! soon turned into Leave Chris Crocker Alone as he purported to be defending her panned performance at the VMAs. And though Crocker said he was really crying, it sure seems like good acting to me --- particularly since he's signed a development deal to star in his own TV show!

However, no one can dispute the phenomenon of Obama Girl, which led to sequels and spoofs / copycats such as Ron Paul Girl. The fact that Obama Girl is attractive certainly didn't hurt the video's popularity --- probably Obama's popularity as well.

You can read the full press release here.

Watch Obama Girl here.