Rebecca Black May Be Making Big Money Off 'Friday' Also: Watch a 'Friday' parody by Conan O'Brien and a cover by the Jonas Brothers

Rebecca Black May Be Making Big Money Off 'Friday' Also: Watch a 'Friday' parody by Conan O'Brien and a cover by the Jonas Brothers


Rebecca Black's viral hit "Friday" is still going strong over a week after emerging as the song the internet loves to hate. Black has been a consistent presence in Twitter's trending topics list, the video has been viewed over 34 million times on YouTube and the single has been among the Top 40 best selling tracks on iTunes for nearly a week. For a song that inspires so much over-the-top revulsion, "Friday" has become a surprisingly durable fluke hit.

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Along with the producers at Ark Music Factory who wrote the song and produced its video, Black stands to make a lot of money off "Friday." Forbes estimates that given the details of YouTube's revenue sharing program, Black and Ark have likely made at least $20,000 in advertising money from the video. The sales for the "Friday" digital single are less easy to quantify, particularly since the iTunes store does not release its sales data. But considering that Black's parents reportedly paid Ark only $2,000 for the song and video, they've already made back their investment – and then some.

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Since there isn't a precedent for the Rebecca Black phenomenon, it's hard to predict when interest in "Friday" will taper off. It is possible that the song may be crossing over from internet novelty to actual pop hit, which could be a harbinger of things to come as the internet and YouTube become more central to listening habits.

Of course, as the song gets more popular, it inspires more covers and parodies. Here's video of Nick Jonas of the Jonas Brothers performing a brief snippet of the song at a recent Jonas Brothers gig: