Iron Maiden launched their official YouTube channel in September 2005 and have amassed over 2.5 million subscribers. Their promo videos, live clips and behind-the-scenes documentaries have been watched over 1.2 billion times.
Here, then, are Iron Maiden's 10 most viewed clips according to YouTube.
10. 2 Minutes To Midnight
Directed by James Yukich, this classic cut from Powerslave features a storyline detailing the theft of nuclear missiles and follows nervous men in suits pondering their next move in opulent, yet ominous governmental buildings. The footage is cut with the band performing on stage, which is featured on a bank of TVs in a meeting room. This video, viewed 24 million times, would have made a great full-length film.
9. Speed of Light
Rated the band's best video in a recent rundown by Metal Hammer, Speed Of Light is an onslaught of the band's iconic imagery fed through a video game filter. It opens with a nod to the Wasted Years video and sees Eddie pulled into various tributes to classic games – Donkey Kong, Mortal Kombat and so on – all reimagined through a series of Iron Maiden-themed digital worlds. There are beat-'em-ups, platform games and a Call of Duty first-person shooter game to conclude Eddie's arcade adventure. So far, Speed Of Light has been viewed 26 million times.
8. The Writing on the Wall
For the lead single from their 17th studio album Senjutsu, Iron Maiden recruited the services of British animators BlinkInk, Brave director Mark Andrews and Pixar animator Andrew Gordon to help bring Bruce Dickinson's story to life. The video for The Writing on the Wall sheds some light on what that 'Belshazzar’s Feast' online mystery was all about, and is packed to the gills with symbolism and a brand new Eddie in full Samurai armour. This seven-minute ocular treat been viewed over 35 million times thus far.
7. Aces High
Featuring black and white footage of Churchill's campaign to defeat the Nazis in World War 2, the video for this Powerslave single features the band – tanned following their stint recording the album at Compass Point in the Bahamas – performing on their now iconic World Slavery Tour stage set. The video, directed by Kenny Feuerman and James Yukich, has been viewed 42 million times to date.
6. Wasting Love
In 1985, Kurt Cobain painted a version of the cover art for Iron Maiden's 1981 album Killers on his skateboard. Seven years later, the bond between the late frontman and Iron Maiden was deepened further on the video for this 1992 single. The video for Wasting Love – which has been watched 44 million times – was directed by Samuel Bayer, who was responsible for the Nirvana promo for Smells Like Teen Spirit one year previously. There's no janitors or high school students trashing a school hall in this near six-minute film. Instead, there are some tame sex scenes, a priest, an angel and a man giving himself stick-and-poke tattoos, while the band thrash away in a concrete room illuminated by fire.
5. Fear of the Dark (live)
This live concert footage is taken from the 2017 concert film The Book Of Souls: Live Chapter and was captured before thousands of screaming fans at Arena Castela in Fortaleza, Brazil in March 2016. The video has been streamed 50 million times, which is 18 times the population of Brazil's fifth largest city. Altogether now: "Medo do escuro, medo do escuuuuuro..."
4. Run to the Hills
This is the first of three videos on this list to be directed by David Mallet, who has also worked on The Kenny Everett Video Cassette, U2's Zoo TV Live from Sydney and Jeff Wayne's musical version of The War of the Worlds. Using key scenes from J.A. Howe's 1923 silent comedy film The Uncovered Wagon – a parody of the 1923 film The Covered Wagon, apparently – the main thrust of the promo captures The Number of the Beast line-up in full-flight and marks their late drummer Clive Burr's first appearance in the rundown. View count: 55 million.
3. The Number of the Beast
And onto Clive's second appearance. Like Run to the Hills, this 1982 video was directed by Mallet and is also a blend of performance footage (with added smoke) and old movies. Featuring clips of the 1941 horror The Wolf Man and 1968 British occult classic The Devil Rides Out, the band perform with an intensity of five men who aren't scared of nuffink. Oh, look out for an eery glimpse of 1946 skull-faced protagonist The Crimson Ghost around 1:12 minutes, as appropriated by New Jersey horror punks the Misfits. The Number of the Beast? That'll be 65 million views, thanks for asking.
2. Wasted Years
Directed by James Yukich, this Adrian Smith-penned banger was the first single to be released from the 1986 album Somewhere In Time. Echoing its lyrics about not dwelling on the past and instead focusing on the present, the promo features the band performing in a rehearsal room interspersed with poignant photographs and clips on the road. This promo has been watched 72 million times to date.
1. The Trooper
The Trooper, with 74 million views, is the most watched Iron Maiden video on YouTube. Directed by David Mallet, the quintet barrel their way through the song on the World Piece tour stage set while images from the 1936 movie The Charge of the Light Brigade add some drama and visual pace to this super-charged performance. The song's pretty alright too, as it happens.
