Epic Rap Battles of History is a YouTube series created by Peter "Nice Peter" Shukoff and Lloyd "EpicLLOYD" Ahlquist. The first episode of the series "John Lennon vs. Bill O'Reilly" was released on September 26, 2010. All Season 1 episodes were uploaded to Shukoff's personal YouTube channel, Nice Peter. Following the show's popularity and success, Ahlquist and Shukoff partnered with Maker Studios, and created two channels devoted to the series. ERB hosts the finished episodes, and ERB2 features behind-the-scenes footage.
On September 26, 2010, "John Lennon vs. Bill O'Reilly", the first music video was released on Shukoff's channel, where the rest of the first season was released.[1] [2] Since the second season, ERB music videos have been distributed through its own YouTube channel. As of December 2023, it is the 282nd most subscribed channel on YouTube with over 14.9 million subscribers and over 4 billion total views.[3] As of February 23, 2024, a total of 88 episodes have been released.
In 2013, the single "Barack Obama vs. Mitt Romney", was the first YouTube music video to achieve a gold certification from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).[4] "Darth Vader vs. Hitler" and "Einstein vs. Stephen Hawking" also achieved RIAA gold certification during 2013.[5] "Dr. Seuss vs. Shakespeare", "Master Chief vs. Leonidas", "Steve Jobs vs. Bill Gates" and "Justin Bieber vs. Beethoven" were subsequently certified Gold in 2014. On June 4, 2015, "Mario Bros. vs. Wright Bros.", "Mr T vs. Mr Rogers" and "Abe Lincoln vs. Chuck Norris" achieved RIAA gold certification. On January 29, 2016, "Darth Vader vs. Adolf Hitler 2" was certified gold.
ERBOH Season 1, the series' first album was released on a compact disc through DFTBA Records in December 2011, including all 15 tracks from the first season of the series, including 2 bonus live tracks.[6] [7] Epic Rap Battles of History Season 2 was digitally released on May 22, 2013, on iTunes through Maker Studios.[8] Epic Rap Battles of History Season 3 was released in 2014 through the official ERB website's online shop.[9]
Capitalization and punctuation irregularities in titles as posted to YouTube have been normalized in the following lists.
All first season videos were uploaded onto Shukoff's channel, Nice Peter.
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From the second season onwards, the battles were moved to their own YouTube channel, ERB.
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Flash in the Pan Hip Hop Conflicts of Nowadays is a pseudo-spinoff of Epic Rap Battles, created without the complex visual effects and accents normally used for the original series. Instead, Shukoff and Alquist rap together in the same room, over one take. This approach was used for rap battle ideas that the two considered worthy of a rap battle, but not worthy enough to demand a full production.[10] "Ronald McDonald vs. The Burger King" would later go on to earn a fully-produced rap battle in Season 6.
| No. | Title | Running time | Original airdate | Link |
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| No. in series | No. in season | Title | Running time | Original airdate | Link |
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As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, ERB chose to transition into a seventh season early rather than continuing Season 6.
| No. in series | No. in season | Title | Running time | Original airdate | Link |
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Note: View counts are accurate estimations as of March 5, 2021
| Certified gold by the RIAA |
| Title | Video upload date | Views | |
|---|---|---|---|
| September 26, 2010 | 40,454,732 | ||
| Darth Vader vs. Hitler[11] | November 10, 2010 | 113,937,048 | |
| December 8, 2010 | 85,765,863 | ||
| January 12, 2011 | 49,061,192 | ||
| February 2, 2011 | 47,349,689 | ||
| March 2, 2011 | 101,409,598 | ||
| March 30, 2011 | 134,160,624 | ||
| April 20, 2011 | 43,503,058 | ||
| May 18, 2011 | 54,840,447 | ||
| June 23, 2011 | 46,576,099 | ||
| July 14, 2011 | 56,197,659 | ||
| August 17, 2011 | 100,130,113 | ||
| September 14, 2011 | 86,884,304 | ||
| October 10, 2011 | 43,611,796 | ||
| November 18, 2011 | 40,583,163 | ||
| Hitler vs. Vader 2 | December 8, 2011 | 91,851,000 | |
| January 31, 2012 | 108,575,227 | ||
| February 16, 2012 | 98,769,500 | ||
| April 2, 2012 | 85,164,900 | ||
| May 7, 2012 | 87,866,100 | ||
| June 14, 2012 | 144,508,400 | ||
| October 1, 2012 | 61,749,000 | ||
| October 15, 2012 | 151,325,100 | ||
| October 29, 2012 | 58,852,700 | ||
| November 12, 2012 | 68,535,700 | ||
| November 27, 2012 | 74,776,600 | ||
| December 10, 2012 | 86,866,900 | ||
| February 11, 2013 | 74,718,400 | ||
| February 25, 2013 | 82,517,200 | ||
| March 11, 2013 | 45,729,900 | ||
| March 25, 2013 | 36,693,500 | ||
| April 8, 2013 | 102,253,900 | ||
| April 22, 2013 | 116,698,300 | ||
| Hitler vs. Vader 3 | October 7, 2013 | 47,927,300 | |
| October 21, 2013 | 54,348,500 | ||
| November 4, 2013 | 78,147,000 | ||
| November 18, 2013 | 39,347,600 | ||
| December 3, 2013 | 56,577,700 | ||
| December 19, 2013 | 44,243,000 | ||
| May 5, 2014 | 66,775,000 | ||
| May 19, 2014 | 87,060,200 | ||
| June 2, 2014 | 57,756,000 | ||
| June 16, 2014 | 69,402,500 | ||
| June 30, 2014 | 47,068,300 | ||
| Artists (Donatello, Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and Raphael) vs. TMNT (Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello and Raphael) | July 14, 2014 | 87,563,000 | |
| November 10, 2014 | 51,223,200 | ||
| November 17, 2014 | 48,809,900 | ||
| November 24, 2014 | 40,587,100 | ||
| December 1, 2014 | 54,853,800 | ||
| December 8, 2014 | 42,183,200 | ||
| December 15, 2014 | 68,462,900 | ||
| May 25, 2015 | 22,995,400 | ||
| June 8, 2015 | 20,156,305 | ||
| June 22, 2015 | 44,999,500 | ||
| Eastern (Sun Tzu, Confucius, Lao Tzu) vs. Western (Friedrich Nietzsche, Socrates, Voltaire) Philosophers | July 6, 2015 | 56,517,700 | |
| July 20, 2015 | 40,724,600 | ||
| August 3, 2015 | 42,285,200 | ||
| December 16, 2015 | 74,207,100 | ||
| May 2, 2016 | 35,127,200 | ||
| May 18, 2016 | 39,420,400 | ||
| May 30, 2016 | 27,102,500 | ||
| June 14, 2016 | 50,791,600 | ||
| June 29, 2016 | 19,857,492 | ||
| July 12, 2016 | 49,240,800 | ||
| October 26, 2016 | 87,254,200 | ||
| November 14, 2016 | 29,761,600 | ||
| November 28, 2016 | 30,673,200 | ||
| December 12, 2016 | 15,910,900 | ||
| December 26, 2016 | 40,283,600 | ||
| Nice Peter vs. EpicLLOYD 2 | January 9, 2017 | 16,134,400 | |
| December 7, 2018 | 27,819,800 | ||
| April 20, 2019 | 14,331,300 | ||
| May 5, 2019 | 18,963,600 | ||
| June 8, 2019 | 18,777,900 | ||
| July 13, 2019 | 11,311,800 | ||
| August 17, 2019 | 9,306,396 | ||
| September 22, 2019 | 11,116,110 | ||
| October 25, 2019 | 10,821,256 | ||
| November 23, 2019 | 31,234,491 | ||
| December 18, 2019 | 21,262,607 | ||
| October 24, 2020 | 17,832,317 | ||
| December 5, 2020 | 7,417,464 | ||
| June 14, 2021 | 7,451,482 | ||
| November 27, 2021 | 6,133,467 | ||
| December 18, 2021 | 7,654,583 | ||
| October 25, 2022 | 3,352,673 | ||
| December 1, 2023 | 4,804,718 | ||
| February 23, 2024 | 1,238,466 | ||
| TOTAL | as of February 26, 2024 | 4,638,528,039 |