2016 may now be a decade in the past, but the year marked some epic meme gems that found a special place in our meme history books. Remember ‘Pen-Pineapple-Apple-Pen’ (PPAP), sung by Japanese comedian
Pikotaro, which broke the Internet with millions of views and nonsensical lyrics? Or “Damn Daniel, back at it again with the white Vans!” Or Dude Perfect’s Water Bottle Flip Edition video? The 2016 rabbit hole of viral videos is a bottomless pit, and now a video from that era has resurfaced on the Internet, specifically on Elon Musk’s X social media platform.
The video in question has garnered a whopping 156 million views thus far, and people who stopped by to watch it have wondered if the creator behind it left with a million dollars richer.
Fireplace 10 Hours
The name of the YouTube channel going viral is called “Fireplace 10 hours.” The video uploaded by the channel is titled “Fireplace 10 hours full HD”. What’s in the 10-hour video, you ask? Surprise, surprise. It’s a video of burning logs in a fireplace.
The description of the video? You guessed it: “Fireplace 10 hours in full HD resolution.”
At the time of writing this story, the video, uploaded in October 2016, has clocked a staggering 156,746,736 views.
What Makes Fireplace Video Viral?
While there is no written rule why such a video would attract so many views and eyeballs, the 10-hour upload may fall into the popular YouTube genre of ASMR or soothing videos that viewers “watch” while snoozing, studying, relaxing, or meditating.
There are several examples of such ASMR videos that clock millions of views on the video-sharing platform. Take “Rain Sound On Window with Thunder Sounds” for instance. This 8-hour-long upload has been viewed 123,364,115 times in the six years since it was uploaded.
Also Read: Bandar Apna Dost: Why This ‘AI Slop’ Indian YouTube Channel Is Facing Heat On X
The comments under the “Fireplace” video offer valuable insight into why people keep returning to it.
“My Companion…”
Once you sift through the hundreds of sarcastic and comical comments, the reason why such a lengthy video of nothing but a fireplace sound and calming visuals works is how it can become a “white noise” companion for some, adding cosiness to their lives.
“This video has become my companion in my little apartment ever since moving out,” wrote one.
“At night, if I don’t have enough light or noise in a room, I will hallucinate. I’ve put this video on every night for the past few years, and it has kept me from having these hallucinations. Thank you.”
“Our cottage house in England has just gone on the market. We have a 42 inch TV in our disused fireplace, so I play this full screen during our viewings. It adds a lot of coziness to the room and the house!”
Many others have used the video to prevent their computers from sleeping, thus assisting them in bulky overnight downloads.
“thanks fire for keeping my computer awake wihile i downlaod games (sic).”
How Much Did The “Dude” Make?
YouTube channel “Fireplace 10 hours” has only one video uploaded in nearly a decade of its existence. Created in Romania, the channel boasts 111k subscribers.
The obvious question that arose in the minds of those who came across the video and the YouTube channel was: “This person must have earned pretty penny from a single video.”
The answer to that may not be as straightforward as we would have liked. In short, 156 million views, in this case, cannot be directly translated into the amount of money that the YouTube creator may have earned. YouTube’s heavily curated monetisation policies: ad revenue, pay-per-view, CTR (Click-Through Rate), and YouTube Premium revenue, among other crucial factors, determine the YouTube payout. A YouTube channel’s niche and geographical location further add to the complexity.
Some sources, however, have suggested that the creator behind “Fireplace 10 hours” may have earned $1 million or even more from their solo video.
The creator of the 10-hour Fireplace YouTube video has reportedly earned over $1 million from it
It's the only upload on the Fireplace 10 Hours channel and has over 156 million views pic.twitter.com/V5e1WcfrtK
— Dexerto (@Dexerto) January 2, 2026
TubePilot, a website dedicated to checking the monetisation status of a YouTube channel, indicated that the “Fireplace 10 hours” channel was not monetised, suggesting no money was generated from the video viewed 156 million times.
(Source: TubePilot)
Kindly note that News18.com could neither independently verify the monetisation status indicated by monetisation checker websites nor confirm the reported earnings of the creator behind the viral “Fireplace” video.
