The first episode of Dancing with the Stars Season 34 kicked off in the 2025 TV schedule on Tuesday, September 16 with a new crop of celebrities dancing to their personal anthems, and no elimination happened at the end to send any duo home after just one number together. Now, more than three full days since these stars strutted their stuff on ABC for the first time, the performances have been posted on YouTube and accumulated plenty of streaming views.
While we may never know how many people tuned in via Disney+ subscription, I'd say that the YouTube streaming numbers point toward a frontrunner, and the distance between #1 and #2 - #14 isn't even close. Robert Irwin, the younger brother of DWTS Season 21 champion Bindi Irwin, joined forces with pro Witney Carson for a jive to Steppenwolf's "Born to Be Wild."
They were easily one of my favorite duos despite not having watched a full Dancing with the Stars episode in years, and at the time of writing on Friday evening, accumulated 1.2 million views on the show's YouTube page (and counting). Check out where all of the dancers stand with YouTube view count, and note the massive discrepancy between Irwin and the next 13:
- Robert Irwin – 1.2 million views
- Jen Affleck – 278k views
- Alix Earle – 244k views
- Scott Hoying – 243k views
- Whitney Leavitt – 237k views
- Hilaria Baldwin – 190k views
- Dylan Efron – 160k views
- Jordan Chiles – 160k views
- Corey Feldman – 153k views
- Danielle Fishel – 149k views
- Elaine Hendrix – 125k views
- Lauren Jauregui – 117k views
- Andy Richter – 90k views
- Baron Davis – 55k views
While a lot can happen between Week 1 and Alfonso Ribeiro and Julianne Hough eventually announcing the Season 34 winner of the Len Goodman Mirrorball Trophy, I think it's safe to say that Robert Irwin is at least going to be the big winner among YouTube viewers by the time "One-Hit Wonders Night" arrives next on September 23. Witney Carson hasn't led a celebrity to victory since Ribeiro himself back in Season 19; could the partnership with the wildlife conservationist take her back to the top? Take a look at their jive from the premiere:
If you're wondering why I ranked Dylan Efron above Jordan Chiles despite the two having the same view count at the time of writing, I had to go to the "likes" to break the tie. Efron had accumulated 1.9k likes on YouTube to hopefully keep him around long enough for a High School Musical dance, while the former Olympian only has 1.7k likes.
Looking at those view counts from YouTube, I'm a little bummed to see that Andy Richter didn't get more attention in the first few days after the Season 34 premiere aired. While I don't honestly think he'll be dancing his way to the Mirrorball Trophy by the end of the season, his enthusiasm made his cha-cha-cha to Sam & Dave's "Hold On, I'm Comin'" with pro partner Emma Slater one of the most fun dances of the night to watch.
I'm curious to see how view totals might change as the weeks pass. The advancement on DWTS depends on the point totals from the judges as well as votes from fans, not the amount of attention couples get on YouTube. My eye is definitely on Elaine Hendrix, Hilaria Baldwin, and Whitney Leavitt in particular. All three came to Dancing with the Stars with dance backgrounds already, which tends to make me want to root more for their competition.
Week 2 of Dancing with the Stars Season 34 will involve eliminations, so be sure to tune in to "One-Hit Wonder Night" to see these celebrities take their next chance to impress the judges and the viewers. New episodes air on Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET on ABC and are available streaming live on Disney+.
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