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 V 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 V Bill O'Reilly", the first music video was released on Shukoff's channel, where the rest of the first season was released. Since the second season, ERB music videos have been distributed through its own YouTube channel. As of August 2026, it is the 381st most subscribed channel on YouTube with over 15.1 million subscribers and over 4.34 billion total views."ERB's YouTube Stats (Summary Profile) - Social Blade Stats". Social Blade. Retrieved December 13, 2023. As of August 24, 2026, a total of 92 episodes in the official series have been released (and 95 episodes if "PewDiePie vs. T-Series", "Larry Bird vs. Big Bird", and "Henry VIII vs. Hillary Clinton" are included).
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). "Darth Vader vs. Hitler" and "Einstein vs. Stephen Hawking" also achieved RIAA gold certification during 2013. "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. Epic Rap Battles of History Season 2 was digitally released on May 22, 2013, on iTunes through Maker Studios. Epic Rap Battles of History Season 3 was released in 2014 through the official ERB website's online shop.
Overview
Episodes Each episode of Epic Rap Battles of History features a rap battle between iconic characters, real or fictional. Typically, the battles start off as a one-on-one contest, although sometimes two teams face off (such as in "Mario Bros. vs. Wright Bros." and "Artists vs. TMNT"), and in "John Wick vs. John Rambo vs. John McClane" three characters faced off from the start. Starting with "Hulk Hogan and Macho Man vs. Kim Jong-il," it has become common for additional rappers to appear after the first two have already performed verses.
Capitalization and punctuation irregularities in titles as posted to YouTube have been normalized in the following lists.
Season 1 (2010–2011) All first season videos were uploaded onto Shukoff's channel, Nice Peter.
Season 2 (2011–2013) From the second season onwards, the battles were moved to their own YouTube channel, ERB.
Season 3 (2013–2014)
Season 4 (2014–2015)
Bonus Battle (2015)
Season 5 (2016–2017)
Bonus Battle (2018)
Flash in the Pan Hip Hop Conflicts of Nowadays (2018–2019) 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. "Ronald McDonald vs. The Burger King" would later go on to earn a fully-produced rap battle in Season 6.
Season 6 (2019–2020)
Cancelled episode (2020)
Season 7 (2021–present)
As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, ERB chose to transition into a seventh season early rather than continuing Season 6.
Viewership
Note: View counts are estimations as of August 24, 2026 Certified gold by the RIAA + Title Video upload date Views (as of August 24, 2026) John Lennon vs. Bill O'Reilly September 22, 2010 42,353,793 Darth Vader vs. Hitler November 10, 2010 128,098,750 Abe Lincoln vs. Chuck Norris December 8, 2010 87,369,702 Sarah Palin vs. Lady Gaga January 12, 2011 49,642,336 Hulk Hogan and Macho Man vs. Kim Jong Il February 2, 2011 53,146,786 Justin Bieber vs. Beethoven March 2, 2011 102,760,860 Albert Einstein vs. Stephen Hawking March 30, 2011 139,265,850 Genghis Khan vs. Easter Bunny April 20, 2011 44,071,677 Napoleon Bonaparte vs. Napoleon Dynamite May 18, 2011 56,040,301 Billy Mays vs. Ben Franklin June 23, 2011 47,680,164 Gandalf vs. Dumbledore July 14, 2011 57,084,976 Dr. Seuss vs. Shakespeare August 17, 2011 102,566,776 Mr. T vs. Mr. Rogers September 14, 2011 88,523,976 Columbus vs. Captain Kirk October 10, 2011 44,391,648 Nice Peter vs. EpicLLOYD November 18, 2011 41,141,760 Hitler vs. Vader 2 December 8, 2011 109,843,923 Master Chief vs. Leonidas January 31, 2012 109,579,135 Mario Bros. (Mario and Luigi) vs. Wright Bros February 16, 2012 106,342,394 Michael Jackson vs. Elvis Presley April 2, 2012 98,518,263 Cleopatra vs. Marilyn Monroe May 7, 2012 96,579,125 Steve Jobs vs. Bill Gates June 14, 2012 162,640,369 Frank Sinatra vs. Freddie Mercury October 1, 2012 66,879,988 Barack Obama vs. Mitt Romney October 15, 2012 165,035,147 Doc Brown vs. Doctor Who October 29, 2012 62,180,084 Clint Eastwood vs. Bruce Lee November 12, 2012 72,513,908 Batman vs. Sherlock Holmes November 27, 2012 80,163,055 Moses vs. Santa Claus December 10, 2012 92,845,390 Adam vs. Eve February 11, 2013 82,318,611 Gandhi vs. Martin Luther King Jr. February 25, 2013 101,885,916 Nikola Tesla vs. Thomas Edison March 11, 2013 50,244,841 Babe Ruth vs. Lance Armstrong March 25, 2013 39,366,468 Mozart vs. Skrillex April 8, 2013 110,032,353 Rasputin vs. Stalin April 22, 2013 142,467,165 Hitler vs. Vader 3 October 7, 2013 54,158,111 Blackbeard vs. Al Capone October 21, 2013 61,625,842 Miley Cyrus vs. Joan of Arc November 4, 2013 83,811,340 Bob Ross vs. Pablo Picasso November 18, 2013 43,248,489 Michael Jordan vs. Muhammad Ali December 3, 2013 63,220,764 Donald Trump vs. Ebenezer Scrooge December 19, 2013 47,787,017 Rick Grimes vs. Walter White May 5, 2014 83,040,304 Goku vs. Superman May 19, 2014 96,049,723 Stephen King vs. Edgar Allan Poe June 2, 2014 66,906,654 Sir Isaac Newton vs. Bill Nye June 16, 2014 79,763,732 George Washington vs. William Wallace June 30, 2014 53,168,877 Artists vs. TMNT July 14, 2014 103,871,466 Ghostbusters vs. MythBusters November 10, 2014 59,976,942 Romeo and Juliet vs. Bonnie and Clyde November 17, 2014 56,386,831 Zeus vs. Thor November 24, 2014 44,890,968 Jack the Ripper vs. Hannibal Lecter December 1, 2014 63,668,727 Oprah vs. Ellen December 8, 2014 45,155,123 Steven Spielberg vs. Alfred Hitchcock December 15, 2014 84,188,204 Lewis and Clark vs. Bill and Ted May 25, 2015 26,557,834 David Copperfield vs. Harry Houdini June 8, 2015 20,704,623 Terminator vs. RoboCop June 22, 2015 51,997,421 Eastern vs. Western Philosophers July 6, 2015 75,657,900 Shaka Zulu vs. Julius Caesar July 20, 2015 50,661,072 Jim Henson vs. Stan Lee August 3, 2015 50,851,159 Deadpool vs. Boba Fett December 16, 2015 89,990,648 J. R. R. Tolkien vs. George R. R. Martin May 2, 2016 47,362,051 Gordon Ramsay vs. Julia Child May 18, 2016 51,423,884 Frederick Douglass vs. Thomas Jefferson May 30, 2016 34,613,513 James Bond vs. Austin Powers June 14, 2016 67,789,836 Bruce Banner vs. Bruce Jenner June 29, 2016 20,534,224 Alexander the Great vs. Ivan the Terrible July 12, 2016 68,100,916 Donald Trump vs. Hillary Clinton October 26, 2016 110,323,617 Ash Ketchum vs. Charles Darwin November 14, 2016 35,679,995 Wonder Woman vs. Stevie Wonder November 28, 2016 37,704,791 Tony Hawk vs. Wayne Gretzky December 12, 2016 20,355,867 Theodore Roosevelt vs. Winston Churchill December 26, 2016 58,155,527 Nice Peter vs. EpicLLOYD 2 January 9, 2017 19,946,605 Elon Musk vs. Mark Zuckerberg December 7, 2018 38,460,791 Freddy Krueger vs. Wolverine April 20, 2019 20,874,187 Guy Fawkes vs. Che Guevara May 5, 2019 30,700,670 Ronald McDonald vs. The Burger King June 8, 2019 29,209,364 George Carlin vs. Richard Pryor July 13, 2019 16,163,437 Jacques Cousteau vs. Steve Irwin August 17, 2019 13,570,425 Mother Teresa vs. Sigmund Freud September 22, 2019 17,625,841 Vlad the Impaler vs. Count Dracula October 25, 2019 16,910,281 The Joker vs. Pennywise November 23, 2019 47,952,413 Thanos vs. J. Robert Oppenheimer December 18, 2019 36,892,358 Donald Trump vs. Joe Biden October 24, 2020 35,470,203 Harry Potter vs. Luke Skywalker December 5, 2020 20,058,580 Ragnar Lodbrok vs. Richard The Lionheart June 14, 2021 10,478,371 Jeff Bezos vs. Mansa Musa November 27, 2021 10,474,633 John Wick vs. John Rambo vs. John McClane December 18, 2021 14,354,972 Lara Croft vs. Indiana Jones October 25, 2022 9,648,897 Henry Ford vs. Karl Marx December 1, 2023 10,399,268 Godzilla vs. King Kong February 23, 2024 8,135,079 Donald Trump vs. Kamala Harris October 26, 2024 9,135,118 Napoleon vs. Charlemagne February 12, 2025 3,732,993Red Baron vs White Death December 12, 2025 3,570,454 Tom Cruise vs Evel Knievel August 21, 2026 1,019,495 Total as of August 24, 2026 5,367,743,917 (as of August 24, 2026)
Notes
References