Following a series of reported sightings of unidentified flying objects in the United States and Canada in the past month, UFO enthusiasts across the United Kingdom have been on the lookout for extraordinary UFO activity. Within a two week span, U.S. fighter jets shot down four objects over North America, and only one was confirmed to be a Chinese spy balloon.
The nature of the other three, however, remains unknown, giving rise to various theories about the purpose and origins of these flying objects. Were they weather balloons, balloons for commercial use, or possibly spy aircraft? Were they man-made or extra-terrestrial? As ufologists on both sides of the Atlantic are studying these incidents and coming up with different explanations, the team at BonusInsider decided to analyse UFO sightings in the UK over the past year. Using data from UFO Identified and their UK UFO Report 2022, we created a map of the counties where you are most likely to spot a UFO.
Research Balloons, Spy Aircraft, or UFOs?
The mystery surrounding the three unidentified objects over North America has yet to be solved. Several agencies from Canada and the U.S. conducted “systematic searches” over Alaska, Lake Huron, and the Yukon for a week, but were unable to spot anything of interest, and abandoned the search for the three flying objects after finding no debris.
Ufologists warn that alien origin cannot be excluded, since these objects were of various shapes and sizes, and it is unclear how they were able to fly at such high altitudes. Were they manually steered, or did they float?. One object had an octagonal shape, quite unusual for a balloon, while another was cylindrical.
- 4 February 2023 – balloon shot by an F-22 fighter jet off the coast of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina at an altitude of 60,000 ft (18 km)
- 10 February 2023 – unidentified object shot down near Deadhorse, Alaska, altitude of 40,000 ft (12 km)
- 11 February 2023 – unidentified object shot down above Central Yukon, altitude of 40,000 ft (12 km)
- 12 February 2023 – unidentified object shot down above Lake Huron, altitude of 20,000 ft (6 km)
There have been concerns that similar objects might also be spotted in the skies above the UK. Following the incidents across the pond, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace has ordered a security review, while in an interview for Sky News, transport minister Richard Holden admitted that China may have launched spy balloons over Britain. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said that the government will do “whatever it takes” to keep the UK safe.
UK Saw Nearly 500 UFOs in 2022
UFOs, or unidentified flying objects, have been capturing our imagination for over 70 years. Recently, they have been rebranded as unidentified aerial phenomena or UAPs but are still most commonly referred to as UFOs. According to the organization UFO Identified, which gathered data from local and national media, as well as FOI (Freedom of Information) requests, a total of 497 UFO sightings have been reported across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland in 2022.
In comparison, there were 465 sightings in 2020 and 413 in 2021, which means that people saw more unexplained phenomena last year than they previously had. In fact, there has been an increase in sightings across all countries, with the exception of Northern Ireland.
Some of the reports in 2020 can be explained by the launch of the Star Link internet satellites, the SpaceX project that started back in 2019. In March and April of 2020, there were multiple posts and videos of the satellites on Twitter as British skywatchers asked what this “train of lights” could be. Later, it was confirmed that the objects were, in fact, Elon Musk’s satellites, which were clearly visible in the night sky over Essex and other parts of the UK.
Interestingly, the most likely time to spot a UFO is between 9 pm and 10 pm and on Saturdays. This specific timing could be explained by the fact that most people work during the day, from Monday to Friday. Consequently, they only have time to watch the skies in the evenings and at weekends. Also, satellites, drones, and other objects that blink or have any sort of lights are much more visible at night.
Data also show that the regions where the most UFO sightings were reported in 2022 were the South East with 75 reports, the North West with 68 reports, and the South West with 60 reports.
UFOs: What Do They Look Like?
Flying saucers are not the only type of UFO seen in the sky. In fact, witnesses are describing various shapes, including orbs, cylinders, spheres, and a multitude of other forms. According to the data for 2022, the most commonly reported UFO was “star-like”, as described in 126 reports. Other common shapes were “orb” (80 reports), “circular” (55 reports), “cylinder” (52 reports), “sphere” (42 reports), and “triangle” (35 reports). Saucers or “discs”, as they are classified in the UFO Identified document, were spotted in 34 reports.
One of the most common arguments of UFO and alien sceptics is that sightings are rarely accompanied by actual evidence such as a photograph or a video. Considering that we all have cameras in our pockets, the lack of visual evidence seems quite odd. The UK UFO Report 2022 counts the videos and photos taken by the unidentified aircraft in the sightings reports. According to the data, there were 122 videos and 103 photos taken of the aircraft, as well as 10 sketches of the UFOs. More than half of the reports, however, relied on witness testimony only, which is, of course, much less reliable.
This Is Where You Are Most and Least Likely to See a UFO
Out of all 497 reports, assessed by UFO Identified for 2022, the vast majority were in England – 411 sightings compared to 52 sightings in Scotland, 30 in Wales, and only 4 in Northern Ireland. Localised data is available only for England, so for the map, we calculated the average sightings for the other countries based on 32 council areas in Scotland, 22 counties in Wales, and 11 districts in Northern Ireland.
If we look at the English counties and districts where these unidentified objects were spotted, the areas with the highest population density unsurprisingly had the most reports. There are, of course, a few exceptions.
The highest number of UFO sightings in 2022 were reported in Greater Manchester – a total of 26 reports described either UFOs or UAPs. Greater London ranks second with 20 reports, followed by Lancashire and Hampshire where 19 sightings were reported in each county. Another 17 sightings were reported in the West Midlands, as well as 15 in Cheshire. The counties of Essex, Somerset, and Staffordshire follow with 14 cases each.
It seems Rutland is where you are least likely to spot a UFO, according to the data. Last year, there was not a single sighting there, quite a disappointment for local UFO enthusiasts. The Isle of Wight and Herefordshire had one UFO sighting report each, while people in Worcestershire and across Cumbria saw two objects of possible extraterrestrial nature last year.
T-Series is an Indian music label and film production company that started to leverage YouTube in 2010. With over 207Bn total views across all its videos, T-Series sits firmly as the most subscribed YouTube channel in the world. It was the first YouTube channel to surpass 100 million subscribers in 2019. The channel is renowned for its excellently executed music videos and film trailers.
Created in 2006, the children’s educational channel Cocomelon provides videos surrounding nursery rhymes. First known as Checkmate, it rebranded itself in 2018 to Cocomelon and changed the logo to a watermelon-style TV. Now the channel has Spanish, Portuguese, Mandarin Chinese, German and Arabic content. Total views are over 114Bn.
Sony Entertainment Television has over 133Bn views across all of its videos. It consists mainly of videos highlighting moments from the Hindi Sony Entertainment Television shows and films. The TV show provides family entertainment, which has translated nicely onto YouTube as viewers can capture snippets of popular shows. 
MrBeast, also known as Jimmy Donaldson, is a 24-year-old American YouTuber who makes iconic stunt videos. MrBeast is the most subscribed individual on the platform and began posting in 2012, at just 13 years old. With a team of 30 now running the channel, he is currently the highest-earning creator on the platform. His videos have accumulated over 18Bn views on his main channel. 
Once the most subscribed channel on YouTube, PewDiePie was one of the fastest growing channels between 2010 and 2013. Also known as Felix Arvid Ulf Kjellberg, PewDiePie is best known for his let’s play videos. He was overtaken in 2019 by T-Series. However, PewDiePie is still one of the most subscribed YouTube channels in the world, with total views in excess of 28Bn. 
Eva Diana Kidisyuk is the face of the Kids Diana Show. The young star was born in 2014 in Ukraine and hosts roleplay-orientated content on her channel. She is popular among children for her educational and entertaining lifestyle videos. The channel has accumulated over 84Bn views in its lifetime.
One of the youngest creators in the top 10 most subscribed YouTube channels is Anastasia Sergeyevna, also known as Like Nastya. The Russian/ American YouTuber and her parents host children’s stories and roleplays. Anastasia has been diagnosed with cerebral palsy and is seen as an idol by many young viewers worldwide. The channel’s videos combined have over 85Bn views. 
The World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) channel is the world’s largest professional wrestling channel. Its videos showcase iconic matches and significant moments in WWE history. Filled with adrenaline and smackdowns, it is easy to see how the channel has reached over 72Bn views.
The joint No 9 is Vlad and Niki, two Russian brothers now residing in Miami. They grew in popularity in 2018, when their father quit his job due to the channel’s success. They now run 21 YouTube channels with roleplay and vlog-style videos, with Vlad and Niki being their most successful one.
Zee music company has a major chunk of the Bollywood music market. The channel videos feature vibrant Bollywood music videos by some of the biggest names in the industry. The estimated revenue of the channel is $105M and it is set to keep growing.
Starring Charlton Heston as police detective Robert Thorn, Soylent Green is a dystopian thriller set in New York of 2022. As 40 million people live in a polluted and overpopulated city, only the elite can afford spacious homes and real food. Global warming has caused a worldwide shortage of food and water, forcing common people to survive on highly processed wafers called Soylent Red, Soylent Yellow, and Soylent Green. While investigating the death of a board member of the Soylent Corporation, detective Thorn uncovers a horrible secret about the otherwise nutritious Soylent Green, which is supposed to be made of plankton. The truth makes the movie much darker than it seems initially. 
A group of convicts sentenced to life in prison are sent on a rescue mission in deep space in this action/sci-fi and mild horror film from 1993. While on the way to the lost ship, they’re about to salvage four men who have been allowed to spend time in a virtual reality world. A mystery woman appears in VR, making the men turn on each other – in fact, she is an alien whose DNA has been turned into a biochemical virus inside the ship’s computer system. 
The Dark Side of the Moon is a science fiction horror film that was released on VHS in 1990. Its quite preposterous plot is probably one of the reasons for its generally low ratings online – 22% on Rotten Tomatoes and 4.9/10 on IMDb. A crew of a repair ship is sent to fix a nuclear orbital weapon, but after their ship malfunctions, they start drifting toward the dark side of the Moon. They see NASA’s old space shuttle Discovery and board it, trying to salvage parts for their ship, but an evil force is waiting for them. It turns out that the area they are in corresponds to the Bermuda Triangle, while the evil that attacks them is the Devil himself.
Aliens attack the Earth on October 6, 2022 in the 1993 film Time Runner. Captain Michael Raynor (Mark Hamill) is on a military space station and manages to escape before the aliens destroy the station. After a wormhole opens, he is sent 30 years into the past, where he discovers that the alien race was on our planet long before the invasion. The aliens look just like humans and act as sleeper agents with the mission to enable a future attack. 
Deathwave is a disaster movie from Thailand whose aim is to warn us about tsunamis, earthquakes and other natural disasters that may change the world as we know it. It follows the young prime minister of Thailand, who tries to prevent such a scenario after the devastating 2004 tsunami. He orders the creation of a national disaster alarm center, but despite his efforts, a huge tsunami hits Bangkok on Songkran Day, the traditional New Year in Thailand.
Baby Shark was the first video on YouTube to reach over 10Bn views, which still stands today. Created in 2016, Baby Shark started to gain popularity in 2017. However, it took four years for the video to overtake Despacito, which was the most-viewed video up to that point. Nevertheless, the 2-minute clip gained so much popularity that it spurred a viral online dance trend. It is estimated that the video made $22m just from views alone.
Released in 2017, Despacito quickly rose to the most-viewed YouTube video of all time. Soon overtaken by Baby Shark, Despacito has since then held second place with 8Bn views. Still, it took YouTube by storm and topped the charts in 47 countries and made it to the top 10 in another 6. So much so, that music legend Justin Bieber made a remix version just three months later. It is estimated that the video made $15m on YouTube.
Third on the ranking, reaching a revenue of $12M, is an English nursery rhyme. The video uploaded to YouTube in 2016 is about a child, Johny, who gets caught eating sugar by his father. It rose in popularity when posted by a kid’s YouTube channel called LooLoo kids. Previously it was thought that the video had been around since 2007. 
Chart-topping song, Shape Of You, by British icon Ed Sheeran is estimated to have made $11m on YouTube. Number 1 in 34 countries, the song won the Grammy for Best Pop Solo Performance in the 60th Grammy Award show. So, it is obvious why this worldwide hit reached such an impressive amount of views on Youtube.
The pop hit by Wiz Khalifa featuring Charlie Puth was uploaded to YouTube in 2015. It quickly became both artists’ biggest single to date. See You Again held the top spot in 2017 for most viewed videos on YouTube before it was overtaken. Since then, it reached an estimated revenue of $11M.
Close behind, the bath song was released in 2018. The children’s nursery rhyme is about bath time and aims to help children become more comfortable with taking a bath. Again, creating revenue of $11M, the video gained popularity in the parent community to encourage kids to take a bath. 
Another nursery rhyme gained popularity in 2014. Impressively, the Phonics Song was uploaded over eight years ago and is still gaining attraction today. Profiting from $9M in revenue, the video has done well to uphold the 7th position. 
Uptown Funk was directed by Mark Ronson and featured the famous American singer Bruno Mars. Heavily influenced by the early 1980s, it led to a number of lawsuits over copyright issues. It is speculated that the controversy surrounding the rights of the song led to an increase in the views of its YouTube video, resulting in an estimated revenue of $9M.
The Russian nursery rhyme released in 2018 quickly became popular. Many viewers didn’t understand how it could be one of the most viewed videos, claiming that there is barely anything in it content-wise. It is thought that this controversy helped the video gain 4.7Bn views and $9M in revenue. 
The South Korean K-pop singer Psy released the iconic song Gangnam style in 2012, making it the oldest video in the top 10. Impressively, a video that is ten years old is still one of the most viewed on YouTube to this day. Moreover, the catchy song came with a dance that went viral worldwide, helping it secure billions of views and $8M in revenue. 
