Over the past week, thousands of videos have been posted across social media platforms of the "Ice Bucket Challenge," a charity video trend primarily benefiting ALS research. "ALS"--short for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis--was one of the top rising searches on Google Sunday thanks, in part, to clips posted by everyone from casual video creators to celebrities and athletes, all of whom are dumping buckets of ice on their heads for a cause.

In the past week, USC football coach Steve Sarkisian, jam band O.A.R., and NFL quarterback Matt Ryan were among those who joined in. The most popular recent video comes from "The Fault in Our Stars" actor Ansel Egort. Here's a quick playlist of some of the most popular #IceBucketChallenge videos on YouTube:



Silly? Yes, maybe. But the challenge has now reportedly resulted in a donations boon for the ALS Association.

And things are still taking off. As the below chart indicates, upload activity around this trend really just started to take off late last week and into the weekend:


Find out more about the challenge here.

-- Kevin Allocca