Ranking 10 Most-Viewed YouTube Videos Of All Time
7. Psy: Gangnam Style
Upload date: 15 July 2012
View count: 3,613,944,514
A landmark moment in Psy’s career and in the history of YouTube itself, Gangnam Style took the world by storm upon its release in 2012. In less than 6 months after its July debut, it had already hit 1 billion views, the first ever video to reach such a number. It would later break its own record and become the first video to reach 2 billion in May 2014.
The lead single from his sixth album, Psy 6 (Six Rules), Part 1, Gangnam Style focuses on a lifestyle synonymous with the Gangnam District of Seoul. The catchy beat and eccentric dance movements depicted were met with critical praise and the video soon went viral. It later won the MTV Europe Music Award for Best Video. Its horse dance movements were copied by various fans and celebrities around the world, even then world leaders such as Barack Obama and David Cameron got in in the action.
The South Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism acknowledged Psy and his beloved single as responsible for increasing international interest in South Korea and its pop culture. For this, the Ministry awarded him a 4th Class Order of Cultural Merit.