South Korean rapper PSY’s Gangnam Style has become YouTube’s most viewed video of all time.
YouTube says in a posting on its Trends blog that Gangnam Style had been viewed 805 million times as of Saturday afternoon, surpassing Justin Bieber’s Baby, which has had 803 million views.
The blog says the “velocity of popularity for PSY’s outlandish video is unprecedented.”
PSY’s video featuring his horse-riding dance was posted on YouTube in July, while Baby was uploaded in February 2010.
PSY’s video has become a global sensation, with many people around the world mimicking his Gangnam Style dance. In their October meeting, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, a South Korean, joked that he had to relinquish his title as “the most famous Korean,” and tried a few of PSY’s dance moves.
Since its release, the song has eclipsed such other popular videos as Jennifer Lopez’s ‘On the Floor,’ Eminem’s ‘Love the Way You Lie’ and LMFAO’s ‘Party Rock Anthem.’
And in September, ‘Gangnam Style’ also became the most liked video on YouTube, now with nearly 5.4 million thumbs up.
At the time of the announcement, the Guinness Book of World Records released a statement saying: ‘In years past it was unthinkable that something would be viewed a hundred million times, and now Gangnam Style has achieved more than twice this figure in just three months on YouTube. PSY, your certificate is waiting here at our office, come pick it up any time!’
Despite its massive popularity, the video shows no signs of slowing down, and it even has a shot at becoming the first video to get more than one billion views.
If it maintains its current rate of around six million new views per day, ‘Gangnam Style’ would be in line to break that record by the end of the year.
