PSY’s smash hit Gangnam Style is the first K-pop video to reach six billion views on YouTube.
Almost exactly 14 years after it was posted on the platform, the humorous, dance-heavy visual has surpassed the milestone, becoming the first music video in the genre to garner those numbers to date.
PSY is widely recognised as having set the stage for modern K-pop to cross over into the global mainstream in recent years, being followed by acts such as BTS, Blackpink, Stray Kids, Seventeen, Twice and more.
Directed by Cho Soo-Hyun, the video finds the South Korean star causing chaos with his signature Gangnam Style choreography. Reaching No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2012, Gangnam Style became the first upload to ever reach a billion views on YouTube, making it an original member of the Billion Views Club that has since been joined by Justin Bieber’s Baby, Taylor Swift’s Blank Space and Ed Sheeran’s Shape of You, among other clips.
Several other K-pop artists have also entered the club in recent years, including BTS with hits Dynamite and Butter, and Blackpink with Pink Venom and How You Like That.
PSY remains a big fish in the South Korean entertainment industry, running his own record label, P Nation, and hosting his annual high-energy Summer Swag concert series.
