Gangnam Style, the blockbuster pop song released in 2012, has been viewed so many times, forcing YouTube to upgrade its hit counter. The song which was popularized by the South Korean star Psy reached 2,147,483,647 views and counting demanded that YouTube upgrade to a 64-bit integer code.
"We never thought a video would be watched in numbers greater than the 32-bit integer, but that was before we met Psy," YouTube said in a blog post. Currently, the video aggregation site has increased its maximum views to 9,223,372,036,854,775,808 times.
The Gangnam Style mania exceeded songs from famous Hollywood artists such as Justin Beiber's Baby (2010) with 1.117 billion views and Gotye's Somebody That I Used to Know (2011) with 575 million hits. Another Psy video also ranked among the top 10 most viewed, together with a Gangnam Style duet with Korean singer Hyuna.
The Charlie bit my finger - again!, a video clip of two toddlers seated in an armchair, is the sole non-music entry that has been viewed 805 million times.
Among the 10 most watched YouTube videos are the following: Gangnam Style, Psy (2.153 billion views); Baby, Justin Bieber featuring Ludacris (1.117 billion); Charlie bit my finger - again!, HDCYT (805 million); On the Floor, Jennifer Lopez featuring Pitbull (975 million); Party Rock Anthem, LMFAO featuring Lauren Bennett, GoonRock (781 million); Waka Waka (This Time for Africa), Shakira (777 million); Love The Way You Lie, Eminem featuring Rihanna (775 million); Gentleman, Psy (762 million); Wrecking Ball, Miley Cyrus (727 million); and Roar, Katy Perry (718 million).
The phenomenon went viral online especially in social media sites saying that Psy has "broke" the internet. But Google spokesperson Matt McLernon said that nothing has been broken. "It's just people having fun with the language."
Immediately after Gangnam Style's release more than two years ago, it was associated to the end of the Mayan calendar citing the end of the world. However, as the song reached its anticipated number of views, the apocalypse did not happen.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
