‘Gangnam Fashion’: The primary YouTube video to hit 1 billion views turns 10

Ten years in the past in the present day, Psy launched “Gangnam Fashion.” Within the hazy rear window of our collective reminiscence, the observe might seem to be a foolish little pop track we clumsily imitated with associates or household for a summer season. In actuality, “Gangnam Fashion” shifted the complete panorama of music and video tradition to assist create the web we all know in the present day.

The track remodeled meme tradition (by inspiring remixes and covers), contributed to the dominance of on-line video (by reaching new heights of virality via sharing), and modernized the music business at giant (by urging efficiency charts to account for music video views along with radio efficiency). It was additionally the primary ever YouTube video to hit 1 billion views.

It took “Gangnam Fashion” simply 159 days to succeed in that mark and it will be the one member of the “Billion Views Membership” for a 12 months, till Justin Bieber’s “Child” matched it. “Gangnam Fashion” was incomes 14.eight million views in a single day at its peak, and continues to be racking up 900okay views per day, based on YouTube. The music video is among the many 10-most considered music movies within the platform’s historical past with 4.Four billion views.

The track’s legacy, although, is extra than simply staggering numbers. In 2012, Psy was already a longtime artist in South Korea. And whereas the world turned “Gangnam Fashion” right into a meme, the track remodeled Psy right into a nationwide treasure. In 2016, a towering bronze statute of the dance’s signature crossed wrists was unveiled within the Gangnam district. Different “Gangnam Fashion”-themed picture ops are sprinkled all through the district, that includes life-sized outlines of Psy mid-prance.

The singer has continued to search out success in South Korea, with hits like 2015’s “Daddy” and 2017’s “New Face.” In 2018, Psy based his personal label, P Nation, which has rapidly grown into a significant participant within the South Korean music business. Its roster contains Hyuna (who, enjoyable truth, starred within the Gangnam Fashion music video), Daybreak, Crush, and Heize.

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In April, whereas selling the one “That That,” a collaboration with BTS’s Suga, Psy mirrored on how Gangnam Fashion expanded alternatives for South Korean artists. He described the fashionable reputation of South Korean acts like BTS and Blackpink within the West because the “reverse” of his viral second, noting that they achieved a “permanence and persistence” he couldn’t. BTS specifically “achieved unfulfilled goals,” like reaching No. 1 on the Billboard Sizzling 100 with 2020’s “Dynamite” (“Gangnam Fashion” peaked at No. 2 on the chart, bested by Maroon 5’s “One Extra Evening”).

“Gangnam Fashion” might not have supplied Psy with the sort of international longevity he desired, however its viral music video seemingly prompted Billboard to regulate its charting standards to lower the significance of radio play and embody YouTube streams. That change instantly affected not simply South Korean acts, however each musician who has launched work on YouTube. “Even for the well-known BTS and Blackpink,” Psy stated, “the wall of American radio could be very excessive as a result of the songs are in a international language. Our greatest weapon is YouTube.”

“In the event that they proceed like this, although they’re not doing music for the sake of elevating nationwide status, I feel they’re giving [Korea] lots of proud moments,” Psy added about BTS. “I really feel very proud that I had a task in being that set off. BTS have thanked me for that half a number of occasions, so I am pleased with it.”