hankyoreh

Screen capture of the music video for Psy’s “Gangnam Style,” which was posted to YouTube in July 2012. (courtesy P Nation)

Black sunglasses, a blue tuxedo, the iconic horse dance, catchy lyrics like “oppa Gangnam style” and an energetic beat — this was the image with which South Korean singer Psy took the world by storm through the music video for his song “Gangnam Style” on YouTube.

As Psy’s famous song marks the 10th anniversary of its release, views of the accompanying music video on YouTube currently stand at more than 4.4 billion. Eyes are also on those K-pop music videos that followed Psy’s lead.

“Gangnam Style” is the lead single of Psy’s sixth album “Psy 6.” The track and music video were both released on July 15, 2012.

CNN recently highlighted “Gangnam Style” in a feature article titled “'Gangnam Style’ at 10: How Psy’s smash hit sent Korean culture global.”

“Diffusive media platforms such as YouTube have made K-pop and Hallyu popular in foreign countries,” Lee Gyu-tag, an associate professor of cultural studies specializing in K-pop and the Korean Wave at George Mason University’s South Korean campus, told CNN.

“Without the big hit that was ‘Gangnam Style,’ there may not have been BTS, there may not have been Blackpink,” Lee added.

Promo material celebrating Blackpink’s “Ddu-du Ddu-du” reaching 1.9 billion views on YouTube (courtesy YG Entertainment)

Gangnam Style was a trailblazer for K-pop globally, reaching No. 2 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart in 2012. This record was later broken as BTS climbed to the top of the chart with their single “Dynamite” in 2020. However, even BTS was not able to break Psy’s YouTube view count.

With Psy’s music video becoming the first to surpass 2 billion views, YouTube had to increase its server capacity. In addition, Billboard made changes to reduce emphasis on radio airplay time and to instead reflect the number of YouTube views for songs.

Well aware of the impact made by him, BTS has also thanked Psy for paving the way for more Korean artists to make their mark on the global music stage.

As of Monday, “Gangnam Style” had been viewed 4.4 billion times on YouTube. In terms of YouTube views, Blackpink’s “Ddu-du Ddu-du” comes in at No. 2 among K-pop music videos with 1.9 billion views.

In third place is “Kill This Love” from Blackpink with 1.6 billion views, followed by BTS’ “Boy With Luv” with 1.55 billion views, and in 5th place is “Dynamite” by BTS with 1.52 billion views.

Next, in order from 6th to 10th place are Psy’s “Gentleman” (1.54 billion views), Blackpink's “Boombayah” (1.4 billion views), “Mic Drop” by BTS (1.2 billion views), and Blackpink’s “As If It’s Your Last” (11 billion views).

Promo poster celebrating BTS’s “Boy With Luv ft. Halsey” reaching 1.5 billion views on YouTube (courtesy Big Hit Music)

Among the top 10 songs, 5 are from Blackpink, 3 from BTS, and 2 from Psy.

In terms of the global ranking for YouTube music video views, in first place is Luis Fonsi’s “Despacito” (7.9 billion views), followed by Ed Sheeran’s “Shape of You” (5.7 billion views), Wiz Khalifa’s “See You Again” (5.5 billion views), Mark Ronson’s “Uptown Funk” (4.6 billion views), and “Gangnam Style” in 5th place.

Meanwhile, the music video for “That That,” produced with BTS member Suga for Psy’s ninth album “Psy 9th” released this April, has already surpassed over 200 million views on YouTube, making it the K-pop video with the highest number of views this year.

By Jung Hyuk-june, staff reporter

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]