'Gangnam Style' Becomes the Most-Watched YouTube Video Ever

Rolling Stone – Sat, Nov 24, 2012 2:42 PM EST

Korean pop sensation Psy's "Gangnam Style" clip has broken the record for the most-watched YouTube video of all time.  The video earned the distinction by garnering approximately 805 million views as of noon on Saturday, according to YouTube's Trends blog. 

In just over four months since it was posted in July, "Gangnam Style" has surpassed the views of Justin Bieber's "Baby," which previously nabbed the record five months after its February 2010 release and now stands at some 803 million views.

While searches for "Gangnam Style" spiked in South Korea at the time it was first posted,  the satire of wealthy Seoul culture began to peak in North America and Brazil in September before spiking more broadly across the world in October.

"It's been a massive hit at a global level unlike anything we've ever seen before," the YouTube post notes. "Each day, 'Gangnam Style' is still being watched between 7 and 10 million times."  

The video's viral success has surely been helped by its pioneering sexy horse dance, which has now been performed by everyone from Britney Spears to MC Hammer; Madonna even brought Psy onstage with her at Madison Square Garden to perform the song and its dance earlier this month.

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