Back in 2012, it seemed no music video could possibly be more popular than Psy’s K-pop smash “Gangnam Style.” In just 158 days, it raked in over 1 billion views on YouTube. The Korean pop idol Psy’s Gangnam Style music video has become the first video in history to surpass one billion views on YouTube.
Back then, YouTube said, “We never thought a video would be watched in numbers greater than a 32-bit integer (=2,147,483,647 views), but that was before we met PSY. “Gangnam Style” has been viewed so many times we have to upgrade! Hover over the counter in PSY’s video to see a little math magic and stay tuned for bigger and bigger numbers on YouTube.”
Adele breaks YouTube record
It’s been three months since the video was unveiled (on 22 October) and has now officially reached over a billion views on YouTube – the fastest ever music video to do so; fifty million of those views alone were generated after 48 hours.
The streaming service announced Thursday that her music video for ‘Hello’ greeted its 1 billionth view in 87 days, breaking the 158-day record held by Psy’s ‘Gangnam Style’.
“If anyone deserves it, it’s Adele and that song,” said Susanne Daniels, the head of original programming at YouTube.
YouTube said the feat is still rare, but newer music videos such as Katy Perry’s “Roar” and Taylor Swift’s “Blank Space” achieved it at a faster pace than older ones like Justin Bieber’s “Baby” and Eminem’s “Love The Way You Lie.”
“Hello,” the first single released from Adele’s album “25,” also shattered download and streaming records the week it was released, while “25” went on to become the fastest-selling record of 2015.
And to put the accomplishment in perspective, consider this: Only 17 music videos have ever hit the billion mark. Among them is Justin Bieber’s megahit “Baby,” but it took that clip over four years to earn a spot on the short list.
In only 87 days, Adele’s “Hello” is the fastest video to reach 1 billion views. “Hello” has made Adele the latest YouTube ‘billionaire’. Next milestone, Let’s make this the most viewed video on Youtube!