Gangnam Style Trivia: 14 fun facts about PSY’s amazing hit!

Gangnam Style is the 18th K-pop single by the South Korean musician Psy.

Let’s see some unknown facts about it!

1. The song was released on July 15, 2012, as the lead single of his sixth studio album Psy 6 (Six Rules), Part 1, and debuted at number one on South Korea’s Gaon Chart.

2. On December 21, 2012, “Gangnam Style” became the first YouTube video to reach one billion views.

3. The song’s music video has been viewed over 2.8 billion times on YouTube, and was the most viewed video on YouTube from November 24, 2012, when it surpassed the music video for “Baby” by Justin Bieber featuring Ludacris, to July 10, 2017, when it was surpassed by the music video for “See You Again” by Wiz Khalifa featuring Charlie Puth.

4. The phrase “Gangnam Style” is a Korean neologism that refers to a lifestyle associated with the Gangnam District of Seoul. The song and its accompanying music video went viral in August 2012 and have influenced popular culture worldwide since then.

5. “Gangnam Style” received mixed to positive reviews, with praise going to its catchy beat and Psy’s amusing dance moves (which themselves have become a phenomenon) in the music video and during live performances in various locations around the world.

6. In September 2012, “Gangnam Style” was recognized by Guinness World Records as the most “liked” video on YouTube.

7. It subsequently won Best Video at the MTV Europe Music Awards held later that year. It became a source of parodies and reaction videos by many different individuals, groups and organizations.

8. By the end of 2012, the song had topped the music charts of more than 30 countries including Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Russia, Spain, and the United Kingdom.

9. As the song continued to rapidly gain popularity and ubiquity, its signature dance moves were attempted by many notable political leaders such as the British Prime Minister David Cameron, U.S. President Barack Obama, and United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who hailed it as a “force for world peace”.

10. On May 7, 2013, at a bilateral meeting with South Korea’s President Park Geun-hye at the White House, U.S. President Barack Obama cited the success of “Gangnam Style” as an example of how people around the world are being “swept up” by the Korean Wave of culture.

11. The unprecedented popularity of the music video has been attributed to the signature dance move of the video known as “the horse riding dance”. On The Ellen DeGeneres Show, PSY described the dance as “pretending to bounce like riding on an invisible horse”.

12. Gangnam Style doesn’t have a copyright. The music is ridiculously catchy and the dance moves are eye-catching and simple enough to mimic. According to a blog post on Harvard Business Review one of the main reasons behind the success of “Gangnam Style” is the song’s intentional lack of copyright. This allows people to make their own versions which only add to the success of the original. More than 1000 parodies of the song have been uploaded.

13. “Gangnam Style” was the number #1 Most Viewed Video in Youtube until 2017 were it was overthrown by “See You Again”, a song by Wiz Khalifa and Charlie Puth.

14. Since the release of “Gangnam Style” in mid-July 2012, the share prices of the song’scompany YG Entertainment have gained more than 50%.