[Letters] It seems fair to name the world ‘Psy World’

Music video of Psy’s “Gangnam Style”, the title song of his 6th album “Psyyukgap,” reached 0.5 billion views on Oct. 20, 98 days after its first release. On the same day, the video was ranked as the third most viewed video. The first and second most viewed video is Justin Bieber’s “Baby” and Jennifer Lopez’s ‘On the Floor’ respectively. “Gangnam Style” also ranked in three out of four YouTube charts; ranked first in the most liked and favorites and third in videos with the most comments.

Ninety-eight days, the time taken for “Gangnam Style” to reach 0.5 billion views, is the world record and is three times faster than “Baby” (403 days) and “On the Floor” (139 days). On September 28th, “Gangnam Style” reached a world record on YouTube by reaching 0.3 billion views in 76 days. At the time, “Gangnam Style” showed the rate twice or three times faster than “On the Floor”(139 days) and “Baby”(188 days), and with 0.5 billion views, the gap increased.

The true competitiveness of “Gangnam Style” lies in the popularity brought by the countless parodies, reaction, performances and TV shows related to the music video. The popularity of “Gangnam Style” related videos are increasing over time like it has never been before in the history of YouTube.

As of Oct. 20, “Gangnam Style”-related videos (749 videos, over 130,000 views) reached 1.2 billion views suggesting the total view including the original video’s is over 1.75 billion. This means the equivalent of the total population of China and the U.S enjoyed “Gangnam Style”-related videos and this is truly record-breaking.

According to the Hanryu Research Center, for 0.1 views of “Gangnam Style,” 3.5 total hits occurred as of Sept. 13, for 0.3 views, 0.9 hits on Sept. 28 and 0.4, 1.35 hits on Oct. 8. If this rate is applied, as the view reaches 0.8 billion before Nov. 29 and 1 billion before Dec. 31, the total hits will be 3 billion and 3.8 billion respectively. The statistics and this prospect sound hard to believe, but it is becoming fact for the international singer, Psy.

Billboard, the most influential music magazine, releases their No. 1 song in the United States every week. For about the past 60 years, 3,160 songs were ranked as first. Even if the same songs are excluded, over 1,000 groups or singers earned the glory. Winning No. 1 in YouTube is much more worthwhile than winning No. 1 in Billboard.

“Winning Billboard No. 1 is like a waterfall. Splendid and historic but passes in a moment. But YouTube No. 1 is like the sea. It’s endless and becomes a living history that never stops breathing,” Gu-hyeon Han, the director of the Hanryu Research Center said about the two mediums, highlighting the importance of popularity in YouTube.

It seems fair to name the world, “Psy World.”

by Han Koo-hyun Director of the Korean Wave Research Institute