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How viral video ‘Gangnam Style’ broke YouTube

Published Dec 3rd, 2014 6:05PM EST
Gangnam Style Viral Video
Image: Screenshot | YouTube

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Psy’s Gangnam Style music video is the most viewed YouTube video ever, breaking various records along the way. But the viral video also caused some problems for Google, as the company never expected it, or any other video, to become so massively popular with viewers.

FROM EARLIER: YouTube unveils Music Key, a music subscription service that blends Spotify with MTV

“‘Gangnam Style’ has been viewed so many times we have to upgrade!” YouTube said on Google+.

The problem with Gangnam Style, first released in 2012, is that it hit a number of views Google never assumed no video would ever approach.

“We never thought a video would be watched in numbers greater than a 32-bit integer (2,147,483,647 views so far), but that was before we met Psy,” the company said. “Hover over the counter in Psy’s video to see a little math magic, and stay tuned for bigger and bigger numbers on YouTube.”

When going to the official Psy Gangnam Style video clip and hovering with the mouse over the number of views, they’ll start spinning around just like a slot machine.

The video passed 2 billion hits just last May. Psy’s Gentleman music video, released last year, has already topped 762 million hits, while Hangover has reached 160 million hits on YouTube.

Chris Smith Senior Writer

Chris Smith has been covering consumer electronics ever since the iPhone revolutionized the industry in 2008. When he’s not writing about the most recent tech news for BGR, he brings his entertainment expertise to Marvel’s Cinematic Universe and other blockbuster franchises.

Outside of work, you’ll catch him streaming almost every new movie and TV show release as soon as it's available.