(Photo by Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images)
To quote 2012’s Prometheus, “A king has his reign and then he dies.” While South Korean pop performer Psy is far from dead, his reign as YouTube king has ended.
For five years, 2012’s “Gangnam Style” has been the most-watched YouTube video of all-time. However, “Gangnam Style” has just been unseated atop the YouTube throne Game of Thrones style by Wiz Khalifa and Charlie Puth’s “See You Again.” A moment of silence for our fallen brethren.
“Gangnam Style” had previously outperformed YouTube’s view counter and actually exceeded the maximum possible number of views, forcing the tech giant to rewrite its code. As of this writing, “Gangnam Style” has been streamed 2,894,853,514 times; and “See You Again” had been viewed 2,896,680,107 times.
“See You Again” was written for Furious 7 and played during the closing credits in tribute to Paul Walker. The song also holds the unofficial record for eliciting the most Man Tears in history, beating out the previous record holder, Rudy.
In 2015, “See You Again” was the best-selling song worldwide and scored Best Song nominations at the Grammys and the Oscars. Not too shabby.
Sadly, “See You Again” may not stay on top for long. Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee’s “Despacito” is hot on its heels with a total of 2.483 billion views since its January 12, 2017 upload date. It is currently the fifth-most viewed video on YouTube.
So sit back and enjoy this Hunger Games of music videos. It should be entertaining.
