# Gangnam Style > Gangnam Style is a 2012 K-pop single by South Korean rapper PSY, featuring an absurd horse-riding dance, that became the first YouTube video to reach one billion views. "Gangnam Style" is a 2012 K-pop single by South Korean rapper PSY (Park Jae-sang) that broke every existing record for viral video content when its music video became the first in YouTube history to reach one billion views on December 21, 2012[12]. Built around an absurd "horse-riding dance" and a satirical take on the materialism of Seoul's wealthiest neighborhood, the song topped charts in over 30 countries and introduced millions of Western listeners to Korean pop music[3]. ## Origin PSY wrote and produced "Gangnam Style" as the lead single for his sixth studio album, *Psy 6 (Six Rules), Part 1*[3]. By 2012, the 34-year-old rapper had spent over a decade as a well-known entertainer in South Korea, famous for his comedy, blunt lyrics, and wild stage performances[5]. His first album had gotten him fined for "inappropriate content," his second was banned outright, and he'd been busted for marijuana and for dodging mandatory military service[1]. He was not the kind of artist the K-pop industry would have picked to crack the Western market[9]. PSY told *The New York Times* that South Korean fans had such high expectations for his dance moves that he stayed up late for about 30 nights testing "cheesy" animal-inspired choreography with his choreographer Lee Ju-sun, trying panda and kangaroo moves before landing on the horse trot[3]. The music video was shot in just 48 hours and packed with well-known South Korean TV personalities to guarantee domestic buzz[9]. Seven-year-old dance prodigy Hwang Min-woo, comedian Yoo Jae-suk (in a bright yellow suit), TV personality Noh Hong-chul (the "elevator guy"), and K-pop star Hyuna all made appearances[13]. The video was uploaded to PSY's official YouTube channel on July 15, 2012, and pulled roughly 500,000 views on its first day[9]. It immediately topped South Korea's Gaon Chart[3]. - **Platform:** YouTube/Music - **Creator:** PSY (Park Jae-sang) (artist, songwriter, choreographer) - **Date:** 2012 ## Overview "Gangnam Style" is a dance-pop track set in B minor at 132 BPM[6] that pairs an aggressively catchy electronic beat with lyrics about a self-proclaimed hotshot searching for "the perfect girlfriend who knows when to be refined and when to get wild"[3]. The song's title references the Gangnam district of Seoul, a 15-square-mile area that held roughly $84 billion in wealth as of 2010, about seven percent of South Korea's entire GDP[1]. In Korean slang, "Gangnam Style" described the flashy nouveau riche lifestyle associated with the district's trendsetters[4]. The music video's signature element is the "horse-riding dance," where PSY pretends to ride an invisible horse while alternately holding reins and spinning a lasso, then breaking into a legs-shuffling side gallop[3]. The video drops PSY into absurd locations: a children's playground, a public bath, a stable, a bus, and a tennis court, all while he insists he's living the high life[18]. The disconnect between the glamorous claim and the ridiculous reality was the joke, and it translated across every language barrier. ## How It Spread The video's international breakout started in late July 2012 when American rapper T-Pain tweeted about it, writing "Words cannot ever describe how amazing this video is"[18]. Singer Josh Groban posted: "It's a gangnam style world, we are just living in it"[18]. Within days, Britney Spears, Katy Perry, Tom Cruise, and Robbie Williams had all drawn their followers' attention to the clip[9]. By the first week of August, CNN, ABC News, and *The Wall Street Journal* had all covered the video as a viral sensation[2]. The YouTube community's response spawned reaction videos that themselves pulled tens of thousands of views, which Korean news outlets then covered, creating a feedback loop of attention[2]. English-speaking audiences latched onto the chorus "Oppan Gangnam Style" through misheard lyrics, turning the refrain into "Open Condom Style" and "Open Gundam Style," which spawned image macros and dominated the YouTube comments section[2]. By the end of August 2012, the video was pulling over 3 million views per day[12]. On September 3, daily views passed the 5 million mark[8]. That same week, PSY's Seoul-based label YG Entertainment announced he had signed with Schoolboy Records after being approached by American talent manager Scooter Braun, who had asked on Twitter, "How did I not sign this guy?"[2]. Braun, the man who discovered Justin Bieber on YouTube, had now signed the first Korean artist to achieve mainstream Western representation[8]. On September 20, 2012, Guinness World Records officially recognized "Gangnam Style" as the most liked video in YouTube history with 2,141,758 likes, overtaking LMFAO's "Party Rock Anthem," Justin Bieber's "Baby," and Adele's "Rolling in the Deep"[15]. In the United States, the song peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100, blocked from the top spot by Maroon 5's "One More Night"[10]. It topped the charts of more than 30 countries including Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom, where it became the first K-pop single to reach number one[3]. ## How to Use Gangnam Style memes revolve around the signature horse dance, parody recreations, and the song's cultural ubiquity in the early 2010s. 1. For the horse dance: film yourself performing the invisible horse ride and lasso spin in an unexpected or formal location — the humor comes from the contrast 2. For parody videos: recreate the full music video with a group in a new context (office, school, military), maintaining the original structure with your own setting 3. Use the 'Oppan [X] Style' snowclone by swapping 'Gangnam' for any other word in the song's refrain 4. Post a clip or GIF of the horse dance as a reaction signaling nostalgia for 2012 internet or extreme enthusiasm ## Cultural Impact "Gangnam Style" broke barriers that the K-pop industry had been trying to crack for years. Korean pop acts had found audiences in Southeast Asia and parts of South America, but Western reception was lukewarm before PSY[3]. The song proved that viral internet content could bypass traditional music industry gatekeeping and language barriers entirely[11]. South Korea saw a measurable tourism boost. Visitors flocked to Gangnam, inspired by the song's lyrics and imagery, and the country's cultural exports in music, fashion, and beauty products experienced sharp growth[11]. The British sculptor Anish Kapoor produced a short film called *Gangnam for Freedom* to advocate for freedom of expression, which won support from Index on Censorship and Amnesty International[7]. A fake Nostradamus prophecy meme circulated in November 2012, reading: "From the calm morning, the end will come when of the dancing horse the number of circles will be 9." Fans connected "the calm morning" to Korea ("Land of the Morning Calm"), "the dancing horse" to PSY's dance, and "the number of circles" to the video approaching 900 million views, just as the Mayan calendar end date of December 21 approached[17]. U.S. Representative John Lewis recorded a video of himself doing the dance[12]. The United Nations' communications division described PSY as "an international sensation"[7]. ## Fun Facts - PSY tested panda and kangaroo dance moves before settling on the horse trot, spending about 30 late nights perfecting the choreography with Lee Ju-sun[3]. - The music video was filmed in just 48 hours[9]. - When the view count hit 2,147,483,647, it maxed out YouTube's 32-bit integer counter, forcing Google to upgrade to a 64-bit system[14]. - PSY was born into a wealthy family in Gangnam itself, making his satire of the neighborhood's materialism partly self-deprecating[5]. - The song's success changed Billboard's chart methodology. After seeing how YouTube views drove sales and streaming for "Gangnam Style," Billboard began incorporating YouTube data into its calculations[10]. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is Gangnam Style? "Gangnam Style" is a 2012 K-pop dance single by South Korean rapper PSY, famous for its "horse-riding dance" music video that became the first YouTube video to reach one billion views[12]. ### Where did Gangnam Style come from? PSY wrote and released the song on July 15, 2012, through his label YG Entertainment as the lead single of his sixth studio album, *Psy 6 (Six Rules), Part 1*[3]. ### What does Gangnam Style mean? "Gangnam Style" refers to the flashy, materialistic lifestyle associated with Seoul's ultra-wealthy Gangnam district. PSY uses the phrase satirically, poking fun at "posers and wannabes" who claim to live that lifestyle[3]. ### How do you use the Gangnam Style meme? People commonly create parody videos recreating the horse-riding dance in unexpected settings, use clips or GIFs as reaction content, or employ the "Oppan X Style" snowclone template on social media[14]. ### Is Gangnam Style still popular? The video's peak was in 2012-2013. As of 2018, it had over 3.2 billion views on YouTube[6], but the meme's active use as a cultural reference has faded from its original intensity. ### Who is PSY? Park Jae-sang (born December 31, 1977) is a South Korean rapper, singer, and songwriter who had been a well-known entertainer in Korea for over a decade before "Gangnam Style" made him a global star. He later founded the talent agency P Nation[5]. ### What is the horse dance? The signature dance move involves pretending to ride an invisible horse while alternately holding the reins and spinning a lasso, then breaking into a shuffling side gallop. PSY and choreographer Lee Ju-sun developed it over about 30 nights of testing different animal-inspired moves[3]. ### Was Gangnam Style the most viewed YouTube video? Yes. It held the record for most-viewed YouTube video from November 24, 2012 (when it passed Justin Bieber's "Baby") until July 10, 2017, when it was passed by Wiz Khalifa's "See You Again"[3]. ### Why did YouTube have to change its view counter? By 2014, "Gangnam Style" had reached 2,147,483,647 views, which was the maximum number YouTube's 32-bit integer counter could display. Google had to upgrade to a 64-bit integer to keep counting[14]. ### How did Gangnam Style affect K-pop globally? The song proved that a Korean-language hit could dominate Western charts without being sung in English. It opened doors for BTS, BLACKPINK, and other K-pop acts to build international audiences[11]. It also led Billboard to incorporate YouTube views into chart calculations[10]. ### Did Gangnam Style change the Billboard charts? Yes. Billboard's director of charts Silvio Pietroluongo directly cited "Gangnam Style" when explaining the decision to include YouTube plays in chart methodology, a change that took effect shortly after the song's run[10]. ### What was the satirical message in Gangnam Style? The song satirizes the materialism and status-chasing in Seoul's Gangnam district. The video shows PSY claiming to be a "hotshot" while actually standing in a children's playground or sitting on a merry-go-round, mocking those who try to project wealth they don't have[1]. ### How did celebrities help Gangnam Style go viral? T-Pain was among the first Western celebrities to tweet about the video in late July 2012, followed by Britney Spears, Katy Perry, Robbie Williams, and Josh Groban, who collectively introduced the video to millions of Western followers[9]. ### Did politicians do the Gangnam Style dance? Yes. UK Prime Minister David Cameron and then-London Mayor Boris Johnson reportedly performed it at a conference[13]. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called it "a force for world peace"[3]. U.S. Representative John Lewis recorded himself doing the dance[12]. ### What record did Gangnam Style set on the Guinness World Records? On September 20, 2012, Guinness recognized "Gangnam Style" as the most liked video in YouTube history with over 2.14 million likes, beating LMFAO, Justin Bieber, and Adele[15]. ## References 1. [Crazy K-Pop Of The Week: "Gangnam Style"]() 2. [Latest Videos | CNN]() 3. [Gangnam Style, Dissected: The Subversive Message Within South Korea's Music Video Sensation - The Atlantic]() 4. [Gangnam Style - Know Your Meme]() 5. [Gangnam Style]() 6. [Gangnam Style - Urban Dictionary]() 7. [Psy - Wikipedia]() 8. [Gangnam Style - Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia]() 9. [Gangnam Style - Wikipedia]() 10. [Gangnam Style | Meme Reference]() 11. ['Gangnam Style': How Psy’s K-Pop Satire Hit It Big On YouTube]() 12. [How did 'Gangnam Style' become so popular?]() 13. [AAPI History - Gangnam Style]() 14. ["Gangnam Style" becomes the first YouTube video to reach one billion views | December 21, 2012 | HISTORY]() 15. [The Fascinating History of Gangnam Style - Skeptikai]() 16. [Gangnam Style | Slang | Dictionary.com]() 17. [Psy releases MV for "Gangnam Style" | allkpop]() 18. [Psy's `Gangnam Style' Spreads Beyond South Korea - WSJ]() 19. [Gangnam Style, Dissected: The Subversive Message Within South Korea's Music Video Sensation - The Atlantic]() 20. ['Gangnam Style' holds Guinness World Record for most 'liked' video in YouTube history | Guinness World Records]() 21. [Could Gangnam Style Be the First Video to 1 Billion Views? Yes, and by the End of the Year - The Atlantic]() 22. [Nostradamus prediction meme on Psy's "Gangnam Style" receives attention | allkpop]() 23. [YG LIFE – Public Announcement – Scooter Braun Regarding PSY]() 24. [Latest Videos | CNN]() 25. [Google Workspace Updates: New community features for Google Chat and an update on Currents]() 26. [Learning Acrobatics by Watching YouTube – The Berkeley Artificial Intelligence Research Blog]() 27. [South Korean Rapper PSY's 'Gangnam Style' Goes Viral - ABC News]() 28. [Hollywood, Bollywood, Hong Kong and Asian celebrity news | Yahoo Life Singapore]() 29. [Psy Reveals All About 'Gangnam Style' - WSJ]() --- Source: https://meme.com/memes/gangnam-style Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library