Gangnam Style knocked off top spot

Gangnam Style is no longer the most-played video on YouTube 

Psy's Gangnam Style is no longer the most-watched video on YouTube.

The South Korean megahit had been the site's most-played clip for the last five years.

The surreal video became so popular that it "broke" YouTube's play counter, exceeding the maximum possible number of views (2,147,483,647), and forcing the company to rewrite its code.

But the song has now been overtaken by another music video - Wiz Khalifa and Charlie Puth's See You Again.

The heart-wrenching ballad has now been streamed 2,895,373,709 times; beating Psy's current count of 2,894,426,475 views.

Adding it up, that means See You Again has been streamed for a total of 21,759 years. If one person was to listen to each of those streams consecutively, they'd have to have started during the glacial peak of the last Ice Age.

The song was written for the action movie Furious 7, playing over the closing credits in tribute to the actor Paul Walker, who died in a car accident before the film was completed.

With its unabashedly sentimental lyrics ("it's been a long day without you my friend/ And I'll tell you all about it when I see you again"), See You Again has become one of the most frequently requested pop songs at *funerals in the UK.

It was the best-selling song worldwide in 2015, and received best song nominations at both the Grammys and the Oscars.

The music video features the final scene of Furious 7, in which the two main characters Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) and Brian O'Conner (Cody Walker, filling in for his brother, Paul), drive side-by-side, sharing a smile for the last time before they pull onto separate roads and drive into the sunset.

As the camera pans up into the sky, a title card reads "For Paul" and the video ends.

The video reached 1 billion views in six months, and hit 2 billion last September. However, its reign as YouTube's most-watched clip may be short-lived.

Luis Fonsi's summer smash Despacito has racked up 2.5 billion views in just six months, and it shows no signs of slowing down.

The Puerto Rican song - sung in a mixture of Spanish and English - has been number one in the UK for the last eight weeks, thanks in part to a remix featuring Justin Bieber.

Whoever takes the title, though, its good news for Universal Music, which owns all of the songs.

Meanwhile, 47 of the top 50 clips on YouTube are music videos, proving the importance of the streaming site to the music industry - despite the fact the two sides are locked in a battle over royalty payments.

According to analysis by Midia Research, every stream on YouTube generates $0.001 for the music industry.

If accurate, that means Wiz Khalifa and Charlie Puth's song has earned $2.9m (£2.2m) from YouTube - roughly the same amount it has made from 665 million plays on Spotify.

Most-watched music videos on YouTube Artist Song Views (at time of writing)

1) Wiz Khalifa See You Again (ft Charlie Puth) 2,895,373,709
2) Psy Gangnam Style 2,894,426,475
3) Justin Bieber Sorry 2,635,572,161
4) Mark Ronson Uptown Funk (ft Bruno Mars) 2,550,545,717
5) Luis Fonsi Despacito (ft Daddy Yankee) 2,482,502,747
6) Taylor Swift Shake It Off 2,248,761,095
7) Enrique Iglesias Bailando 2,232,756,228
8) Maroon 5 Sugar 2,150,365,635
9) Katy Perry Roar 2,129,400,973
10) Taylor Swift Blank Space 2,101,607,657

Source: BBC News

* In the UK it is quite commonplace to have pop songs at funerals nowadays.  It's not unusual to see a colourful coffin either.

Of the top ten music videos, I had only heard of Gangnam Style and See You Again rings a bell. Can you do any better?

Can you complete the lyrics to See You Again?

 
 Thanks to Augusto for creating the Quizlet!

Comments

José said…
Hi Graham,



This post is an opportunity to be up to date. I don’t know what is the most-watched video on YouTube, but I know that I have to watch Wiz Khalifa and Charlie Puth’s See You Again, Psy’s Gangnam Style and Luis Fonsi’s Despacito, thank to you. If Wiz Khalifa and Charlie Puth and Psy have earned $2.9m from YouTube is because YouTub is rolling in money.



I vow to listen See You Again and Gangnam Style and after we may talk about what is the best song. I just hear Despacito by Luis Fonsi and I like it. If this singer Mr. Fonsi has racked up 2.5 billion views in just six months, I’m afraid that he is going to overtake the rest of singers.



It seems not unabashedly (descarado in Spanish?) to say that “it’s been a long day without you my friend/And I’ll tell you all about it when I see you again”. I understand that See You Again has become one of the most frequently pop song at funerals in the UK.



Anyway, could we be sure that numbers of views of videos are objective? Thinking that companies are impartial and they don’t have influence about the score is difficult to me.



Please, what does heart-wrenching mean?



See you.
Graham said…
Hello J!

I managed to listen to Despacito a whole minute before deciding that I didn't like it.


... I don’t know what the most-watched video on YouTube is, but I know that I have to watch Wiz Khalifa and Charlie Puth’s See You Again, Psy’s Gangnam Style and Luis Fonsi’s Despacito, thanks to you. If Wiz Khalifa and Charlie Puth and Psy have earned $2.9m from YouTube, it is because YouTube is rolling in money.

I vow to listen to See You Again and Gangnam Style and after we may talk about what the best song is. I have just listened to Despacito by Luis Fonsi and I like it. If this singer Mr. Fonsi has racked up 2.5 billion views in just six months, I’m afraid that he is going to overtake the rest of the singers.

It doesn't seem unabashed to say that “it’s been a long day without you my friend/And I’ll tell you all about it when I see you again”. I understand that See You Again has become one of the most frequent pop songs at funerals in the UK.

Anyway, could we be sure that numbers of views of videos are objective? Thinking that companies are impartial and they don’t have influence on the score is difficult to me.



Please, what does heart-wrenching mean?

Imagine Scotland was playing Spain in the World Cup Finals. It was 1-0 for Scotland in the 90th minute but Spain scored two goals in extra time. That would be heart-wrenching for me.

Gus said…
In "See you again" the song I don't like. Perhaps the intention, a certain message that it transmits. In "Gangnam Style" I really like the rhythm and how crazy the song is. I think it has something great; a song like that cannot occur to anyone. I don't know why, but it reminds me of a song from the 60's called "Pata Pata". I didn't understand any of the lyrics but I loved the song, especially for dancing.
Graham said…
Good afternoon Gus,

I like it when a one-hit wonder comes along to upset the megastars. I wonder if Gangnam Style will be as embarrassingly bad in a few years as La Macarena is today.

Which reminds me - I was mortified when I was at an André Rieu concert (I only went to accompany my mam - honest!) and Los Del Río came on stage. I was surrounded by oldies (= older than me) swiggling their hips. I sank deeper into my seat.

See You Again is the kind of song that makes me start blubbing. I quite like it but it's not healthy to listen to it.

I'll send you a video with the translation of Pata Pata via WhatsApp. I didn't recognise the name but I knew it as soon as I listened it. It makes me laugh imagining you boogying to it on the dancefloor. I am sure you were a better dancer than I could ever be.

I don't really like See You Again - perhaps because of its intention, a certain message that it transmits. I really like the rhythm / the beat of Gangnam Style and how crazy the song is. I think it has something great; a song like that cannot occur to just anyone. I don't know why, but it reminds me of a song from the 60's called "Pata Pata". I didn't understand any of the lyrics but I loved the song, especially for dancing.