Sorry, Psy. “Gangnam Style” is no longer the most watched video on YouTube.
That distinction now belongs to the music video for Wiz Khalifa and Charlie Puth’s “See You Again.”
The two couldn’t be more different. “See You Again,” which was on the “Furious 7” soundtrack, was commissioned in memory of Paul Walker, the actor who died in November, 2013.
“Gangnam Style,” on the other hand, is a commentary on the Gangnam District, an upscale neighborhood in South Korea’s capital Seoul. For those who don’t understand the lyrics and who don’t speak Korean, it’s also a silly video full of easy-to-replicate dance moves.
At the time of this writing, “Gangnam Style” has almost 2.89 billion views while “See You Again” has 2.9. So it’s still a close race.
However, “See You Again” has been on the video site for a lot less time. “Gangnam Style” was uploaded in July 2012 while “See You Again” was uploaded in April 2015.
The two videos still belong to an exclusive club of YouTube uploads that crossed the 1 billion view count marker. Others — mostly music videos — that have crossed this threshold include “Sorry” by Justin Bieber, “Uptown Funk” by Mark Ronson featuring Bruno Mars and “Shake it Off” by Taylor Swift.
Some non-music videos have made the cut, including a 54-minute compilation of “Wheels on the Bus” and other nursery rhymes uploaded in 2014.
This exclusive club used to be just that, exclusive, but since 2015, more and more videos have been gaining membership. According to Rolling Stone, only two clips had over a billion views in June 2015 — “Gangnam Style” and “Baby” by Justin Bieber.