Gangnam Style has become the first video to clock up more than one billion views on YouTube. The South Korean dance track, posted online in July, has propelled pop star Psy to worldwide fame.
The video has inspired hundreds of parody clips, from members of the British army, Thai navy and Minecraft gamers, among others. YouTube's owner, Google, said the video had been watched seven million to 10 million times a day on average. It overtook the previous record holder - Justin Bieber's music video Baby - on 24 November.
Kevin Allocca, YouTube trends manager, wrote on the service's blog: 'Psy's success is a great testament to the universal appeal of catchy music - and er, great equine dance moves.' One industry watcher said the fact so many people continued to post their own versions of Gangnam Style had played a huge part in the clip's success.
Chris Cooke, business editor of the CMU music news site, told the BBC: 'I've seen a statistic which reckons the one song will have generated something like $8m [£5m] by the end of the year from money that comes directly from YouTube through advertising plus download sales, its uses in adverts and TV programmes. It shows that YouTube - which is a free-to-use as a promotional platform for the music labels - can lead to substantial income.'
Sir Martin Sorrell, chief executive of advertising giant WPP, paid tribute to the achievement by making a link between Psy and one of the west's most influential economists, calling it 'another great example of Theodore Levitt's globalisation and the power of K-pop'. Scott Mills, the BBC Radio 1 DJ who championed the song on his show, said he was amazed by the phenomenon, adding: 'The thing that interests you in the video is the fact that you don't understand the lyrics.'
