Gotye Ya! Psy's Gangnam Style Is Most Watched YouTube Of All Time

Gotye Ya! Psy's Gangnam Style Is Most Watched YouTube Of All Time

Forget Goyte, forget Charlie bit my finger, Obama's rap battle or Kony 2012, because Psy's 'Gangnam Style' has become the most-viewed YouTube video of all time. The South Korean pop sensation is approaching 1 billion views for his bizarre dance video, leaving hugely popular clips in his wake.

To clarify, Gangnam Style isn't just the most watched music video of all time, it's the most popular video full stop. Artists and comedians are increasingly using the sharing website to promote their material and it's clearly working with the right videos. "It definitely suggests that there's change afoot," said James McQuivey, an analyst with Forrester Research. "I don't think the change is about one form of entertainment replacing the other. It's about the expansion of the platform to include more things. That will continue." The website now attracts more than 800 million users, who watch more than 4 billion hours of video a month. Gangnam Style, which spread from Asia to the United States and Europe, illustrates the true power of the internet influencing popular culture. "A lot of people are used to us having an insular pop culture, where everything is originating out of the U.S. and spreads to other parts of the world," said YouTube trends manager Kevin Allocca, "YouTube is a global thing - 70% of YouTube's views happen outside of the U.S. You have these things that are phenomena at a global scale."

Psy's breakout video overtook Gotye's 'Somebody That I Used To Know' as the most watched YouTube video of all time, with the Kony 2012 clip in third place. 'Call Me Maybe' by Carly Rae Jepsen and the Barack Obama versus Mitt Romney Rap Battle rounded out the top five. 

Watch Gangnam Style Below: