In July 2012, Korean rapper Psy released “Gangnam Style,” a satirical song about the luxurious Gangnam district of Seoul, accompanied by a music video of him performing an invisible-horse-riding dance. The song was entirely in Korean. Within months, it had become the first video in YouTube history to hit one billion views. By December 2014, it had broken YouTube’s view counter, which used a 32-bit integer.
Gangnam Style proved that the meme economy had become global. You didn’t need to understand the lyrics to do the dance, share the video, or laugh at it. Psy performed at the Oscars, the UN, and with MC Hammer. “Oppa Gangnam Style” became one of the most recognized phrases on earth — in any language.
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