The Internet is a vast and seemingly limitless space , but it 's no match for PSY . `` Gangnam Style , '' the South Korean pop star 's enduring video phenomenon from 2012 , has surpassed 2,147,483,647 views on YouTube , maxing out the site 's original view counter . `` We never thought a video would be watched in numbers greater than a 32-bit integer ( =2,147,483,647 views ) , but that was before we met PSY , '' wrote Google , which owns YouTube , in a blog post this week. `` 'Gangnam Style ' has been viewed so many times we have to upgrade ! '' For anyone who does n't have an advanced degree in computing , that basically means YouTube 's view counter was based on a 32-bit integer , a unit of data in computer programming languages , and the number 2,147,483,647 is its maximum positive value . When programmers built YouTube nine years ago , they probably never imagined that a video on the young platform -- back when several million views was considered a smash hit -- might be watched more than 2.1 billion times . As of late Wednesday morning , `` Gangnam Style '' had breached the barrier , showing more than 2,152,512,000 views . So how is this possible ? YouTube 's software engineers saw the problem coming and recently updated to a 64-bit view counter across the site , Google spokesman Matt McLernon said . The view counter can now go up to 9 quintillion views ( 9,223,372,036,854,775,808 , to be exact ) , which should hold PSY for a while . `` Nothing actually broke , '' McLernon said . `` There was never anything that actually went wrong . It 's just people having fun with the language . '' Still , it 's an impressive feat for PSY 's trademark horse-riding dance video , which is almost 2½ years old . Uploaded in July 2012 , `` Gangnam Style '' was the first clip to hit a billion views and is the most-watched video of all time . It was even the No . 5 most-played video on YouTube this past summer , McLernon said . `` People still play this video an absurd number of times , '' he said . To commemorate the occasion , YouTube has added a new wrinkle : If you hover your cursor over the `` Gangnam Style '' view counter , the numbers spin backwards and forwards . In 2012 : Gangnam is new YouTube king .
`` Gangnam Style '' has maxed out YouTube 's original video-view counter . The video is a mashup of the Korean pop song and an American rap song, with lyrics in both English and Korean. YouTube has been forced to upgrade its software in response .