The music video for Psy’s “Gentleman” dropped over the weekend, and within 24 hours broke the record for most-viewed in a day, with 22 million people queuing the clip up. At press time, at about 48 hours, the video is now up and over 62 million views. The previous one-day high was held by Justin Bieber’s “Boyfriend,” with a comparably small five million.
“Gentleman” went up for sale on iTunes on Friday in the U.S., and Psy performed the song live in Seoul in concert, which was simultaneously telecast early Saturday morning here in the U.S. He busted out his new moves from the video, which has some similar stomping and left-right movements from his breakout “Gangnam Style.” Oh, and a slight crotch grab.
The video itself isn’t quite as funny as “Gangnam Style.” At moments, it’s just plain mean. Psy plays the part of a lady killer who, were he not careful, may actually kill a lady. Got it — he’s the opposite of a gentleman. But it’s got that flavor of someone who knows he’s now incredibly famous, knows you know it, and instead of getting “serious,” goes for “wet” and wild and bikinis.
Still, with those numbers, Psy will almost certainly have a shot at topping the Hot 100, a feat that “Gangnam Style” never quite managed. Billboard’s new chart rules includes YouTube views, so saddle up.