‘Despacito’ Officially Surpasses PSY’s ‘Gangnam Style’ In Total YouTube Views

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Luis Fonsi’s success with ‘Despacito’ on YouTube proves that the Latin music market is once again on the rise.

Three weeks ago, Wiz Khalifa’s ‘See You Again’ dethroned PSY’s ‘Gangnam Style’ on YouTube.  Now, in less than eight months, Luis Fonsi’s ‘Despacito’ has taken second place and will soon become the most-viewed video on the platform.

Last April, Luis Fonsi’s ‘Despacito’ attained diamond status under the RIAA’s Latin program.  The single also became the first Spanish-only track to top the Billboard Hot 100 since 1995’s ‘Macarena.’

On July 10th, Wiz Khalifa’s ‘See You Again’ became the most-watched video on YouTube.  For years, PSY’s ‘Gangnam Style’ had topped YouTube charts.  At that point, Digital Music News noted then that ‘Despacito’ took fifth place.  The popular Latin track had 2,482,502,747 views on the platform.

Just eight days later, ‘Despacito’ took third place in total YouTube views.  It surpassed Justin Bieber’s ‘Sorry’ and Mark Ronson’s ‘Uptown Funk.’  Most impressively, however, the song first debuted on the video platform on January 12th.

At the time of writing, Digital Music News predicted that the song would soon become the most-watched video.  It had 2,662,201,395 views on July 19th.

Here’s how the ranking stacks up as we head into August.

Currently, the Korean pop star’s single has 2,915,955,932 views.  ‘See You Again’ has 2,982,295,977 views.  Since July 11th, Wiz Khalifa’s single has gained around 40.6 million views.  ‘Gangnam Style’ has gained 21.9 million.  In just twenty-one days, ‘Despacito’ has gained 452.2 million views, easily giving it the edge.

The song currently has 2,934,703,305 views, making it the second most-watched video on the platform.

Speaking on the song’s massive popularity, Luis Fonsi said in an interview,

“What’s happened with this song is just insane.  I don’t want to use the word ‘accident’ because I was trying to write a hit, but I didn’t plan for it to cross over.  I just wanted to make people dance.”

The single’s success on YouTube also reflects the growing strength of the Latin music market in the United States. Latin music is also propelling paid subscriptions on services like Apple Music.  In 2015, paid subscription streaming for the Latin market only generated close to $28 million.  Last year, revenues grew 89% year-over-year to $52 million.  On-demand ad-supported streaming revenues also grew 45% to $34 million.

You can watch the hit single below.

Featured image by YouTube (screen grab)