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Gangnam Style Was So Popular It Broke YouTube’s 32-bit Integer View Counter

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youtubeGoogle has revealed that Psy’s Gangnam Style video is so popular that it actually broke the counters on YouTube.

Previously, YouTube’s counter used 32-bit integer, which meant that the maximum number of views that the YouTube counter could actually count was 2,147,483,647. At the time, Google hadn’t anticipated that any video could possibly be viewed more than 2 billion times. But then along came Gangnam Style, which essentially broke the counter.

In response, Google was forced to upgrade their counter to 64-bit integer. So what exactly does this mean? The maximum number of views that the new counter can count is 9,223,372,036,854,775,808. For non-math geeks, this means over nine quintillion.

And if you were saddened to learn that Gangnam Style was the number one most viewed video of all time, then you will be doubly disappointed to learn that Baby by Justin Bieber is the second most-watched video ever, with over 1 billion views.

So now that you know the new counter tops out at 9 quintillion, you have a goal for your next potential viral video to aim to break the new YouTube video view counter.

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Jennifer Slegg

Founder & Editor at The SEM Post
Jennifer Slegg is a longtime speaker and expert in search engine marketing, working in the industry for almost 20 years. When she isn't sitting at her desk writing and working, she can be found grabbing a latte at her local Starbucks or planning her next trip to Disneyland. She regularly speaks at Pubcon, SMX, State of Search, Brighton SEO and more, and has been presenting at conferences for over a decade.

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