Long after becoming the first YouTube video to surpass 1 billion views, and months after becoming the first video to crack the 2 billion view barrier, Psy’s Gangnam Style has officially become the first video to break YouTube.
Well, YouTube’s hit counter, at least.
YouTube’s hit counter was programmed using a 32-bit integer, YouTube explained on Google+ this week, as the service never imagined a single video racking up more than the 2,147,483,647 views that the code maxes out at. Then Psy happened.
The count stalled out when it hit that magic number, but fear not: YouTube’s code elves got to work and a fix already appears to be in place, as the video’s views currently stand at 2,152,512,194 (whew!) and counting. Google didn’t explain how it fixed the issue, but it did leave a small Easter Egg hidden in the 32-bit integer’s wake; hover your cursor over Gangnam Style’s counter and it’ll start freaking out, before finally settling on a negative number and linking to the Google+ post.
But the best part of the ordeal? You’ve got an excuse to watch Psy do that hypnotically hilarious dance yet again (and again… and again…).
Elie Chahine 