7 K-pop songs with a billion views on YouTube

Many K-pop songs have garnered a billion views on YouTube, highlighting its global popularity. It began with PSY's Gangnam Style which marked the first K-pop song to achieve a billion views on YouTube.

The 'horse riding' dance move of Gangnam Style became popular, and people started imitating the steps on various social media platforms. Several notable celebrities joined the trend as well. The influence of these celebrities boosted the song's popularity, helping it reach a billion views.

BLACKPINK and BTS are two other Korean pop bands who have delivered many songs, with several of them accumulating a billion views on YouTube.

Note: The article reflects the author's opinion and is listed chronologically.

Gangnam Style, DDU DU DDU DU, and other K-pop songs that accumulated a billion views on YouTube

Gangnam Style
DDU DU DDU DU
Kill This Love
Boy With Luv
Dynamite
Boombayah
DNA

1) Gangnam Style ( PSY)

Gangnam Style is the most viewed K-pop song on YouTube. At the time of writing, the song has 5.2 billion views and, the official channel PSY has 19 million subscribers.

The Gangnam Style track is from the album PSY 6 (Six Rules) Part 1, released in July 2012. South Korean pop star Park Jae-sang, also known as PSY, came into the spotlight with the song as it hit 500,000 YouTube views on the first day.

The track broke the record of Justin Bieber's Baby in just two months with 803 million views, and by December of that year, it hit 1 billion views on YouTube. It took almost 12 years to hit 5 billion streams.

The track not only had a billion views on YouTube but also won the 2013 Golden Disk Awards which is considered the Grammy of South Korea.

2) DDU DU DDU DU (BLACKPINK)

After Gangnam Style, BLACKPINK's song DDU DU DDU DU crossed a billion views on YouTube, marking the first group K-pop music video to reach that milestone. The song was released in 2018 and as of now, it has 2.2 billion views on YouTube.

From the album Square Up, this track is one of their most popular songs and has set numerous records. The song entered the UK Singles Chart, and Billboard Canadian Hot 100 and bagged RIAA Certifications. With this song, BLACKPINK introduced the Girl Crush concept to the world.

The song revolves around the concept of power. With its lyrics, the idols expressed their domination over the pop industry, portraying stardom.

3) Kill This Love (BLACKPINK)

Kill This Love is another BLACKPINK song from their second mini album with the same name. The song recently has crossed 2 billion views on YouTube. The track was released in 2019 and it took four years to hit the milestone.

On August 31, 2024, the official X account of YG Entertainment notified the news and expressed gratitude to BLINK, the fan base of BLACKPINK. Apart from hitting a billion views, the song has created other records as well.

Within 4 days and 23 hours, the song hit 100 million views after its release, breaking the previous record of BTS' IDOL. Kill This Love showcases the intense emotions after breaking a toxic relationship, spreading the message of self-love.

4) Boy With Luv (BTS)

With 1.8 billion views on YouTube, Boy With Luv is one of the most popular BTS songs. In September 2024, the track hit this milestone and became another BTS music video to reach a billion views.

The official track was released on April 12, 2019, and it took 5 years and 5 months to reach this milestone. Also, it hit 74.6 million views on release day, highlighting the band's global popularity.

Boy With Luv, which features Halsey, is themed on masculinity. The recurring word 'man' emphasizes the theme more prominent. Also, the track was placed at number 3 on Spotify's Daily Global Top 200 song, highlighting the global influence of BTS.

5) Dynamite (BTS)

Dynamite was released in August 2020 amidst the pandemic. Since the first day, the song has been setting numerous records. Three years and six months after its release, the song hit 1.8 billion views on YouTube, marking the song as one of the fastest BTS tracks to hit that milestone.

On the day of release, the track hit 10 million views in 20 minutes and it continued to 101.1 million views at the end of the day, beating the records of BLACKPINK's DDU DU DDU DU. Later, another BTS song Butter broke the record with 108.2 million views on YouTube on the debut day.

Dynamite is the first entire English song that topped the Global Top Song on YouTube and remained for 32 weeks. Taking inspiration from 70s and 80s choreography, the song represents nostalgia with its lyrics and outfit.

6) BOOMBAYAH (BLACKPINK)

BLACKPINK is the only female band that surpassed a billion views on YouTube. After DDU DU DDU DU and Kill This Love, the girl group created history with BOOMBAYAH which hit 1.7 billion views on YouTube in June 2024.

The song was from its debut album Square One, released in 2016. It took around eight years to hit the milestone. Also, BOOMBAYAH became the first K-pop debut track to hit a billion views.

The song has topped South Korea's Gaon Digital Chart and the US Billboard World Digital Song Chart for quite a long time.

7) DNA (BTS)

The third song from BTS that hit a billion views on YouTube is DNA. The track is from the BTS' mini album Love Yourself: Her, which was released in 2017. By 2022, the song hit 1.5 billion views and became the first BTS song to hit that milestone.

Achieving a billion views within two years and eight months highlights the artist's popularity all over the world. The track was also nominated for the Korean Music Awards and Gaffa Prisen Awards in 2018.