Tag Archives: record-breaking

“Gangnam Style” reaches one billion views on YouTube

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Is it a sign of the end of times? Maybe, maybe not. This just in: K-Pop star PSY’s “Gangnam Style” music video has generated one billion views on YouTube. That’s an incredible feat, no matter how you look at it. According to Google the clip’s been seen at least one million times in close to 75 countries, so to say it’s a worldwide sensation is quite the understatement. Recently it surpassed Justin Bieber’s “Baby” music video to become the most watched video of all time on Google’s video site, and it is here where it will likely remain king for some time.

“Gangnam Style” becomes most-viewed video of all time on YouTube

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On November 24, “Gangnam Style” became the most-viewed video on YouTube. On that day its view count reached 805 million. Today its nearly captured 855 million looks. The South Korean rapper PSY managed to dethrone “pop sensation” Justin Bieber’s “Baby” music video, the previous record holder for most-viewed video. And as catchy, fun, agonizing or annoying you find “Gangnam Style” to be, PSY deserves at least some respect for knocking the Biebs down a peg, am I right? According to YouTube Trends, however, Justin’s 2010 single still receives between 350k and 500k views per day. But that pales in comparison to the new record holder; the song that’ll get you singing Heyyy, sexy lady is being watched 7 to 10 million times a day.

Be a part of history and add one to the tally. Bieber’s in the dust! For now…

‘Call of Duty: Black Ops II’ generates $500 million in 24 hours, continues the record-streak

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Another Call of Duty game released, another record is set. On November 13 Call of Duty: Black Ops II came out and in 24 hours the shooter generated more than $500 million worldwide. For the fourth consecutive year, Call of Duty is the biggest entertainment launch of the year following Modern Warfare 2 (generated $310 million in 24 hours in 2009), Black Ops ($360 million in 2010), and Modern Warfare 3 ($400 million in 2011). “Life-to-date sales for the Call of Duty franchise have exceeded worldwide theatrical box office receipts for Harry Potter and Star Wars, the two most successful movie franchises of all time,” said Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick in a press release.

In other video game sales news, Halo 4 released last Tuesday on November 6 and raked in over $220 million on launch day. This makes it the most successful Halo launch in the franchise’s history, narrowly beating sales of Halo: Reach which generated $200 million in 2010. It was expected that Halo 4 sales would surpass the $300 million mark during its first week on the market, but that figure has not been made official yet. Stay tuned.

TV reminder: ‘The Walking Dead’ premieres tonight at 9PM on AMC [Update: The ratings are in…]

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Michonne. The Governor. Woodbury. The prison. There has been so much excitement about what’s coming next on The Walking Dead and now the time has finally arrived to regroup with Rick and our gang of zombie apocalypse survivors. Eye this season’s key art above that features Rick Grimes front and center (once again) atop an overturned bus outside the zombie-infested prison. Gotta love the tagline: “Fight the dead. Fear the living.” Next dive in the galleries below to view character profiles and pictures from tonight’s season premiere, “Seed.”

The Walking Dead premieres tonight (10/14) at 9PM on AMC. And don’t forget to tune into Talking Dead immediately following the episode; host Chris Hardwick will be talking to showrunner Glen Mazzara and Michonne–er, Danai Gurira.

Ramp up anticipation by watching the season 3 trailer a couple more times. It’s that good.

Update: Get used to it–AMC’s The Walking Dead shatters records when it premieres. 10.9 million viewers tuned into the season three premiere last night; that’s up 50 percent from the season two opener. It also performed extremely well in the two coveted demos; in adults 18-49 it attracted 7.3 million viewers (up 52 percent from the season two premiere) and in adults 25-54 it attracted 6.1 million viewers (up 46 percent). If you include the two encore airings of the episode, a grand total of 15.2 million people saw “Seed.” The show managed to garner this many viewers while Dish subscribers were left out in the cold due to a contract dispute. AMC can rightfully boast that last night’s return of The Walking Dead is most-watched drama telecast in basic cable history and in the 18-49 demo it is the highest-rated series this fall–including cable and broadcast offerings. Hats off to the zombies. I don’t think you’ll ever have to tell this show to break a leg going into a premiere. Oops, sorry Hershel…too soon?

[Images via AMC]

‘Glee’ kids best Elvis Presley’s Billboard Hot 100 record

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You knew it was only a matter of time before the barrage of Glee singles would prove their strength in numbers on the Billboard charts. Back in November 2010 Glee posted 93 songs on the Billboard Hot 100 list. This week the Glee kids finally passed Elvis Presley’s all-time record of 108 chart entires. As of today, 113 songs from the hit FOX series have made their way to the chart, besting the likes of Elvis, James Brown (91 songs), Ray Charles (74), and Aretha Franklin (73). While Elvis’ chart-topping songs gathered steam between 1958 and 2003, Glee managed to post their record-breaking amount in less than two years. It all began with their fantastic rendition of Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’,” in June 2009. The only significant difference between the Glee singles and tracks produced from other famous artists is that the Glee tracks are covers borrowed from said artists. Though you might find this news tainted with unoriginality in terms of where the Glee songs are coming from, that shouldn’t take away from the monumentality of it all.

In related Billboard news, this week Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way” became the 1,000th song to top the Hot 100 chart in its 52-year history. Says Gaga, “It is a tremendous honor. To be the 1000th no. 1 on Billboard…I would be silly not to say this is the greatest honor of my career.”

[Via Billboard]