UPDATE: My article about Kpop and Korean exports to emerging markets is up on Foreign Policy now. Please check it out.

ORIGINAL: Hard to believe that it was just three weeks ago I was amazed by Psy’s “Gangnam Style” hitting 100 million Youtube views. Because checking out Youtube today, it has now topped 290 million, and I guess will be hitting 300 million soon.

Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Call Me Maybe” (which most of us assumed would be the big summer hit) is at 270 million.

 

But more important than just Youtube views (after all, “Charlie Bit My Finger” has 483 million views) is that Psy is now getting sales and radio airplay. The song is now at No. 11 No. 2 on Billboard’s Hot 100 and No. 1 on Apple’s iTunes singles chart — well, it is down to No. 2 in the US after spending a few days at No. 1, but it is still No. 1 in Australia, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, and Portugal.

Thanks to that surprise success, there is going to be a host of articles on Psy and K-pop coming out very soon, including a couple by myself. I’ll link to them as they appear. As someone who has been writing professionally about Korean pop music since around 2000, it’s all a bit overwhelming. But it is also fascinating to see who much our world is changing, and how Korea is changing with it.

More to come soon…

Btw, if you are looking for a great new Korean tune to dance to, I highly recommend the retro-disco of Glen Check’s “84”: