Gangnam Style becomes first video to reach a billion views on YouTube

'Gangnam Style' has become the first ever video to reach a billion views on YouTube.

The viral hit by South Korean star Psy reached the milestone earlier today at approximately 10.10am ET (December 21), after a countdown clock predicting when he would pass the mark was launched to build excitement.



The video reached the summit just 27 days after surpassing Justin Bieber's 'Baby', which was previously the most watched video on the site with 803 million views.

Since claiming the title, 'Gangnam Style' has averaged at 6.5m views per day, which equals 76.4 views per second, according to Billboard.

In comparison, Bieber's 'Baby' won't hit the billion mark until late 2014 as it currently averages at 300,000 views a day, which is three views per second.

'Gangnam Style' was released in the summer and quickly became one of 2012's biggest hits, reaching number one on numerous charts across the globe.

Digital Spy readers voted 'Gangnam Style' the best single of 2012 in our annual end of year poll.