BTS' 'Dynamite' smashes YouTube's 24-hour record with over 100 million views
When K-pop stans aren't using their powers of massive online coordination to troll the Trump campaign or flood police hashtags in support of Black Lives Matter, they devote that energy to, well, stanning their favourite K-pop acts.
BTS' fandom, known as Armys, sent their beloved seven-piece straight to the top of YouTube trending on Friday when the Korean idol group dropped the video for "Dynamite," their first ever single sung entirely in English.
The rainbow-pastel daydream visuals racked up an official count of over 101 million views in the first 24 hours the video was live, YouTube confirmed to Variety on Sunday.
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The video smashed the previous 24-hour record holder, BLACKPINK's "How You Like That." The K-pop girl group set that milestone all the way back in *checks notes* June 2020, with 86.3 million views in 24 hours — but "Dynamite" had beaten that by 9 p.m. ET.
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"How You Like That" also set a new record upon its release for the shortest time to 100 million views, at 32 hours — meaning "Dynamite" and its 24 hours of power set a new new record.
YouTube made the 24-hour stats harder for record companies to game by excising paid promotional views from the count in September last year. (The existing record holder was also a BTS song, Halsey collaboration "Boy With Luv.") But artists with massive online followings, from K-pop acts to Taylor Swift, don't necessarily need labels juicing the numbers when the fans' streaming game is this focused. Of the top 10 most-viewed-in-24-hours videos on YouTube, five are BTS songs.
So if you're struggling to get your week started, consider blasting your ears and eyes with the sunny explosion of YouTube's newest reigning champ, and try and channel the single-minded passion of K-pop fans on release day into whatever you need to get done today.
Topics Music
Caitlin is Mashable's Australian Editor. She has written for The Guardian, Junkee, and any number of plucky little music and culture publications that were run on the smell of an oily rag and have since been flushed off the Internet like a dead goldfish by their new owners. She also worked at Choice, Australia's consumer advocacy non-profit and magazine, and as such has surprisingly strong opinions about whitegoods. She enjoys big dumb action movies, big clever action movies, cult Canadian comedies set in small towns, Carly Rae Jepsen, The Replacements, smoky mezcal, revenge bedtime procrastination, and being left the hell alone when she's reading.
