Blackpink breaks YouTube’s 24-hour viewing record
BTS’ YouTube viewership record has been broken over a year later — although it might not surprise you to hear who managed the feat. Variety reports that K-pop band Blackpink managed to break the record for the most views in 24 hours, racking up 82.4 million views for its new “How You Like That” music video versus BTS’ 74.6 million for “Boy With Luv.” It might also be the fastest to 100 million views, having obtained 94 million in 30 hours (it was at nearly 104 million as of this writing).
Blackpink held the record a week before BTS with “Kill This Love,” but that came in part through ad views. YouTube stopped counting ads toward views this past September, so the group’s achievement more closely reflects real viewership.
The surge isn’t completely surprising even with that calculation change in mind. K-pop fans are very active online, especially for megastars like Blackpink, and an ongoing pandemic increases the chances that people will be stuck inside watching music videos. With that said, it’s notable that it took as long as it did for the YouTube record to change hands. That doesn’t necessarily mean YouTube demand has plateaued, but the gap suggests that it may be that much harder for a video to become an immediate success.
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