Psy’s ‘Gentleman’ Video Gets 40 Million Views In Less Than Two Days

Almost nine months to the day, Psy released ‘Gangnam Style’, and ever since he has been feeding off the unprecedented levels of YouTube gold it has generated. Now, he has given us his follow up, ‘Gentleman’, and though it will have to be remarkably successful if it wants to match the popularity of ‘Gangnam Style’s horse-dancing, elevator-thrusting mania, it’s off to a good start. In less than two days, the song already has more than 40 million views on YouTube.

The video is fairly straightforward, as Psy plays a “gentleman” who constantly acts like a total ass around attractive k-pop ladies. He also dances in the chorus, though no animals are mimicked this time around. The translated lyrics speak of a man who just likes to party. All in all, it’s a song that sounds like someone trying to do a second-rate knockoff of ‘Gangnam Style’. Considering that song’s success, that might be exactly what Psy was trying to do.

So how big will ‘Gentleman’ be? It’s tough to say, as Psy’s YouTube success has taken him to previously uncharted waters, so there is no precedent on which we can base a prediction. Obviously, ‘Gangnam Style’ needed a few weeks before it took off in the way that it did, and ‘Gentleman’ has a 40 million view head start. Still, I expect the new video to score a couple hundred million views before it falls off, leaving it as a very successful (but, you know, not as successful) dance-pop number.