PSY

2012 will forever be remembered in the annals of pop music history as the year South Korean superstar PSY took K-pop global. With the release of “Gangnam Style” as the lead single from 2012’s Psy 6 (Six Rules), Part 1, the song’s over-the-top video and accompanying dance quickly became a viral sensation, garnering the attention of everyone from Tom Cruise to Britney Spears. The video would go on to surpass one billion views on YouTube, the first and only video in the site’s history to do so, cementing PSY’s place as Korea’s international ambassador of pop culture. Such was the breadth of the video’s success that the singer was named an “international sensation” by the United Nations, prompting a meeting with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who was interested in the star’s unlimited global reach.