"Gangnam Style" is the music video by South Korean singer Psy premiered on July 15, 2012, on the video-sharing website YouTube and was later made available to download digitally on October 19.

[6] It shows Psy performing a comical horse-riding dance and appearing in unexpected locations around the Gangnam District, such as an outdoor yoga session and a hot tub.

The video starts out with Psy, who is lounging at what looks like a sandy beach, under a sun umbrella and holding a cold drink, but the camera zooms out to reveal he is actually at a playground.

He then sings in front of two men playing Janggi (Korean chess), dances with a woman at a tennis court, and bounces around on a tour bus of seniors.

The scenes alternate quickly until there is an explosion near the chess players (portrayed by Big Bang members Seungri and Daesung), causing them to jump off the bench.

[11][12] The chorus ends and he is seen at a parking lot, where Psy is approached by a man (Yoo Jae-suk) in a yellow suit who steps out of a red Mercedes-Benz SLK 200; they have a dance duel.

The camera pans and it shows Psy in the subway station, where he boards the train and notices a young woman (Hyuna) dancing.

Following its July 15 release, "Gangnam Style" overtook Carly Rae Jepsen's "Call Me Maybe" to reach the number one position on the YouTube Top 100 Music Videos during the week of August 28, 2012.

[20][21] It was then picked up by Neetzan Zimmerman from the social blog Gawker, who asked "Did this underground Hip Hop artist from South Korea just release the Best Music Video of the Year?

The earliest video to catch the attention of media networks outside South Korea was "Psy Gangnam Style MV Reaction", which was uploaded by Katie and Mindy Anderson on July 18, 2012.

[20] On August 8, 2012, Ramstad appeared on WSJ Live, and he mentioned the Andersons and the Stawskis again, before claiming that "a lot of Koreans are also making their own parodies of 'Gangnam Style'".

A spoof documentary by videographer Simon Gosselin[40] was posted on YouTube and had promoted 2012 doomsday rumors across social media services such as Facebook and Twitter that linked "Gangnam Style" to a fake Nostradamus prophecy.

[56] Another notable aspect that helped popularise the video was its comical dance moves that can be easily copied, such as the pelvic thrust during the elevator scene.

[57] The United Nations hailed Psy as an "international sensation" because of the popularity of his "satirical" video clip and its "horse-riding-like dance moves".

[59][60] The World Bank's lead economist David McKenzie remarked that some of Psy's dance moves "kind of look like a regression discontinuity",[61] while the space agency NASA called "Gangnam Style" a dance-filled music video that has forever entered the hearts and minds of millions of people.

[67] Mesfin Fekadu of the Associated Press wrote that Psy's dance moves are "somewhat bizarre" but that the music video is full of colorful, lively outfits.