Psy on Twitter as Gangnam Style breaks a billion views on YouTube

RAPPER Psy has hailed his ascent to Billion Style, after his viral hit became the first video to break a billion views on YouTube.

RAPPER Psy has hailed his ascent to Billion Style, after the South Korean rapper's viral hit became the first video to break a billion views on YouTube, marking a historic milestone on the internet.

The view counter for Psy's Gangnam Style, which was only posted on the video-sharing site on July 15, clicked over into 10 figures at around 0250 AEDT on Saturday, as the global craze for the singer and his horse-riding dance refuses to die down.

As of 1730 AEDT on Saturday, the counter showed 1,010,321,921 views.

"Finally becoming BillionStyle'', Psy wrote on Twitter.

Among the first to congratulate him was American rapper MC Hammer, of 1990s U Can't Touch This fame, who posted: ``Congratulations You made history 1 Billion Views !''

In this photo taken on Sept. 14, 2012, South Korean rapper PSY performs his massive K-pop hit "Gangnam Style" live on NBC's "Today" show in New York. The "Gangnam Style" video has more than 200 million YouTube views and counting, and it's easy to see why. Gangnam is only a small slice of Seoul, but it inspires a complicated mixture of desire, envy and bitterness. It's also the spark for PSY's catchy, world-conquering song. (AP Photo/Invision via AP Images, Jason DeCrow)

Psy thanked new manager Scooter Braun for helping promote the video. "`I made 100 million and you made the other 900 Brother with Another Mother'', he wrote.

Braun's agency also manages Canadian heartthrob Justin Bieber, whose hit Baby was overtaken by Psy less than a month ago to take the all-time most-viewed title. Bieber was still in second place on Saturday with more than 813 million views.

Kevin Allocca, YouTube trends manager, attributed Psy's success "to the universal appeal of catchy music - and er, great equine dance moves''.

How to Dance Gangnam Style. Picture: News Limited Network

Psy has swept all before him in the past five months, hoovering up awards and scoring guest appearances with everyone from Madonna to the head of the United Nations.

The video and its singer have been given walk-on roles at major world events like the US presidential election.

And the timing of the one-billion views breakthrough dovetailed with a viral social network hoax that had the 16th century French seer Nostradamus apparently referencing Psy as a harbinger of the December 21 apocalypse.

Billboard.com said Gangnam was estimated to have generated $US2,000,000 ($A1.92 million) from YouTube alone at a reported rate of two dollars for every 1,000 views, with digital downloads and on-demand services bringing earnings from the song to $US6.01 million ($A5.76 million) in just five months.

Rolling Stone put Gangnam Style at No. 25 on its top 50 list of best songs for 2012 and labelled Psy as "Seoul Brother Number One''.

The singer, who is nominated for seven gongs at the World Music Awards, plans to wrap up the year with an appearance on New Year's Rockin' Eve on ABC in New York, his agency said.