BTS' "Dynamite" is one of the biggest YouTube videos ever, as if anything else stood a chance

By Sam Barsanti | August 23, 2020 | 8:27pm

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BTS' "Dynamite" is one of the biggest YouTube videos ever, as if anything else stood a chance

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K-pop fans have proven that they can bend the internet to their will when co-opting racist hashtags or diverting attention away from racist politicians and their racist rallies (not to name anyone specific), so it should come as no surprise whatsoever that they’ll also happily use their powers to benefit the K-pop bands they love. Bands like, say, BTS, which just released its first-ever all-English single and video last week with “Dynamite.” A day or so later, Variety says “Dynamite” had broken the record for most viewers of a YouTube video premiere, hitting 3 million right when it launched and 4 million immediately after.

Within six hours it had more than 40 million views, and within 24 hours it had 98 million—destroying a record set by Blackpink’s “How You Like That” (which only managed to get 86 million in its first 24 hours) and giving “Dynamite” the most views in its first 24 hours of any YouTube video ever. It is now Sunday, and “Dynamite” nearly has 164.5 million views. That number will continue to go up, both from BTS fans rewatching it and from new people who want to see what all the fuss is about by clicking the video at the end of this story, and it will presumably increase even further when BTS performs the song at the MTV VMAs next week.