MUMBAI: South Korea’s rap sensation Psy has created pop history by being the most watched artist on global video sharing site YouTube thanks to his infectious ‘Gangnam Style’ song with its unique rodeo-style lasso inspired dance steps. The video has logged over 814 million views in just four months.

Canadian teen star Justin Beiber’s ‘Baby’ took two years to notch 803 million views.

Gangnam Style not only topped worldwide charts but also parked itself at Billboard’s chart at No 2 for seven weeks.

World leaders including UN secretary general Ban Ki-Moon, British Prime Minister David Cameron and US President Barack Obama are fans of the song. So are pop royalty like Madonna (with whom psy performed), pop princesses like Britney Spears and 90’s icon MC Hammer.

YouTube has called the music video - which Saturday overtook Justin Bieber's Baby in number of views - "a massive hit at a global level unlike anything we've ever seen before" and
Billboard.com called it "nothing short of a pop culture phenomenon."

Being an outsider in his native Korea’s pop industry (or K-Pop) has not stopped Psy’s (real name Park Jae-Sang) sense of irony or humour. In a stark change from the sterile, clean and safe world of K-pop, Psy’s singing career, which started in 2001, has been punctuated by rock n’ roll antics- convicted for smoking marijuana, having his tracks banned for sexual overly lyrics and being forced to serve a second period of compulsory military service after it was revealed that he had continued with his showbiz interests during his first two-year stint. Gangnam Style is in fact a satirical reference on an upmarket Seoul neighbourhood.

"Psy is right at the opposite of our typical K-pop stars who are extremely preened and whose every single move is strictly dictated by their agent," prominent music critic Kang Hun told agency.

Humour, especially satire, is rare in the mainstream Korean music scene and that, coupled with Psy's embrace of his anti-pop idol looks, has set him apart. The singer, well known at home for his humorous and explosive stage performances, has long been a somewhat provocative figure in Korea.

"I think Gangnam Style is a pinnacle of such a humourous, non-serious bad-boy style of his. And apparently people around the world can relate to his self-deprecating sense of humour."

Psy himself says he invites laughter and not ridicule. "My motto is to be funny, but not stupid," he once said in an interview with Yonhap news agency.

While it remains to be seen if Gangnam Style will prove anything more than a one-hit wonder. Psy is set to release a new album in English and Korean early next year which will be distributed globally.