James R | On 05, Dec 2014

Gangnam Style broke YouTube this week.

Ok, that’s a lot to take in all at once. Let’s rewind a bit.

Here’s a fact for you: Gagnam Style was two years ago. Here’s another scary fact: The Korean pop song is still the most watched on YouTube. But the most terrifying thing of all? It just broke YouTube. Well, its viewing counter, at least.

As of this week, Psy’s earworm has received more than 2.15 billion views. The problem? YouTube can’t count that high.

Who knew it was even possible? YouTube certainly didn’t. The site’s counter stops at 2.14 billion.

“We never thought a video would be watched in numbers greater than a 32-bit integer (2,147,483,647) but that was before we met Psy,” a spokesperson said in a statement.

32 binary digits are the standard for most computers, but, like all data units, a 32-bit number has a maximum capacity. Now, YouTube has had to upgrade its counter to use a 64-bit integer. Which means that it can now count even higher.

The exact numerical limit? 9,223,372,036,854,775,808. Or Nine quintillion, two hundred and twenty-three quadrillion, three hundred and seventy-two trillion, thirty-six billion, eight hundred and fifty-four million, seven hundred and seventy-five thousand, eight hundred and eight.

Give it another week.

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