Psy Battles Taylor Swift, Maroon 5 for Pop's Top Spot

Korean rapper Psy’s Gangnam Style has floated to the number 2 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart — the gold standard in pop music success — powered by a viral music video rapidly approaching 300 million views.

If the Billboard Social 50 and the iTunes singles chart remain reliable leading indicators of future movement on the Billboard chart, Psy will likely hit the top spot next week. That achievement will oblige him to do a topless version of the Gangnam Style horse-riding dance to keep the promise he made earlier this week after a delirious Seoul homecoming as the first and only Korean artist ever to make it big in the US.

Psy, aka Park Jae-sang, 34, made the swift climb up the pop music charts thanks to a series of perfectly positioned stepping stones — a featured performance on the MTV Video Music Awards in early September followed quickly by appearances on the Ellen DeGeneres Show, Saturday Night Live, the Today Show, the iHeartRadio Music Festival and even a second Ellen appearance with a slick new version of Gangnam Style backed up by Psy’s dancers.

All that publicity was arranged by Scooter Braun, Psy’s new manager and the head of Schoolboy Records, one of Braun’s own labels. A firm believer in organic promotion, Braun commemorated his tieup with Psy by posting a YouTube video of the two drinking a soju toast.

Psy’s Billboard climb was presaged by Gangnam’s Style’s spectacularly swift rise up the iTunes singles chart which began mid August and culminated last week at the number 1 spot. Since then it has slipped to number two below a new Taylor Swift song. But if YouTube activity is any indication of Gangnam Style’s legs, it should stay at or near the top for weeks to come. He’s already in his fifth week at the top of the Billboard Social 50 which is based on fan interest on the most popular social networking sites.

At bottom the whole Gangnam Style phenomenon continues to be powered by the delightfully whacky music video Psy personally produced and uploaded to YouTube on July 15. While the video’s satiric sight gags helped create its novelty value, its popularity is sustained by the song’s infectious rhythm and Psy’s richly textured vocals. The video is also boosted by a multiplier effect as hundreds of fans produce parodies and covers, some of which are impressive in their own right. They all contribute to the growing fascination with Psy and Gangnam Style.

The early raves the Gangnam Style video received from the likes of Scooter Braun, Justin Bieber, Britney Spears, Nelly Furtado and others were mostly genuine expressions of admiration for Psy’s considerable talents as a songwriter, singer, dancer, video producer and social satirist. Those talents are being brought to bear on Psy’s next song which will be in English but won’t be a translation of Gangnam Style.

“When I signed with Scooter Braun and I decided to go overseas to promote my song, the only concern was how should I communicate with the public and the audience with my language,” Psy told Time Friday. “Scooter and I talked a lot about that: should we translate or not? Finally we didn’t, and I think that was a really good decision. Music is already a huge language and for this song even if you don’t have any idea what I’m talking about, you can still figure out that there’s fun and there’s energy. But if I release a next one it’s going to be in English.”

There’s no question that Psy will release a new song. As he told Time, he’s been writing and performing songs for 12 years already, and he’s determined to become more famous than his Gangnam Style music video, if for no other reason than to be able to take off his sunglasses.

“Right now my music video is more famous than I am,” he griped. “If I say, ‘Hey, I’m Psy.’ ‘Psy?’ ‘The guy from the video on YouTube?’ ‘Oh.’ I hate that. I’ve got to be more popular than the video. So I need to keep promoting myself.

“Honestly, they don’t recognize me without sunglasses. I’ve got to wear sunglasses everywhere, all the time, even if its indoors or at night time, to be recognized. That’s part of my job. I cannot take off my sunglasses. For me staying in the United States was so dark because I can’t take them off.”

If Psy gets the wish he recently expressed, after a few more songs he will follow up with a global concert tour. Given his many talents and long years of preparation, that should secure his place among the day’s iconic pop stars, even without his sunglasses.