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BTS' 'DNA' crosses 1.2 billion views on YouTube, fans celebrate highest milestone ever by K-pop boy band

The only other music videos by Korean artistes that have accomplished the achievement are PSY for 'Gangnam Style' and 'Gentleman' and Blackpink for 'DDU-DU DDU-DU' and 'Kill This Love'

While it's not uncommon to see BTS making headlines for breaking records, a special mention needs to be made for one of their long-cherished hits. The K-pop boy group's label, Big Hit Entertainment, took to Twitter to announce an impressive milestone achieved by the group on February 11. The official music video for the 2017 track 'DNA' reached 1.2 billion views at 3.13 am KST / 1.13 pm EST on February 10.

This means that since its release on September 18, 2017, this incredible feat took about three years, four months and 23 days to be achieved. The 'DNA' video was met with a steep increase in popularity over the last four months when it added another 100M views to the previously reported 1.1B views.

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Milestones

Another notable mention is that the 'DNA' video is also the first one by a Korean boy band to cross 1.2 billion views on YouTube. The only other music videos by Korean artistes that have accomplished the achievement of surpassing 1.2 billion views are PSY for his famous hits 'Gangnam Style' (3.9B views) and 'Gentleman' (1.3B) and Blackpink for their hits 'DDU-DU DDU-DU' (1.4B) and 'Kill This Love' (1.2B).

BTS' next video that has crossed a billion views is 'Boy With Luv' (featuring Halsey) with 1.1B. Several other videos are making their way to achieving the same such as 'Fake Love', currently at 864,000, 'MIC Drop (Steve Aoki Remix)' at 853K, 'IDOL' at 846K, 'Dynamite' at 841K, and more. If we're taking the speed of increasing views since the release date into account, BTS's music video for their 2020 hit 'Dynamite' appears to be the fastest.

'DNA' has been a longtime fan-favorite for many BTS followers, so it's no surprise that stans keep returning to its infectious sound while the visual continually attracts new viewers. An upbeat EDM and pop song, 'DNA' already feels like a timeless classic and some critics have even likened the song to works of Selena Gomez, Shawn Mendes, and Avicii.

Fan reactions

Meanwhile, fans on Twitter are ecstatic at BTS' new milestone and are aiming to get more of their videos to achieve many views. "EXACTLY DNA IS AMAZING," comments a fan in all caps for Big Hit's announcement while another wrote, "Yea baby go go....set fire........ hurray.... this day is gonna be good for you all....my mrng starts with Hobi oppa and going with BTS ARMY..... yes..... love you all...... BTS ARMY."

One fan tweeted, "oh no, i’m stanning some of the most successful, iconic, talented musicians in the world." Another celebrated, "Happy 1.2 B views." A user added, "BE PREPARED FOR THE ESSENTIAL COMEBACK AND SPREAD THE GOALS! STREAM BE, LGO AND DYNAMITE! FIGHTING!!!"

Which BTS music video do you think is next in line to reach 1 billion views on YouTube?