The unstoppable march of popularity that is Gotye’s Somebody That I Used To Know continues with news that its infamous body-paint clip is closing rapidly on 200 million views on YouTube.
First appearing on the video website last July, the staggering amount of views has pushed the video into the charts for the website’s most watched of all-time. Though still trailing behind the likes of pop titans Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber, whose clip for “Baby” tops the charts at 800 million views; Gotye’s appearance in the Top 30 is nothing to sniff at and likely to rise higher over time.
The song’s runaway success shows no signs of stopping, with even the five-person/one-guitar cover version from US band, Walk Off The Earth sitting at half the original’s stats with just over 100 million hits.
It’s another achievement in an ever-growing list of record-breaking moments for the ubiquitous break-up duet with Melbourne-via-NZ’s Kimbra.
The track, which almost didn’t happen after the original singing partner pulled out, has now sold over 6 million copies worldwide and gone #1 in 16 countries.
Additionally topping the Billboard Hot 100 charts for three weeks running, with Billboard noting that its impressive sales are the first of its kind in US chart history. Gotye is now the first artist that has sold more than 400,000 digital copies of a single for three consecutive weeks.
A feat no doubt helped by the way the tune has conquered US television, with appearances on popular late-night shows like Saturday Night Live and Jimmy Kimmel; as well as cover versions featured on Glee and American Idol. A performance by the duo at popular festival Coachella only helped the song’s steam-rolling progress.
The irony of it all? Gotye still owes half the royalties to a dead Brazilian, due to the track’s key guitar part being a sample taken from Luiz Bonfa’s ‘Seville.’
…and how many YouTube views have there been of the latter? A paltry 90,000.
Ah, Seville La Vie.
