Gangnam Style is almost a year old, and the platform that was integral to its rise reminisces about it all. In a special blog post, "A year since Gangnam Style, K-Pop keeps getting bigger" released at the stroke of midnight US time on July 15th, Youtube looks back at the year and some before Psy's massive cult hit.

Youtube shares some exclusive analytics in the blog post today, celebrating a few of the many milestones of the song that catapulted K-pop into mainstream consciousness. In the post, Youtube blogger Kevin Allocca acknowledges that K-pop has already been a phenomenon even before Gangnam Style but proves that "the data suggests views of Korean artists tripled in the year following the release of Gangnam Style." The blogger also points out evidence of the actual expansion of K-pop to beyond Asia-Pacific borders. Backing up his statement with a graph, Youtube's Allocca states, "In 2011, less than half the viewership on top K-Pop channels was from outside the Asia-Pacific region. Now, the majority of the watching is taking place outside the region. 91% of viewing in the past year was outside Korea."

Looking at the same statistics Youtube shared, it is also notable that both "Gangnam Style" and "Gentleman" were driving the uptick in viewership of K-pop videos, before expected plateaus and declines due to release cycles in the industry. Furthermore, the graph is also showing that while experiencing a decline in between and after Psy's mega hits, numbers don't go back to pre-July 2012 levels, indicating a sustained increased interest in K-pop. This all means that awareness of the genre is here, and it is now indeed penetrating mainstream consciousness.

In the same Youtube Trends blog post, the blogger states that post-Gangnam Style, other K-pop artists are also enjoying increased viewership. He writes, "In the U.S. where, for many, K-Pop had been an unknown genre of music, video viewership of top K-Pop artists doubled the year after "Gangnam Style" hit the web."

Read Youtube's Trends blog post for more of Kevin's thoughts. Or play the playlist to know the Top 10 videos.