Uploaded to YouTube on July 15, 2012, the song's wacky music video became a runaway megahit, with its trademark horse-riding dance spawning thousands of imitations, spoofs and spinoffs.

It was the first YouTube video to reach one billion views, and with it Psy attained what K-pop acts before him could not: global recognition.

At the peak of the song's popularity, he was everywhere -- sharing the stage with Madonna, leading a flash mob in front of the Eiffel Tower, and performing before then US president Barack Obama.

But the success of "Gangnam Style" was a double-edged sword –- with fame came pressure to deliver another huge hit. Psy once described it as one of the most difficult periods of his life.

Things became "heavier and harder because... every time I (had) to have that kind of strong song", Psy told AFP in an interview last week at his company's headquarters in Gangnam –- the posh Seoul district he poked fun at in the track.

"I had a huge dependency (on) the song... But you know, it's 10 years ago, so right now I'm really free."

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