Psy stays at No. 2 on Billboard Hot 100, takes shirt off at his Korea concert

By JONATHAN M. HICAP

MANILA, Philippines - Korean rapper Psy didn't wait for his hit single "Gangnam Style" to reach No. 1 on Billboard Hot 100 to fulfill his promise to perform shirtless.

Psy held a concert before a massive crowd at Seoul Plaza in Korea on Thursday evening to celebrate the achievements of "Gangnam Style" and thank the public for supporting him.

An estimated 10,000 people trooped to the venue to watch the concert, which started at 10PM and lasted for one-and-a-half hours, and was streamed on Psy's channel on YouTube. The number of online viewers peaked at 85,000 when Psy performed "Gangnam Style."

Before the event, Psy tweeted, "I'm gonna have the biggest show ever at the Seoul City Hall Plaza!!!"

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Towards the end of the concert, Psy took off his shirt as promised and also drank a whole bottle of soju, Korean liquor, on stage as he dedicated the success of "Gangnam Style" to Korea.  

Psy' concert was held as "Gangnam Style" maintained the No. 2 position on Billboard Hot 100 chart for two consecutive weeks.

"No.2 @billboard for 2 weeks in a row~!!! YEAH~!!!" Psy posted on Twitter.

While Psy did not snag the top spot from Maroon 5, whose "One More Night" maintained the No. 1 position for three weeks, Billboard said it was a tight race.

Billboard released the latest charts on Thursday and said the points difference between Maroon 5 and Psy is only 500 overall chart points, "the thinnest, in fact, since the Feb. 18 chart."

"The race was extremely close. 'Night' bests 'Style' by fewer than 500 overall chart points, after 'Night' won last week by approximately 3,000 points. Both titles gain in overall points this week, but 'Style' closes the gap courtesy of an 8% overall points gain, while 'Night' increased by less than 1%," according to Billboard.com.

On other charts, "Gangnam Style" is No. 2 on Digital Songs, from No. 1 last week and fourth, 25th, and 49th places in the previous weeks.

The song rose to No. 2 on On-Demand Songs from No. 9 last week; No. 16 on the Pop Songs chart from No. 19 last week; No. 23 on Radio Songs from No. 34 last week; No. 28 on the Dance/Club Play Songs; and No. 34 on Latin Songs.

"Gangnam Style" maintained its No. 1 position on the Billboard Canadian Hot 100 chart and zoomed to No. 1 on the UK Songs chart.

It's still No. 1 on Billboard's Social 50 and YouTube charts.

"Gangnam Style' continues to rake in views on YouTube. As of today, it has 368 million views, an increase of 36 million views in the last five days or 7.2 million views a day. 

Billboard says Psy can still snag the No. 1 position on the Hot 100 next week.

"Presently, industry sources suggest that 'Gangnam Style' might sell between 270,000 to 290,000 downloads by the end of the tracking week on Sunday, Oct. 7 (the track sold 299,000 last week, according to Nielsen SoundScan). Maroon 5, however, may shift 155,000 to 175,000 (down from 181,000 last week). So the unit gap between both songs is projecting to be on par this week with what it was over the prior seven days, thought that is always subject to change this early in the tracking week," according to Billboard.

And based on airplay, "Psy, however is at 11.1 million impression though its week-to-date gain comparison of 2.7 million impressions (to Maroon 5's 1.8 million) bodes well for its possible Hot 100 No. 1 ascension."