In 2014, a simple counting glitch known as the "Gangnam Style bug" forced YouTube to completely rewrite its core software architecture—because the site’s engineers had used a 32-bit integer to count video views, never imagining a single music video would surpass 2.1 billion views and completely max out the platform's counter. (opens in new tab)

In December 2014, YouTube posted a short, slightly sheepish statement that delighted programmers around the world. “We never thought a video would be watched in numbers greater than a 32-bit integer,” it read, “but that was before we met Psy.” The video in question was “Gangnam Style,” the inescapable 2012 hit by South Korean musician […]