Psy reaches the top again

For the second year in a row, South Korean rapper Psy had the most viewed video of the year on YouTube, with the song Gentleman. YouTube, which released its annual chart of the top trending and viewed videos of the year yesterday, said Psy's follow-up to Gangnam Style had 598 million views. (Gangnam, at 1.8 billion views, is still YouTube's most viewed video ever.) YouTube has also become the number one place young people listen to new music. Even with the growing popularity of original video for YouTube by American musicians like Rhett and Link, Lonely Island, iJustine, and Shane Dawson, music videos still dominate the most viewed videos, for instance, the rest of the top 10:

2. Miley Cyrus - Wrecking Ball, 393 million views
3. Miley Cyrus - We Can't Stop, 304 million
4. Katy Perry - Roar, 251 million
5. Pink - Just Give Me A Reason, 236 million
6. Robin Thicke - Blurred Lines, 231 million
7. Rihanna - Stay, 219 million
8. Naughty Boy - La La La, 201 million
9. Avicii - Wake Me Up, 184 million
10. Selena Gomez - Come & Get It, 181 million.

We should just be thankful there's no Justin Bieber in there. But enough about that because the passage of a landmark marijuana legalization measure on Tuesday means Uruguay is set to become the first country in the world to have a system regulating legal production, sale, and consumption of the drug. It's practically a done deal, but president Jose Mujica has to sign the bill before it becomes a law. He's long backed the measure, though, and there's little doubt that he remains behind it. And speaking of getting behind stuff, here's something I would get behind: Auckland's Christmas in the Park is going alcohol-free for the first time in 20 years. People planning to attend the annual show at the Domain this year are being told to leave their wine or beer at home, or risk having it taken off them. The decision to go alcohol free has been made by police, Auckland Council, and the event's organisers. Police Superintendent Mike Clement says the event is a family friendly one and extending an alcohol ban to the event makes perfect sense. He says the organisers are committed to minimising alcohol harm to all, so anyone intending to come with drinks should leave them at home. This is a good idea. Even though there's going to be some rather unhappy people, this is a good idea.