Rick Astley fans – and haters – will never stop watching his hit YouTube, which has just surpassed 1 billion views.
The official video for “Never Gonna Give You Up,” released 34 years ago this week, now has over 1 billion views on YouTube.
The song became significantly more popular — and memed — with the emergence of “Rickrolling,” an internet prank that fools people into clicking a hyperlink leading to the music video. On April 1 alone, the video was even viewed 2.3 million extra.
The viral sensation’s journey to 1 billion views began before the official video was posted to YouTube. In 2007, 4chan users helped give the “Rickrolling” trend a head start, so much so that Astley performed at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in 2008. Astley also won the MTV Europe Music Award for Best Act Ever in 2008 for the song after a widespread internet voting.
The video was posted in 2009 and by then it had already become popular – again – on social media.
“1 BILLION views for Never Gonna Give You Up on YouTube! Great, crazy, great!” he tweeted on Wednesday.
