Thanks to your incessant rick-rolling, Rick Astley’s "Never Gonna Give You Up" hit a billion views
One of the internet’s most beloved pranks has made Rick Astley's hit a YouTube blockbuster
Great job, internet! In your attempts to make everyone else’s life a living hell, you’ve made one man’s life much, much better.
The man in question is Rick Astley, the singer of the internet’s trolling anthem “Never Gonna Give You Up,” which hit a billion views this week. While the song has been used in the context of bait-and-switch pranks for nearly two decades, all that linking has turned the song into one of YouTube’s top-performing videos. It turns out that we just can’t give up “Never Gonna Give You Up.”
Originally released on July 27, 1987, “Never Gonna Give You Up” turns 34 this week. Reaching such a height is no small feat, even for a big birthday boy. The video joins the ranks of A-Ha’s “Take On Me,” Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” and Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody,” but not Michael Jackson’s “Thriller,” which hasn’t reached a billion views yet.