British dance-pop sensation Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up” first appeared on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart the week of Dec. 19, 1987 at No. 71, only to climb to the top spot shortly thereafter.
The song has now found new legs via YouTube with its accompanying music video, featuring a skinny, 21-year-old Astley, various backup dancers and an increasing enthusiastic bartender prone to extreme gymnastic moves.
For a year now, the video has been the center of the internet meme Rickrolling or a Rickroll, a method of tricking internet users into clicking on a link but instead redirecting them to the popular, tacky video. The act of Rickrolling, as you soon will see, has extended into life offline as well.
Within the last few months, however, the trend has come to a head. The track hasn’t sold any fewer than 1,000 digital downloads a week since Dec. 23 last year, according to Nielsen SoundScan and during the week of March 9, the track sold 2,500. Today, the video ran rampant on several popular Web sites, including Live Journal and as all the featured videos on YouTube’s front page.
Below, we’ve highlighted several of Billboard.com’s favorite Rickrolls:
DeLaGhetto Rickroll
Office Rickroll
Basketball Game Gets Rick Rolled
Scientologists Get Rick Rolled
Baby Gets Rick Rolled
TV News report on Rick Rollin’
