The official video for “Never Gonna Give You Up,” which was released 34 years ago this week, now has over 1 billion views on YouTube.The song became significantly more popular — and memed — with the rise of “Rickrolling,” an internet prank in which people are fooled into clicking on a hyperlink that leads to the music video.
The video even picked up an extra 2.3 million views on this year’s April Fool’s Day alone.The viral sensation’s journey to 1 billion views began even before the official video was posted to YouTube.
In 2007, 4chan users helped give a head start to the “Rickrolling” trend, so much so that Astley performed at the 2008 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
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