MA-0008 · first seen May 2007
Rickroll
A bait-and-switch prank that tricks people into watching Rick Astley’s 1987 hit “Never Gonna Give You Up”.
- Status
- ClassicPeaked more than five years ago
- Trend score
- 34/100Estimated
- Change, 90 days
- +2%Estimated
- Peak
- 91Sep 2008
- Years active
- 19Index of 30 or more
- First seen
- 2007May 2007
Popularity over time
Monthly attention from May 2007 to Oct 2026. Hover or tab through the chart for each month.
- First appearance
- Went viral
- Peak
- Decline
Attention index, 0 to 100 on one scale for the whole archive. Estimated from each meme’s key dates, not measured.
About
Rickrolling grew out of “duckrolling”, a 2006 4chan joke. In May 2007 users began luring each other with links to Astley’s music video, labelled as the trailer for Grand Theft Auto IV. The song, from 1987, was the perfect victim: cheerful, earnest and impossible to forget.
In 2008 the prank went mainstream. YouTube rickrolled its own front page on 1 April, and on 27 November Astley himself appeared in Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in front of millions. The original video passed one billion views in 2021, long after it stopped being a surprise.
Origin
A 4chan prank in May 2007, evolving from duckrolling: links to a Rick Astley video disguised as a Grand Theft Auto IV trailer.
May 2007
Viralization
YouTube rickrolled its front page on 1 April 2008, and the prank became a general Internet reflex.
April 2008
Peak
Estimated peak in late 2008, when Astley performed a surprise rickroll at Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade on 27 November.
Sep 2008
Timeline
From the first post to where it stands today.
Origin
The bait
A link promising a game trailer leads to Rick Astley instead. The first rickrolls spread on 4chan.
Early adoption
Forum etiquette
Being rickrolled becomes a rite of passage on forums, and spoofs of the video start to appear.
Viral
YouTube joins in
YouTube rickrolls every featured video link on its homepage as an April Fools’ joke.
Peak
The parade
Rick Astley performs a surprise rickroll on a float at Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
Decline
Absorbed by officialdom
By the time the White House Twitter account posts a rickroll, the prank is more tradition than surprise.
Current
A billion views
The original music video passes one billion views on YouTube.
Related memes
Chosen by shared era, category, platform and cultural link.
Keyboard Cat
8/1000%Classic1984Same conversation · Same era
Numa Numa
6/1000%Classic2004Same conversation · Same kind of meme
LOLcats
9/1000%Classic2005Same conversation · Same era
- 0%Classic1991
Same conversation · Same kind of meme