{{Short description|Internet meme and prank}} {{Good article}} {{Pp-vandalism|small=yes}} {{Use British English|date=November 2025}} {{Use dmy dates|date=November 2025}} [[File:RickRoll.png|thumb|upright=1.2|alt=Video screenshot with the title "Rick Astley - Never Gonna Give You Up". It shows the singer dancing, wearing a trenchcoat over a turtleneck.|A screenshot of the music video to the song on YouTube, taken in 2009]] {{Listen|pos = right|type=music |filename = Opening of "Never Gonna Give You Up".mp3 |title = "Never Gonna Give You Up" |description = Opening of the song "Never Gonna Give You Up" }}
'''Rickrolling'''{{efn|Also written as ''rick-roll'' or ''Rick Roll'', used as a noun or verb<ref name="Zimmer & Carson">{{Cite journal |last1=Zimmer |first1=Benjamin |author-link1=Ben Zimmer |last2=Carson |first2=Charles E. |date=1 November 2011 |title=Among the New Words |url=https://read.dukeupress.edu/american-speech/article/86/4/454/5941/Among-the-New-Words |journal=American Speech |volume=86 |issue=4 |pages=454–479 |doi=10.1215/00031283-1587259 |issn=0003-1283}}</ref>{{rp|pp=474, 476}}}} is an Internet meme and prank involving the unexpected appearance of the music video for the 1987 hit song "Never Gonna Give You Up", performed by the English singer Rick Astley. The meme is a type of bait and switch and commonly uses a disguised hyperlink that leads to the music video instead of what was expected. The meme has also extended to using the song's lyrics in unexpected contexts or singing it during public events. After the origin of the meme in 2007 and the height of its popularity in 2008, rickrolling has become a very long-lived meme. Astley has seen his performance career revitalised by the meme's popularity.
The meme grew out of a similar bait-and-switch trick called "duckrolling" that was popular on the website 4chan in 2006. Rickrolling originated on 15 May 2007, when 4chan user Shawn Cotter uploaded the "Never Gonna Give You Up" music video to YouTube and linked to it in place of the trailer for the video game ''Grand Theft Auto IV''. It quickly became popular and spread to other Internet sites later that year.
The meme gained mainstream attention in 2008 through several events, beginning with a campaign by the hacker group Anonymous to protest the Church of Scientology through rickrolling. Awareness of rickrolling increased after two events in April 2008: YouTube used the meme for its April Fools' Day event, and users of several websites voted for "Never Gonna Give You Up" in a poll for the New York Mets' rally song. The meme inspired videos remixing "Never Gonna Give You Up", including "BarackRoll", which combined the song with footage of United States presidential candidate Barack Obama. Astley was initially hesitant about using the meme to further his career; he declined to appear at the 2008 MTV Europe Music Awards, in which an online vote had named him "Best Act Ever". He accepted the publicity by rickrolling the 2008 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade—seen by millions of television viewers—with a surprise performance of the song on the ''Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends'' float.
Use of rickrolling peaked in 2008, but it remained popular. Later perpetrators of the prank included United States Representative Nancy Pelosi in 2009, members of the Oregon Legislative Assembly in 2010, and the Twitter account of the White House in 2011. Anonymous again used rickrolling as a tactic against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria in 2015. The rock band Foo Fighters featured surprise appearances by Astley to rickroll audiences in 2017, having previously used the meme to protest the Westboro Baptist Church. The prank was also conducted by sports stadiums, including that of the San Diego Padres in 2019. Rickrolling resurged in popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic. By 2021, the official YouTube video of "Never Gonna Give You Up"—one of several uploads used for rickrolling—had been viewed over one billion times.
==History== ===Background=== [[File:Rick Astley-cropped.jpg|thumb|upright|Rick Astley performing in 2008]]
"Never Gonna Give You Up" is a song written by songwriting trio Stock Aitken Waterman and recorded by English singer Rick Astley.<ref name="VanHooker" /> It appeared on his 1987 debut album ''Whenever You Need Somebody''<ref name="Parker" /><ref name="ABC" /> and was released as a single on 27 July of that year.<ref name="VanHooker" /> It was a number-one hit on several charts,<ref name="VanHooker" /> including the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in the US,<ref name="Hasty" /> the ARIA Charts in Australia,<ref name="ABC" /> and the UK Singles Chart,<ref name="VanHooker" /> becoming the most popular single of the year in the UK.<ref name="Schulman" /> It is a dance-pop song<ref name="ABC" /><ref name="Kennedy" /> with heavy use of synthesizers,<ref name="VanHooker" /> catchy music, and repetitive lyrics<ref name="Husted" />{{rp|p=122}} sung in a baritone voice.<ref name="Brown" /> It begins with a distinctive drum riff<ref name="Roy" /><ref name="Bryan" /> and a synthesizer melody,<ref name="Welch" /> followed by the lines, "We're no strangers to love / You know the rules and so do I".<ref name="Tossell" /> The accompanying music video, Astley's first, was made in a single week, and Astley brought his own outfits.<ref name="Vice" /><ref name="Brown" /> It features 21-year-old Astley<ref name="Sarno" /> performing the song while awkwardly dancing, wearing a trenchcoat and a coiffed hairstyle,<ref name="VanHooker" /><ref name="Hasty">{{cite news |url=http://uk.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUKN0421297720080405 |title='80s singer Rick Astley latest Web phenomenon |access-date=19 November 2008 |last=Hasty |first=Katie |date=5 April 2008 |work=Reuters |archive-date=21 September 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120921043517/http://uk.reuters.com/article/2008/04/05/uk-astley-idUKN0421297720080405 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="Vice" /><ref name="Michaels" /> alongside backup dancers wearing spandex<ref name="Friedman" /> and a bartender doing backflips.<ref name="Sarno" />
The song faded from popularity, being a common song on the radio for only about a year.<ref name="Nussenbaum" /> It also received disapproval—with the television network VH1 listing it as one of the "50 Most Awesomely Bad Songs"—and its style fell out of fashion.<ref name="VanHooker" /> The song's reputation was influenced by its 1980s-style composition, its unpolished music video, and a perceived incongruity between Astley's youthful appearance and his low-pitched vocals.<ref name="VanHooker" /><ref name="WBUR" /> "Never Gonna Give You Up" was Astley's most successful song; it was one of two, alongside "Together Forever", to reach number one on the ''Billboard'' chart.<ref name="D'Angelo" /> Astley initially retired in 1994, at the age of 27,<ref name="VanHooker" /><ref name="Parker" /> as he wanted more time with his family.<ref name="Roy" /> He returned to touring in 2004<ref name="Ellen" /> to mild success.<ref name="BBC 2023" />
Internet memes originated in the 1990s, when they mostly involved humorous<!--this is the correct spelling even under british english--> images. Video-based memes, such as viral videos, became popular in the 2000s as technology improved.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Rebillard |first=Franck |chapter=Chapitre 1. Mise en image et en écran|title=La Machine YouTube |trans-title=The YouTube Machine |lang=fr|date=1 January 2022 |pages=25–39 |chapter-url=https://shs.cairn.info/la-machine-youtube--9782376620617-page-25 |access-date=18 November 2025 |publisher=C&F Éditions |doi=10.3917/cf.assil.2022.01.0025 |isbn=978-2-37662-061-7}}</ref> Many memes originated on the imageboard website 4chan, which was also the origin of the hacker group Anonymous.<ref name="Tossell" /><ref name="Michaels" /> On several websites, beginning in the late 1990s, users frequently posted bait-and-switch links that trolled readers by redirecting them to unexpected targets. These links often led to shock sites, which contained disturbing or graphic imagery.<ref name="Milner & Phillips" /> Trolling and bait-and-switch humour were popular on 4chan.<ref name="VanHooker" /><ref name="Milner & Phillips" /> Internet scholar Lee Knuttila wrote that bait-and-switch humour was a simple, fundamental element of the subculture of 4chan.<ref name="Milner & Phillips" /> According to ''Know Your Meme'' editor-in-chief Don Caldwell, rickrolling was the first bait-and-switch meme to gain mainstream popularity.<ref name="WBUR" />
Pre-dating the first rickroll, in August 2005, the sitcom ''It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia'' featured "Never Gonna Give You Up". In the episode "Charlie Has Cancer", the character Dennis sings along to the song in his car.<ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Lawrence |first1=Derek |last2=Mercadante |first2=James| url= https://ew.com/its-always-sunny-in-philadelphia-complete-guide-11782453 |title=It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia Turns 20! |date=5 August 2025 |access-date=14 August 2025 |magazine=Entertainment Weekly |archive-date=15 August 2025 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20250815080628/https://ew.com/its-always-sunny-in-philadelphia-complete-guide-11782453 |url-status=live }}</ref> Another precursor of rickrolling occurred in 2006, when rural Michigan resident Erik Helwig called in to a local radio sports talk show and, instead of conversing with the DJs, played "Never Gonna Give You Up". Caldwell said there was no confirmation of whether it had inspired the 4chan use of the song, and Helwig said he did not claim to be the "founder" of the meme.<ref name="VanHooker">{{cite web |last=VanHooker |first=Brian |url=https://melmagazine.com/en-us/story/an-oral-history-of-rickrolling |title=An Oral History of Rickrolling |date=10 January 2020 |access-date=18 February 2020 |work=Mel Magazine |archive-date=18 February 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200218164223/https://melmagazine.com/en-us/story/an-oral-history-of-rickrolling |url-status=live }}</ref> YouTuber Harrison Renshaw listed both Helwig and ''It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia'' as contributors to the popularity of the rickroll.<ref name="WBUR">{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.wbur.org/geoffedgers/2021/11/22/edge-of-fame-presents-et-rickroll |title=Edge of Fame Presents: Endless Thread's Rick Roll Deep Dive |date=22 November 2021 |last=Johnson |first=Ben Brock |last2=Siverston |first2=Amory |type=Podcast |publisher=WBUR |series=Endless Thread}}</ref>
=== Origin === [[File:Duckroll meme.png|thumb|alt=A mallard duck, edited to have car wheels, alongside the text "duckroll".|The "duckroll" image was used in bait-and-switch pranks among 4chan users in 2006, making it the predecessor to rickrolling.]] The use of "Never Gonna Give You Up" for rickrolling originated on 4chan.<ref name="VanHooker" /> It was based on an earlier meme on the website known as "duckrolling", which originated in 2006. That year, the site's moderator, Christopher "moot" Poole, implemented a word filter replacing the word ''egg'' with ''duck'' as a gag. On one thread, where ''eggroll'' had become ''duckroll'', an anonymous user posted an edited image of a duck with wheels.<ref name="VanHooker" /><ref name="Fox News 2008" />{{efn|The American Dialect Society cites ''duckroll'' as the origin of the word ''rickroll'', but gives a different etymology from the use of the verb ''roll'' to mean 'misdirect';<ref name="Zimmer & Carson" />{{rp|p=474}}}} According to video game historian Kate Willært, this image had been created in April 2005 by Gaming-Age Forums user Christian "ferricide" Nutt, inspired by a fellow user of the forums known as Duckroll.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.acriticalhit.com/exploring-metroidvania-meaning-history/ |title=Exploring Metroidvania: The History Of A Word |website=A Critical Hit! |last=Willært |first=Kate |date=December 20, 2025 |access-date=December 22, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20251223013705/https://www.acriticalhit.com/exploring-metroidvania-meaning-history/ |archive-date=December 23, 2025}}</ref> The image caught on across 4chan, becoming the target of a hyperlink with an otherwise interesting title, with a user clicking through being said to be "duckrolled".<ref name="VanHooker" /><ref name="Fox News 2008">{{cite news|author=<!--not stated-->|date=22 April 2008|title=The Biggest Little Internet Hoax on Wheels Hits Mainstream|work=Fox News Channel|publisher=Fox News Channel|url=https://www.foxnews.com/story/the-biggest-little-internet-hoax-on-wheels-hits-mainstream|url-status=live|access-date=23 February 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080501165153/http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,352010,00.html|archive-date=1 May 2008}}</ref>
In March 2007, Rockstar Games released the first trailer for the highly anticipated ''Grand Theft Auto IV''. Viewership was so high that it crashed Rockstar's site. Several Internet users helped to post mirrors of the video on different sites, but one 4chan user linked to the "Never Gonna Give You Up" video on YouTube claiming to be the trailer, tricking numerous readers.<ref name="Fox News 2008" /> Under the YouTube username cotter548, he uploaded the video, titled "Rickroll'D", on 15 May.<ref name="Roy" /><ref name="Milner & Phillips" /><ref name="Schneider" /> The uploader was nineteen-year-old Shawn Cotter, a United States Air Force airman in South Korea;<ref name="Vice" /><ref name="Roy" /> he publicly revealed his identity in an "ask me anything" post on Reddit in 2011,<ref name="Roy">{{Cite news |last=Roy |first=Jessica |date=5 September 2012 |title=Meet Shawn Cotter, the Man Behind the Rickroll |url=https://observer.com/2012/09/meet-shawn-cotter-the-man-behind-the-rickroll/ |access-date=17 November 2025 |work=Observer}}</ref> describing himself as "the one who inadvertently became the biggest troll on the internet".<ref name="Andrews" /> In a 2022 interview with Vice Media, he said the reason of using "Never Gonna Give You Up" was because he had found an online list about songs that were popular in 1987, the year of his birth; he found the video funny and wanted it to be a meme.<ref name="Vice">{{Cite AV media |title=The Legendary Song That Became the Rick Roll {{!}} The Story Of | date=8 October 2022 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oADU2PIzhD0 |work=Vice Media |access-date=30 June 2023 |language=en |archive-date=8 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230108031603/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oADU2PIzhD0 |url-status=live |via=YouTube}}</ref> Cotter is generally agreed to be the originator of the rickroll.<ref name="Andrews" />
The practice of rickrolling became popular within a few days<ref name="Roy" /> and replaced duckrolling with links pointing to Astley's video.<ref name="Fox News 2008" /> The term began showing up in Google search data the same month.<ref name="ABC">{{Cite news |last=<!--not stated--> |date=28 July 2017 |title=The song behind one of the most enduring internet memes turns 30 |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-07-28/technology-behind-internet-memes-turns-30/8751790 |access-date=19 November 2025 |work=ABC News}}</ref> Rickrolling became popular on YouTube, with videos featuring people lip-syncing to the song or rickrolling public events,<ref name="Hasty" /> as well as mashup videos.<ref name="Sarno" /> Many videos used the phrase, "You've been RickRolled."<ref name="Hasty" /> The trend contributed to sales of "Never Gonna Give You Up"—beginning in late December 2007, it received over 1,000 downloads per week, reaching a peak of 2,500 in the week of 9 March 2008.<ref name="Hasty" /> The song was also included in the series ''Family Guy'' in 2007.<ref name="Brown">{{Cite news |last=Brown |first=Helen |date=23 May 2022 |title=Never Gonna Give You Up — how Rick Astley's 1987 hit became a global meme |url=https://ig.ft.com/life-of-a-song/never-gonna-give-you-up.html |access-date=22 November 2025 |work=Financial Times}}</ref> Participants in the meme were too young to remember the original song.<ref name="Sarno" />
Astley first became aware of rickrolling when he fell for the prank through a series of emails from a US-based friend during the early days of the phenomenon. Astley was on vacation and was confused until he called the friend, who explained the meme.<ref name="Schulman" /><ref name="Vice" /><ref name="Ruggieri" />
===Growth in 2008=== ====Rickroll against Scientology and early mainstream coverage==== [[File:Bball rickroll collage.JPG|thumb|right|alt=1: A man dressed as Rick Astley dancing. 2: A sports audience member holding a cardboard sign of Rick Astley's face. 3: Another audience member holding a cardboard sign reading, "Scientology kills".|Scenes from the March 2008 video of rickrolling at Eastern Washington University basketball games]]
The first rickroll to gain mainstream attention, in February 2008,<ref name="VanHooker" /><ref name="Michaels" /> targeted the Church of Scientology, which had been aggressively trying to remove videos critical of the church. The group Anonymous, as part of their Project Chanology to challenge these actions, protested at the Church's various headquarters by chanting "Never Gonna Give You Up" and playing it on boomboxes.<ref name="Michaels" /> Several YouTube videos documented these events, including one in which the rickroller falsely described Astley as "some dead guy".<ref name="Sarno" /> Members of Anonymous also created a website that mimicked the URL of a Scientologist website denouncing Anonymous, instead playing a rickroll.<ref name="Michaels">{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2008/mar/19/news |title=Taking the Rick |first=Sean |last=Michaels |date=19 March 2008 |access-date=18 February 2020 |work=The Guardian |archive-date=27 July 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080727172939/http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2008/mar/19/news |url-status=live }}</ref>
In March 2008, two employees of the athletics department of Eastern Washington University, Pawl Fisher and Davin Perry, rickrolled a number of games by the collegiate basketball team.<ref name="VanHooker" /> These performances had Perry dressing up as Astley from the video and lip-syncing to the music as a prank before the start of the game.<ref name="Nussenbaum">{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/24/business/media/24rick.html |title=The '80s Video That Pops Up, Online and Off |first=Evelyn |last=Nussenbaum |date=24 March 2008 |access-date=18 February 2020 |work=The New York Times |archive-date=18 February 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200218164223/https://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/24/business/media/24rick.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Fisher filmed and edited these into a YouTube video that made it appear as a single rickroll interrupting a game. After the video received millions of views, it was covered by local television station KHQ-TV as well as ''The New York Times''. Fisher pranked ''New York Times'' reporter Evelyn Nussenbaum by claiming the video was a single, unedited rickroll; the newspaper published a retraction after KHQ reported that this was false.<ref name="VanHooker" /><ref>{{cite news |last=McCarthy |first=Caroline |title='Rickrolled basketball game' video is '80s pop fiction |work=CNET News |publisher=CNET Networks, Inc. |date=26 March 2008 |url=http://www.news.com/8301-13577_3-9903727-36.html |access-date=1 April 2008 |archive-date=11 July 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140711080826/http://www.cnet.com/news/rickrolled-basketball-game-video-is-80s-pop-fiction/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>
Popular blogs such as ''Gizmodo'', ''Slashdot'', and ''Boing Boing'' introduced the meme to larger audiences.<ref name="Husted" />{{rp|p=123}} Various Youtube uploads of the music video collectively reached 25 million views by April 2008,<ref name="Fox News 2008" /> one of which, linked from the webpage yougotrickrolled.com, had 7 million views.<ref name="Nussenbaum" /> Internet users also created lists of rickroll URLs, browser plugins that claimed to block rickrolls but actually caused them, and a Wikipedia article about the phenomenon.<ref name="Michaels" /> As potential victims of rickrolling began to suspect links, pranksters began to hide rickrolls within more complex videos, such as edited versions of scenes from popular media.<ref name="Husted" />{{rp|pp=122, 126, 135–137}} The band Radiohead posted a rickroll claiming to be a download of their new album, ''In Rainbows'', in March 2008.<ref>{{cite news |last=<!--not stated--> |title=Rick Astley 'Rick Roll' video prank becomes web phenomenon |work=NME |date=28 March 2008 |url=https://www.nme.com/news/music/various-artists-4550-1326835 |access-date=18 November 2025 |archive-date=13 December 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20251213171625/https://www.nme.com/news/music/various-artists-4550-1326835 |url-status=live }}</ref>
Astley first publicly spoke about rickrolling in a March 2008 interview with the ''Los Angeles Times'', titled "Never Gonna Give You Up, Rick Astley", in which he said:<ref name="Sarno">{{cite news|last=Sarno|first=David|date=25 March 2008|title=Web Scout exclusive! Rick Astley, king of the 'Rickroll,' talks about his song's second coming|work=Los Angeles Times|url=http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/webscout/2008/03/rick-astley-kin.html|url-status=dead|access-date=20 November 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081104041656/http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/webscout/2008/03/rick-astley-kin.html <!--Added by H3llBot-->|archive-date=4 November 2008}}</ref>
{{Poemquote|text=I think it's just one of those odd things where something gets picked up and people run with it. But that is what's brilliant about the Internet.<ref name="VanHooker" /><ref name="Spangler" /> ... If this had happened around some kind of rock song, with a lyric that really meant something—a Bruce Springsteen [song], "God Bless America", or an anti-something kind of song, I could kind of understand that. But for something as—and I don't mean to belittle it, because I still think it's a great pop song—but it's a pop song, do you know what I mean? It doesn't have any kind of weight behind it, as such. But maybe that's the irony of it.<ref name="VanHooker" /><ref name="Peck" />|author=Rick Astley|title=''Los Angeles Times''|source="Never Gonna Give You Up, Rick Astley"}}
Astley also said in the interview that he was not troubled by the phenomenon, stating that he found it "bizarre"<ref name="Fox News 2008" /> and "weird", since he had not performed much lately, but he found the interest funny.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.wired.com/2008/03/rick-astley-add/ |title=Rick Astley Addresses the Rickroll Phenomenon |first=Eliot |last=van Buskirk |date=26 March 2008 |access-date=18 February 2020 |magazine=Wired |archive-date=11 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201111221834/http://www.wired.com/2008/03/rick-astley-add/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Sarno" /> The following month, a spokesperson for Astley's record label released a comment that stated, "I'm sorry, but he's done talking about Rickrolling".<ref name="Fox News 2008" /><ref name="Alexander" /> Despite this, the meme revived his career, and he continued to be asked about it years later.<ref name="VanHooker" /> Astley overcame his initial annoyance about rickrolling after speaking with his daughter, who thought it was cool<ref name="D'Angelo" /><ref>{{Cite news |last=Moody |first=Nekesa Mumbi |author-link=Nekesa Mumbi Moody |date=21 October 2016 |title=Astley never stops appreciating 'Never Gonna Give You Up' |url=https://apnews.com/article/entertainment-music-arts-and-entertainment-rick-astley-5598846c407a4a65942a5510f002043d |access-date=17 November 2025 |work=Associated Press}}</ref> and told him that the joke was not about him.<ref name="Kennedy" /><ref name="WBUR" />
====April 2008 peak==== In a 2008 April Fools' joke, YouTube made all links to videos on the site's home page end up on the "Never Gonna Give You Up" music video.<ref name="Friedman" /><ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.wired.com/2008/04/youtube-rickrol/ |title=YouTube 'Rickrolls' Everyone |first=Jenna |last=Wortham |date=1 April 2008 |access-date=18 February 2020 |magazine=Wired |archive-date=7 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200807051326/https://www.wired.com/2008/04/youtube-rickrol/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Arrington|first=Michael|title=YouTube RickRolls Users|date=April 2008 |url=https://techcrunch.com/2008/03/31/youtube-rickrolls-users/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120829200506/http://techcrunch.com/2008/03/31/youtube-rickrolls-users/|archive-date=29 August 2012|access-date=1 June 2008|work=TechCrunch}}</ref> The coordinators of the prank had contacted Astley's record label, Sony BMG,{{efn|"Never Gonna Give You Up" had been published by RCA Records, which later merged with Sony.<ref name="McCarthy" />}} which had made its music available on the website two years earlier; according to label executive Sam Gomez, Astley had liked the idea.<ref name="Hasty" /> YouTube was one of several websites to independently pull such a prank that day,<ref name="Fox News 2008" /> along with ''Sports Illustrated'' and LiveJournal. On that day, the YouTube video received 6.6 million views and 43,000 comments, while the song became the 77th most popular listing on Amazon Music.<ref name="Hasty" /> April Fools' Day strongly contributed to the meme's popularity.<ref name="Friedman" />
The following week,<ref name="Fox News 2008" /> the New York Mets baseball team asked fans on the Internet to choose their seventh-inning rally song for the upcoming season. "Never Gonna Give You Up" received five million write-in votes, driven by websites like YouTube and news aggregators Fark and Digg.<ref name="Fox News 2008" /><ref name="Peck">{{cite web |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1584640/Rickrolled-New-York-Mets-fall-victim-to-Rick-Astley-online-prank.html |title=Rickrolled: New York Mets fall victim to Rick Astley online prank |first=Sally |last=Peck |date=10 April 2008 |access-date=18 February 2020 |work=The Daily Telegraph |archive-date=18 February 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200218164223/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1584640/Rickrolled-New-York-Mets-fall-victim-to-Rick-Astley-online-prank.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Friedman">{{cite web |url=https://abcnews.go.com/Sports/story?id=4628658&page=1 |title='Rick Rolling' Ruins Mets Vote |first=Emily |last=Friedman |date=30 April 2008 |access-date=18 February 2020 |work=ABC News |archive-date=20 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200920215015/https://abcnews.go.com/Sports/story?id=4628658&page=1 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Wilson et al">{{Cite journal |last1=Wilson |first1=Matthew |last2=Robson |first2=Karen |last3=Botha |first3=Elsamari |date=March 2017 |title=Crowdsourcing in a time of empowered stakeholders: Lessons from crowdsourcing campaigns |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0007681316301318 |journal=Business Horizons |volume=60 |issue=2 |pages=247–253 |doi=10.1016/j.bushor.2016.11.009}}</ref>{{rp|p=250}} The team considered the online vote hijacked<ref name="Wilson et al" />{{rp|p=250}} and replaced it with an audience vote of the six most-voted songs during the first game of the season;<ref name="Peck" /><ref name="Fox News 2008" /> the audience booed in response to "Never Gonna Give You Up".<ref name="Fox News 2008" /><ref name="Wilson et al" />{{rp|p=250}}
Rickrolling gained further mainstream awareness after the Mets event, with a SurveyUSA poll the same month estimating that at least 18 million US adults had been rickrolled, based on a sample of 959.<ref>{{cite web|date=9 April 2008|title=You Wouldn't Get This From Any Other Pollster|url=http://www.surveyusa.com/index.php/2008/04/09/you-wouldnt-get-this-from-any-other-pollster/|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080412034901/http://www.surveyusa.com/index.php/2008/04/09/you-wouldnt-get-this-from-any-other-pollster/|archive-date=12 April 2008|access-date=10 April 2008|work=SurveyUSA}}</ref><ref name="VanHooker" /> Google Trends showed that the highest volume of searches about rickrolling occurred that month.<ref name="VanHooker" /><ref name="ABC" /> By this time, "Never Gonna Give You Up" became one of the biggest viral videos or memes,<ref name="Friedman" /><ref name="Peck" /> with many online creators attempting to outdo other rickrolls.<ref name="Wilson et al" />{{rp|p=250}} As the meme received mainstream media coverage, some people within the online subculture considered it to be the end of rickrolling. For example, moot was quoted by ''FOX News'' as saying that he was "very surprised" at the prank's use by mainstream websites and that he expected the meme to fade soon.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Burgess |first=Jean |chapter='All Your Chocolate Rain are Belonging to Us?': Viral Video, YouTube and the Dynamics of Participatory Culture |date=2014 |title=Art in the Global Present |volume=2 |pages=86–96 |editor-last=Papastergiadis |editor-first=Nikos|publisher=UTS ePRESS |jstor=j.ctv1w36pfr.9 |editor2-last=Lynn |editor2-first=Victoria}}</ref>{{rp|p=94}}<ref name="Fox News 2008"/>
A flash mob performed a rickroll at Liverpool Street Station, London, in April 2008.<ref name="Silverman" /> Another flash mob performed a rickroll in Baltimore the following month, organised by Facebook user Ryan Goff, which received coverage in ''The Baltimore Sun''.<ref name="VanHooker" />
====Further recognition, "BarackRoll" videos, and Astley parade appearance==== {{External media |float=right |headerimage=alt=YouTube logo|x20px|center |caption="BarackRoll" videos by Hugh Atkin (2008) |video1=[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65I0HNvTDH4 BarackRoll] |video2=[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TiQCJXpbKg John McCain Gets BarackRoll'd]}}
Videos adapting the rickroll meme were popular during the 2008 United States presidential election between Barack Obama and John McCain.<ref name="Vernallis" />{{rp|p=89}} An August 2008 YouTube video by Hugh Atkin, titled "BarackRoll", was a mashup consisting of footage of Obama dancing on ''The Ellen DeGeneres Show'', paired with words spoken by Obama spliced to match the lyrics of "Never Gonna Give You Up".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Chadwick |first=Andrew |chapter=Systemic Hybridity in the Mediation of the American Presidential Campaign |date=26 October 2017 |title=The Hybrid Media System |pages=158–183 |url=https://academic.oup.com/book/1922/chapter/141706647 |access-date=18 November 2025 |edition=2 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York |doi=10.1093/oso/9780190696726.003.0008 |isbn=978-0-19-069672-6}}</ref>{{rp|p=168}} The video was acknowledged by ''The Ellen DeGeneres Show'' and by Astley,<ref name="VanHooker" /> who called it his favourite use of the meme.<ref name="Ellen" /> Atkin also made a sequel titled, "John McCain Gets BarackRoll'd",<ref name="VanHooker" /> using footage of a speech by McCain, with "BarackRoll" edited onto a screen behind him while he stays silent. According to media scholar Carol Vernallis, the two "BarackRoll" videos reflect the popular conceptions of the two candidates: Obama is portrayed as a skilled singer who will "never give up", and a parallel is drawn between him and Astley as both appealed to both Black and White people, while McCain appears dull in contrast.<ref name="Vernallis">{{Cite journal |last=Vernallis |first=Carol |date=2011 |title=Audiovisual Change: Viral Web Media and the Obama Campaign|journal=Cinema Journal |volume=50 |issue=4 |pages=73–97 |doi=10.1353/cj.2011.0062 |jstor=41240736 |issn=0009-7101}}</ref>{{rp|p=90}} "BarackRoll" followed a format of "Never Gonna Give You Up" mashup videos that used the word "roll" in the title to transparently indicate the connection to rickrolling.<ref name="Husted" />{{rp|p=138}} A similar video spliced clips from the series ''Mad Men'' to match the song.<ref name="Brown" />
At the 2008 MTV Europe Music Awards in November 2008, Astley was nominated for "Best Act Ever" after the online nomination form was flooded with votes.<ref>{{cite news |author=<!--not stated--> |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7646807.stm |publisher=BBC News |date=2 October 2008 |access-date=20 November 2008 |title=Astley shortlisted for MTV award |archive-date=23 December 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081223194607/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7646807.stm |url-status=live }}</ref> Despite not being on the original shortlist of nominees, Astley won with one hundred million votes—more than all other votes combined—effectively rickrolling the awards.<ref name="VanHooker" /><ref name="Moore award">{{cite web |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/celebritynews/3395589/Rickrolling-Rick-Astley-named-Best-Act-Ever-at-the-MTV-Europe-Music-Awards.html |title=Rickrolling: Rick Astley named Best Act Ever at the MTV Europe Music Awards |first=Matthew |last=Moore |date=7 November 2008 |access-date=18 February 2020 |work=The Daily Telegraph |archive-date=18 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201018115621/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/celebritynews/3395589/Rickrolling-Rick-Astley-named-Best-Act-Ever-at-the-MTV-Europe-Music-Awards.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Astley chose not to attend the ceremony,<ref name="Moore parade" /> instead making a statement saying, "This is the first time I have been nominated for the EMAs and I would like to thank everyone who voted for me".<ref name="VanHooker" /><ref name="Moore award" /> Astley stated in an interview that he felt the award was "daft", but noted that "MTV were thoroughly rickrolled".<ref name="Dave">{{cite news |author=Comedy Dave |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/hi/entertainment/newsid_7715000/7715587.stm |title=Rick Brands MTV win 'Ridiculous' |date=7 November 2008 |access-date=20 November 2008 |publisher=BBC News |archive-date=12 November 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081112053011/http://news.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/hi/entertainment/newsid_7715000/7715587.stm |url-status=live }}</ref> an MTV executive also said, "We've been well and truly Rickrolled".<ref name="VanHooker" /><ref name="Moore award" />
[[File: Rick Astley Macy Parade cropped.jpg|thumb|alt=Astley on a parade float with children|Astley performing the song during the 2008 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade]] By November 2008, the "Never Gonna Give You Up" video on YouTube had more than 20 million views.<ref name="Moore parade" /> Astley initially appeared indifferent to the newfound fame<ref name="VanHooker" /> and was wary of trying to promote himself using the popularity of the meme. However, he agreed to make an appearance at the 2008 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade because Cartoon Network offered him a considerable payment for his performance and because his friends in America urged him to accept.<ref name="Parker">{{cite web |url=https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/rick-astley-talks-rickrolling-macys-parade-dave-grohl-why-he-never-cared-about-being-cool-183958246.html |title=Rick Astley talks Rickrolling the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade, jamming with Dave Grohl, and why he never cared about being 'one of the cool kids' |first=Lindsay |last=Parker |date=27 November 2019 |access-date=18 February 2020 |publisher=Yahoo! News |archive-date=18 February 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200218164222/https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/rick-astley-talks-rickrolling-macys-parade-dave-grohl-why-he-never-cared-about-being-cool-183958246.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Astley made a surprise appearance on a float of the Cartoon Network show ''Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends''. After the puppets singing on the float were cut off by a record scratch,<ref name="Andrews" /> Astley joined to lip-sync the song to the crowd and millions of television viewers,<ref name="Moore parade" /> with a puppet saying, "I love rickrolling!"<ref name="Harvey" />{{rp|p=89}} According to design scholar Ursula Murray Husted, viewers unfamiliar with rickrolling would have considered it an ordinary parade appearance before the term "rickroll" was spoken.<ref name="Husted" />{{rp|p=172}} That performance was the largest rickroll yet.<ref name="Moore parade">{{cite web |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/3534073/Macys-Thanksgiving-Day-parade-Rick-Astley-performs-his-own-Rickroll.html |title=Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade: Rick Astley performs his own Rickroll |first=Matthew |last=Moore|ref=none|date=28 November 2008 |access-date=18 February 2020 |work=The Daily Telegraph |archive-date=18 February 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200218164230/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/3534073/Macys-Thanksgiving-Day-parade-Rick-Astley-performs-his-own-Rickroll.html |url-status=live }}</ref> It went viral on social media within minutes.<ref name="Moore parade" /> ''The Daily Telegraph'' wrote that this appearance was "the pinnacle of Rickrolling" and "may have been the most widely-seen Rickroll ever".<ref name="Moore parade" /><ref name="VanHooker" />
The Macy's parade made rickrolling more of a mainstream phenomenon and led many 4chan users to lose interest in it, feeling the joke had been exhausted.<ref name="Husted" />{{rp|pp=10, 123}} It led to a wave of rickrolls outside of the Internet, including on radio and television.<ref name="Husted" />{{rp|pp=177–178}} Two weeks after the parade,<ref name="Harvey" />{{rp|p=89}} a user of the message board I Love Music, Grady Gillian, rickrolled other users with a file that appeared to be a leak of the upcoming Animal Collective album ''Merriweather Post Pavilion'' until played;<ref>{{Cite news |last=Cummings |first=Raymond |date=4 June 2014 |title=Animal Collective Fans Open Up Their Throats, Choke On A Rickroll |url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/2014/06/04/animal-collective-fans-open-up-their-throats-choke-on-a-rickroll/ |access-date=18 November 2025 |work=The Baltimore Sun}}</ref> viewers responded with both praise and harassment.<ref name="Harvey">{{Cite journal |last=Harvey |first=Eric |date=February 2013 |title=Collective anticipation: The contested circulation of an album leak |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1354856512456787 |journal=Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies |volume=19 |issue=1 |pages=77–94 |doi=10.1177/1354856512456787 |issn=1354-8565}}</ref>{{rp|pp=89–90}} When the United States Congress launched its YouTube account in January 2009, it posted a video of cats in the office of Representative Nancy Pelosi, which turned into a rickroll.<ref name="Treisman" /> The video was intended to promote the channel<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Pickert |first=Kate |date=15 January 2009 |title=Rickrolled by Nancy Pelosi |url=http://time.com/archive/6936706/rickrolled-by-nancy-pelosi/ |access-date=18 November 2025 |magazine=Time}}</ref> and was part of Pelosi's targeting of Internet users.<ref>{{Cite news |last=O'Brien |first=Michael |date=13 January 2019 |title=Pelosi's cats co-star with Rick Astley |url=https://thehill.com/homenews/news/15279-pelosis-cats-co-star-with-rick-astley/ |access-date=18 November 2025 |work=The Hill}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=PETERS, Jr. |first1=Ronald M |title=Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the New American Politics |chapter=The Outside Game |last2=Rosenthal |first2=Cindy Simon |date=16 April 2010 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-538373-7 |doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195383737.003.0004}}</ref> Also in 2009, students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology conducted a rickroll by painting sheet music on a university building.<ref name="Schulman" />
===Enduring popularity=== ====Post-peak usage==== Rickrolling continued to be popular after its peak in 2008,<ref name="VanHooker" /> lasting much longer than other memes.<ref name="VanHooker" /><ref name="Milner" />{{rp|pp=75–76}} In 2009, Astley wrote about 4chan founder moot for ''Time'' magazine's annual ''Time 100'' issue, thanking him for the rickrolling phenomenon.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1894410_1893837_1894180,00.html |title=The 2009 TIME 100: moot |date=30 April 2009 |access-date=27 April 2016 |archive-date=19 April 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160419002642/http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1894410_1893837_1894180,00.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Mackie" /> Moot also acknowledged rickrolling in a 2010 TED Talk, saying it had revived interest in Astley.<ref name="Milner & Phillips" /> Although "Never Gonna Give You Up" had received hundreds of millions of views on YouTube as a result of the meme, one of the song's writers, Pete Waterman, said in April 2009 that he had received only £11 (equivalent to £{{Inflation|UK-GDP|11|2008}} in {{Inflation/year|UK}}).<ref>{{Cite news |date=9 April 2009 |title=Pete Waterman: 'I was exploited by Google' |url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/5130427/Pete-Waterman-I-was-exploited-by-Google.html |access-date=17 November 2025 |work=The Telegraph}}</ref><ref name="McCarthy" /> According to ''The Register'', {{As of|2010|lc=y}}, Astley had directly received only US$12 (${{Inflation|US-GDP|12|2010}} in {{Inflation/year|US}}) in performance royalties from YouTube; Astley did not compose the song and received only a performer's share of the sound recording copyright.<ref>{{cite news|last=Orlowski|first=Andrew|url=https://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/08/31/gema_youtube/|title=German judge chides Google over YouTube freeloading|date=31 August 2010|work=The Register|access-date=10 August 2017|archive-date=30 March 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200330043736/https://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/08/31/gema_youtube/|url-status=live}}</ref>
{{Quote tweet|name=The White House|username=whitehouse|date=27 July 2011|text=Sorry to hear that. Fiscal policy is important, but can be dry sometimes. here's something more fun:
https<nowiki />://tinyurl.com/y8ufsnp #WHChat|ID=96291538044329985|image=US-WhiteHouse-Logo.svg|name2=David Wiggs|username2=wiggsd|date2=27 July 2011|text2=This WH correspondence briefing isn't nearly as entertaining as yesterday's. #TCOT #WHchat|ID2=96288078137786369}} After the cultural saturation of rickrolling, it continued to be recognised positively.<ref name="Husted" />{{rp|pp=178–179}} University of Oregon-based a cappella group On The Rocks posted a video of themselves singing "Never Gonna Give You Up" on the New York City Subway in March 2010; the video went viral and brought fame to the group.<ref name="VanHooker" /> The same month, members of the Oregon state legislature, spearheaded by Jefferson Smith of the legislature's lower house, slipped snippets of the song's lyrics into speeches they gave in 2011.<ref name="VanHooker" /> Smith stitched together a video compilation of these snippets into the full song, posted on April Fools' Day.<ref name="ABC" /><ref name="Peralta">{{Cite news |last=Peralta |first=Eyder |date=13 April 2013 |title=Rickrolled: Or How One Politician Overcame Partisan Divide To Pull A Prank |language=en |work=All Things Considered |url=https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2011/04/13/135385998/rickrolled-or-how-one-politician-overcame-partisan-divide-to-pull-a-prank |access-date=25 August 2022 |archive-date=25 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220825225403/https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2011/04/13/135385998/rickrolled-or-how-one-politician-overcame-partisan-divide-to-pull-a-prank |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Citation |title=A bipartisan group of legislators won't give up on Oregon | date=April 2011 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZi4JxbTwPo |language=en |access-date=25 August 2022 |archive-date=25 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220825225403/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZi4JxbTwPo |url-status=live }}</ref> On 27 July 2011, the Twitter account of the White House, during a chat session run by staffer Brian Deese, posted a rickroll link in response to a user who had criticised the dull tone of the session's posts.<ref name="VanHooker" /><ref name="Brown" /> The White House's rickroll contributed to the popularity of the meme.<ref name="Pailler & Schafer 2023" />{{rp|p=122}}
In 2015, members of Anonymous began rickrolling the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) by hacking into websites used to promote the group<ref name="Arroyo & Alaei" />{{rp|p=290}} and spamming related hashtags.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Richards |first1=Imogen |last2=Wood |first2=Mark A. |date=2018-10-21 |title=Hacktivists Against Terrorism: A Cultural Criminological Analysis Of Anonymous' Anti-Is Campaigns |journal=International Journal of Cyber Criminology |volume=12 |issue=1 |pages=187–205 |url=https://zenodo.org/record/1467895 |doi=10.5281/ZENODO.1467895 |doi-access=free}}</ref>{{rp|p=197}} Reporter James Geddes wrote, "Until now, Rickrolling has generally been used as a harmless internet prank, but now it's being used in a war that has much bigger stakes," while reporter Corey Charlton wrote that the prank was "giving ISIS a taste of its own medicine", as the group used social media tactics to unexpectedly spread its propaganda.<ref name="Arroyo & Alaei">{{Cite book |last1=Arroyo |first1=Sarah J. |last2=Alaei |first2=Bahareh B. |title=Rhetorical speculations: the future of rhetoric, writing, and technology |date=2019 |publisher=Utah State University Press |isbn=978-1-60732-830-8 |editor-last=Sundvall |editor-first=Scott |location=Logan}}</ref>{{rp|p=290}}
Rickrolls continued to occur years after the meme's popularity had declined. Apple rickrolled consumers in 2015 by showing them the song's lyrics when they viewed the Apple Watch help page.<ref name="VanHooker" /> At the 2016 Republican National Convention, Melania Trump, campaigning for her husband Donald Trump, said, "He will never, ever give up and ... never, ever let you down,"<ref name="Potts" />{{rp|p=143}} which many viewers considered a rickroll.<ref name="Bryan" /> Speaking with ''The New Yorker'', Astley said he found it plausible that the rickroll was intentional.<ref name="Schulman" /> Australia's ABC News later called this "the biggest political rickroll".<ref name="ABC" />
[[File:CalJam17 071017-106 (23791812018).jpg|thumb|alt=Rick Astley on stage with the Foo Fighters|Astley with the Foo Fighters in 2017]]
The rock band Foo Fighters first performed a rickroll<ref name="Ruggieri" /> at an August 2015 concert in Kansas City, Missouri, using a truck to counterprotest a demonstration by the homophobic group Westboro Baptist Church.<ref name="Brown" /><ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Kreps |first=Daniel |date=23 August 2015 |title=Watch Foo Fighters Rickroll Westboro Baptist Church |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/watch-foo-fighters-rickroll-westboro-baptist-church-67455/ |access-date=18 November 2025 |magazine=Rolling Stone |archive-date=24 August 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150824072141/http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/watch-foo-fighters-rickroll-westboro-baptist-church-20150823 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Pailler & Schafer 2023" />{{rp|p=122}} This mirrored the tactic used by Anonymous against Scientology.<ref name="ABC" /> In 2017, the Foo Fighters brought Astley on stage to rickroll the audience of a concert at the Summer Sonic Festival in Tokyo, mashing up "Never Gonna Give You Up" with "Smells Like Teen Spirit".<ref name="Andrews" /> As Astley recounted in his memoir, this performance had been unplanned as Astley, also performing at the festival, had been watching the Foo Fighters from backstage before being invited to join them.<ref name="Ruggieri">{{Cite news |last=Ruggieri |first=Melissa |date=21 January 2025 |title=Rick Astley tackles Rickrolling, Dave Grohl and resurgent pop career in 'Never' memoir |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/books/2025/01/21/rick-astley-memoir-highlights/77676712007/ |url-status=live |access-date=21 November 2025 |archive-date=21 January 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250121135418/https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/books/2025/01/21/rick-astley-memoir-highlights/77676712007/ |work=USA Today}}</ref> The Foo Fighters brought Astley to rickroll a concert in London the same year.<ref name="VanHooker" />
In April 2018, the creators of the television drama ''Westworld'', participating in a Reddit discussion, released a video that purported to be a spoiler guide for the second season in advance, but instead featured lead actress Evan Rachel Wood singing "Never Gonna Give You Up".<ref>{{cite news |url=https://io9.gizmodo.com/the-stars-of-westword-make-25-minute-long-spoiler-video-1825142103 |title=The Stars of Westworld Make 25-Minute Long 'Spoiler' Video Just to Troll Fans |last=Whitbrook |first=James |date=10 April 2018 |publisher=io9 |access-date=25 April 2018 |archive-date=26 April 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180426012133/https://io9.gizmodo.com/the-stars-of-westword-make-25-minute-long-spoiler-video-1825142103 |url-status=live }}</ref> While responses from Reddit users were mostly positive,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Gartenberg |first=Chaim |date=10 April 2018 |title=Westworld's spoiler reveal turns out to be an elaborate Rickroll |url=https://www.theverge.com/2018/4/10/17218666/westworld-spoiler-reveal-rickroll-never-gonna-give-you-up-jonathan-nolan-youtube |access-date=18 November 2025 |work=The Verge |archive-date=9 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201109010156/https://www.theverge.com/2018/4/10/17218666/westworld-spoiler-reveal-rickroll-never-gonna-give-you-up-jonathan-nolan-youtube |url-status=live }}</ref> the website ''Polygon'' wrote, "''Westworld'' has finally killed the Rickroll".<ref name="VanHooker" /><ref name="Alexander">{{Cite news |last=Alexander |first=Julia |date=10 April 2018 |title=Westworld has finally killed the Rickroll |url=https://www.polygon.com/2018/4/10/17219122/westworld-rickroll-reddit-rick-astley-season-2-hbo/ |access-date=17 November 2025 |work=Polygon}}</ref> In the post-credits scene of Walt Disney Animation Studios' 2018 film ''Ralph Breaks the Internet'', a fake sneak peek of ''Frozen II'' suddenly switches to Ralph singing "Never Gonna Give You Up" and replicating Astley's music video.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Spiegel |first=Josh |date=22 November 2018 |title=How 'Ralph Breaks the Internet' Trolls Audiences |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-features/how-ralph-breaks-internet-post-credits-scene-trolls-audiences-1163547/ |access-date=13 November 2025 |work=The Hollywood Reporter}}</ref>
Rickrolls also became popular at sports games.<ref name="Ruggieri" /> On 25 August 2019, the Boston Red Sox and the San Diego Padres played a Major League Baseball game at the Padres' stadium. During a mid-inning break, the Padres' scoreboard began to play "Sweet Caroline"—a tradition at Red Sox home games—but as the song approached the chorus, the videoboard switched to "Never Gonna Give You Up".<ref name="Andrews" /><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.mlb.com/cut4/padres-rick-rolled-red-sox-fans-on-sweet-caroline|title=The Padres owned Red Sox fans with a devastating Rick Roll during 'Sweet Caroline'|website=www.mlb.com|date=26 August 2019|last=Chesterston|first=Eric|access-date=7 April 2020|url-status=live|archive-date=23 April 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200423102243/https://www.mlb.com/cut4/padres-rick-rolled-red-sox-fans-on-sweet-caroline}}</ref> On 13 October 2019, during a Sunday Night NFL game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Los Angeles Chargers at the Chargers' stadium, the announcers played the beginning of the Styx song "Renegade", a standard at the Steelers' stadium, then switched to "Never Gonna Give You Up".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.behindthesteelcurtain.com/2019/10/14/20913944/the-chargers-attempted-rick-roll-of-the-pittsburgh-steelers-in-week-6-fails-miserably-renegade|title=The Chargers' attempted "Rick Roll" of the Steelers in Week 6 fails miserably|website=Behind the Steel Curatin|publisher=Vox Media|date=14 October 2019|last=Schofield|first=Dave|access-date=7 April 2020|url-status=live|archive-date=3 January 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200103050521/https://www.behindthesteelcurtain.com/2019/10/14/20913944/the-chargers-attempted-rick-roll-of-the-pittsburgh-steelers-in-week-6-fails-miserably-renegade}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|author=<!--not stated-->|url=https://www.wpxi.com/sports/nfl/pittsburgh-steelers/renegade-steelers-chargers-chargers-not-happy-that-renegade-played-during-sunday-s-game/997317115|title=Chargers not happy that 'Renegade' played during Sunday's game|work=WPXI|date=14 October 2019|access-date=7 April 2020|url-status=live|archive-date=15 February 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200215164144/https://www.wpxi.com/sports/nfl/pittsburgh-steelers/renegade-steelers-chargers-chargers-not-happy-that-renegade-played-during-sunday-s-game/997317115/}}</ref>
====2020s resurgence==== Rickrolling saw a significant resurgence online in the 2020s, during the COVID-19 pandemic.<ref name="WBUR" /> Replying to a Reddit post by Astley in June 2020, a user, u/theMalleableDuck, claimed to have met Astley backstage when they were 12 years old, but instead posted a link to the song. Astley replied with a clapping emoji, implying that he had been tricked into clicking the link.<ref name="Locker">{{Cite magazine |title=New Internet Legend Manages to Rick Roll Rick Astley |author=Melissa Locker |magazine=Time Magazine |date=18 June 2020 |quote=The trick was so seamlessly perfect that Astley had no choice but to applaud it by posting a clap emoji, and then called out the clever user in his sign off post, saying, 'u/theMalleableDuck I salute you!' |access-date=19 June 2020 |url=https://time.com/5855001/rick-roll-rick-astley/ |archive-date=18 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200618192603/https://time.com/5855001/rick-roll-rick-astley/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Marcin" /> The thread became Reddit's most upvoted post of 2020.<ref name="Marcin">{{cite news |last1=Marcin |first1=Tim |title=Rick Astley getting rickrolled was Reddit's most upvoted post in 2020 |url=https://mashable.com/article/reddit-rick-astley-rickrolled-top-post/ |access-date=14 February 2022 |publisher=Mashable |date=8 December 2020 |archive-date=14 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220114200335/https://mashable.com/article/reddit-rick-astley-rickrolled-top-post |url-status=live }}</ref> In July 2021, the YouTube video for "Never Gonna Give You Up" reached 1 billion views, becoming the fourth 1980s song to do so;<ref name="Andrews" /><ref name="Ellen" /> this had included 2.3 million views on the preceding April Fools' Day.<ref name="Andrews">{{Cite news |last=Andrews |first=Travis M. |date=10 August 2021 |title=The enduring power of Rickrolling: Rick Astley's 'Never Gonna Give You Up' surpasses a billion views on YouTube |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/08/10/rick-astley-rickroll-youtube/ |access-date=18 November 2025 |newspaper=The Washington Post}}</ref><ref name="Spangler">{{Cite web|last=Spangler|first=Todd|date=29 July 2021|title=Rick Astley's 'Never Gonna Give You Up' Rolls Past 1 Billion YouTube Views|url=https://variety.com/2021/digital/news/rick-astley-never-gonna-give-you-up-1-billion-youtube-views-1235030404/|access-date=6 September 2021|website=Variety|language=en-US|archive-date=28 December 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211228091708/https://variety.com/2021/digital/news/rick-astley-never-gonna-give-you-up-1-billion-youtube-views-1235030404/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Welch">{{Cite news |last=Welch |first=Chris |date=31 July 2021 |title=Thanks to the Rickroll, 'Never Gonna Give You Up' hits 1 billion YouTube plays |url=https://www.theverge.com/2021/7/31/22603429/rick-astley-never-gonna-give-you-up-1-billion-youtube |access-date=18 November 2025 |work=The Verge}}</ref> Astley responded in a Twitter video, "That is mind-blowing. The world is a wonderful and beautiful place, and I am very lucky."<ref name="D'Angelo">{{Cite news|last=D'Angelo|first=Bob|title=A billion rick-rolls: Rick Astley video tops 1 billion YouTube views|url=https://www.kiro7.com/news/trending/billion-rick-rolls-rick-astley-video-tops-1-billion-youtube-views/O6PREEJA55HNVGV225LYPSCACI/|access-date=29 July 2021|work=KIRO 7 News|agency=Cox Media Group National Content Desk|date=28 July 2021|language=en|archive-date=6 October 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211006235935/https://www.kiro7.com/news/trending/billion-rick-rolls-rick-astley-video-tops-1-billion-youtube-views/O6PREEJA55HNVGV225LYPSCACI/|url-status=live}}</ref> He also celebrated the event by selling signed copies of the song on vinyl, which quickly sold out.<ref name="Welch" />
In a 2021 episode of the sitcom ''Ted Lasso'', "No Weddings and a Funeral", the character Rebecca prepares to give a eulogy but instead leads the attendees in singing "Never Gonna Give You Up", rickrolling them.<ref>{{cite web | url = https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/24/arts/television/ted-lasso-recap-season-2-episode-10.html | title = 'Ted Lasso' Recap, Season 2, Episode 10: The Naked and the Dead | first = Christopher |last = Orr | date = 24 September 2021 | access-date = 28 September 2021 | work = The New York Times }}</ref> Activist Greta Thunberg performed a rickroll during an October 2021 climate-action speech at the Climate Live concert in Stockholm, in which she said, "We're no strangers to love", before being joined by another activist in singing and dancing to the song; Astley tweeted that the video was "fantastic".<ref>{{Cite web |title=Rick Astley approves Greta Thunberg's Rickrolling |last=Qureshi |first=Arusa |work=NME |date=18 October 2021 |url=https://www.nme.com/news/music/rick-astley-approves-greta-thunbergs-rickrolling-3073155 |access-date=18 October 2021 |archive-date=18 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211018195532/https://www.nme.com/news/music/rick-astley-approves-greta-thunbergs-rickrolling-3073155 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Woodyatt |first=Amy |date=18 October 2021 |title=Greta Thunberg 'Rickrolls' climate concert with crazy dance moves |url=https://www.cnn.com/2021/10/18/europe/greta-thunberg-rick-astley-intl-scli-climate |access-date=22 November 2025 |work=CNN}}</ref> Astley recreated the original video clip in a 2022 advertisement for the California State Automobile Association. Physical advertisments for the agency included QR codes to this video to rickroll the viewers.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kulp |first=Patrick |title=AAA Rickrolls Its Own Customers (in a Good Way) |url=https://www.adweek.com/commerce/rick-astley-recreates-his-iconic-music-video-for-aaa/ |access-date=20 August 2022 |website=Adweek |date=19 August 2022 |language=en-US |url-access=subscription |archive-date=27 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220927223236/https://www.adweek.com/commerce/rick-astley-recreates-his-iconic-music-video-for-aaa/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
In February 2025, in response to demands for the release of files related to the criminal investigation of Jeffrey Epstein, the Twitter account of Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee posted "#BREAKING: EPSTEIN FILES RELEASED" with a rickroll link. This post received a negative response from users, many of whom considered it inappropriate to joke about the subject,<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Houghtaling|first=Ellie Quinlan|date=27 February 2025|url=https://newrepublic.com/post/192117/gop-rick-rolls-jeffrey-epstein-files|title=GOP Rick-Rolls People Looking for Epstein Files. You Read That Right.|magazine=The New Republic|access-date=28 February 2025|archive-date=28 February 2025|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250228001737/https://newrepublic.com/post/192117/gop-rick-rolls-jeffrey-epstein-files|url-status=live}}</ref> including Republican politician Anna Paulina Luna and right-wing activist Laura Loomer.<ref name="Treisman">{{Cite news |last=Treisman |first=Rachel |date=25 February 2025 |title=What to know about the Epstein files release, from redactions to 'Rickrolling' |url=https://www.npr.org/2025/02/28/nx-s1-5312936/epstein-files-release-rickroll-backlash |access-date=18 November 2025 |work=NPR}}</ref><ref name="de Guzman" /> The post was then deleted.<ref name="Treisman" /><ref name="de Guzman">{{Cite magazine |last=de Guzman |first=Chad |date=27 February 2025 |title=Released 'Epstein Files' Disappoint Anticipators. A Republican 'Rickroll' Didn't Help |url=https://time.com/7262658/epstein-files-released-reactions-disappointment-republicans-rickroll/ |access-date=18 November 2025 |magazine=Time}}</ref>
In the final Class 12 mathematics exam of India's Central Board of Secondary Education held in March 2026, the QR code on the front of the some students' question papers linked to a rickroll, while others simply got the letter A, leading to claims that the paper was tampered or leaked.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Mohanty |first=Deebashree |date=2026-03-10 |title=Did a CBSE Maths exam QR code ‘Rickroll’ students? Internet reacts to viral claim |url=https://www.indiatoday.in/education-today/story/cbse-class-12-maths-paper-qr-code-rickroll-students-claim-link-played-rick-astley-song-2879630-2026-03-10 |access-date=2026-03-11 |website=India Today |language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260311134030/https://www.indiatoday.in/education-today/story/cbse-class-12-maths-paper-qr-code-rickroll-students-claim-link-played-rick-astley-song-2879630-2026-03-10|archive-date=2026-03-11}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=CBSE Class 12 Math paper: QR code sends users to ‘rickroll’ prank video |url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/cbse-class-12-math-paper-qr-code-sends-users-to-rickroll-prank-video/article70725410.ece |website=The Hindu |language=en-IN |date=March 10, 2026|access-date=April 4, 2026}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Kalita |first=Karishma Saurabh |date=2026-03-10 |title=CBSE clarifies viral 'Rickroll' QR code in Class 12 maths paper, says exam security intact |url=https://www.indiatoday.in/education-today/story/question-paper-genuine-security-uncompromised-cbse-after-class-xii-maths-paper-qr-code-rickrolls-students-2879720-2026-03-10 |access-date=2026-03-11 |website=India Today |language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260311043933/https://www.indiatoday.in/education-today/story/question-paper-genuine-security-uncompromised-cbse-after-class-xii-maths-paper-qr-code-rickrolls-students-2879720-2026-03-10|archive-date=2026-03-11}}</ref> The examination board clarified that the papers were not compromised and that it would ensure that this would not happen again.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2026-03-09 |title=PRESS RELEASE |url=https://www.cbse.gov.in/cbsenew/documents/Press_Release_SF_QP_10032026.pdf}}</ref>
==Mechanism== ===Forms of humour=== {{Multiple image | direction = horizontal | total_width = 340 | image1 = ROFLcon rickroll.jpg | alt1 = An attendee of a convention holds a boombox. | image2 = Rick Astley fan at SFO -noban Protest -Jan 29, 2016 (32605180225).jpg | alt2 = A person holds a cardboard sign with the words, "Never going to give you up, Never going to let you down". | footer = Rickrolling has evolved into various uses of "Never Gonna Give You Up", including playing it at events or incorporating its lyrics into unexpected contexts. }} Rickrolling is a bait-and-switch joke in which the viewer clicks a link, expecting it to be something interesting—often involving sex, video games, or cats<ref name="Husted" />{{rp|p=141}}—but is instead brought to the song "Never Gonna Give You Up" or its video.<ref name="VanHooker" /><ref name="Milner" />{{rp|p=59}}<ref name="Pailler & Schafer 2023" />{{rp|p=122}} This creates a humorous non-sequitur.<ref name="Tossell">{{cite news |last=Tossell |first=Ivor |title=They're never gonna give you up, Rick |work=The Globe and Mail |date=17 April 2008 |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080417.wgtwebeven0417/BNStory/Technology/home |access-date=18 April 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080421224905/http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080417.wgtwebeven0417/BNStory/Technology/home |archive-date=21 April 2008 |location=Toronto }}</ref> Like many memes, rickrolling is multimodal as it incorporates multiple elements—hypertext and a music video.<ref name="Milner" />{{rp|p=59}} The music video is the part of the meme that is reproduced, while the fake target of the link is the part that varies.<ref name="Nowotny & Reidy" />{{rp|p=79}} In its original form, rickrolling simply involves the unaltered music video.<ref name="Arroyo & Alaei" />{{rp|p=290}} According to an analysis by informaticists Alexander O. Smith, Jasmina Tacheva, and Jeff Hemsley, images associated with the meme show little variation as the intention is to be recognised an obvious rickroll.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Smith |first1=Alexander O. |last2=Tacheva |first2=Jasmina |last3=Hemsley |first3=Jeff |date=October 2022 |title=Visual Semantics of Memes: (Re)Interpreting Memetic Content and Form for Information Studies |journal=Proceedings of the Association for Information Science and Technology |volume=59 |issue=1 |pages=800–802 |doi=10.1002/pra2.731 |issn=2373-9231}}</ref>{{rp|p=801}}
Unlike forms of humour used in most memes, rickrolling is a prank as it creates a situation that has a victim without serious harm. However, according to cultural scholars Joanna Nowotny and Julian Reidy, a rickroll is unlike a typical prank or hoax as it is not directed toward a specific victim, while also being less physical than most pranks and less serious than most hoaxes. Nowotny and Reid further state that an online prank like rickrolling may occur spontaneously, as a physical prank cannot, and the nature of online spaces allows victims to respond, a typical feature of hoaxes but not pranks.<ref name="Nowotny & Reidy">{{Cite book |last1=Nowotny |first1=Joanna |last2=Reidy |first2=Julian |chapter=3. Humor: Von Pandememes und Wortwitzen, Humortheorien und Subversion |trans-chapter=3. Humor: On Pandemic Memes and Wordplay, Theories of Humour and Subversion |date=31 December 2022 |title=Memes - Formen und Folgen eines Internetphänomens |trans-title=Memes: The Form and Impact of an Internet Phenomenon |pages=51–110 |url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783839461242-003/html |access-date=18 November 2025 |publisher=transcript Verlag |doi=10.1515/9783839461242-003 |isbn=978-3-8394-6124-2 |lang=de |archive-date=1 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220401215950/https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783839461242-003/html |url-status=live }}</ref>{{rp|p=80–82}}
Rickrolling, like the Trollface, is a meme primarily used for trolling; in contrast with other forms of trolling, it is fun rather than offensive.<ref name="Sanfilippo et al">{{Cite journal |last1=Sanfilippo |first1=Madelyn |last2=Yang |first2=Shengnan |last3=Fichman |first3=Pnina |date=October 2017 |title=Trolling here, there, and everywhere: Perceptions of trolling behaviors in context |journal=Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology |language=en |volume=68 |issue=10 |pages=2313–2327 |doi=10.1002/asi.23902 |issn=2330-1635}}</ref>{{rp|p=2315, 2321}} According to information scholars Madelyn Sanfilippo, Pnina Fichman, and Shannon Yang, forms of trolling such as rickrolling can create humour out of a reference recognised by an ingroup, distinguishing it from non-trolling humour.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Sanfilippo |first1=Madelyn R. |last2=Fichman |first2=Pnina |last3=Yang |first3=Shengnan |date=1 January 2018 |title=Multidimensionality of online trolling behaviors |journal=The Information Society |volume=34 |issue=1 |pages=27–39 |doi=10.1080/01972243.2017.1391911 |issn=0197-2243 |url=http://iu.tind.io/record/1748 }}</ref>{{rp|p=24}} According to design scholar Ursula Murray Husted, members of the ingroup who recognise the meme respond positively to it and introduce it to newcomers by pranking them.<ref name="Husted">{{Cite thesis |last=Husted |first=Ursula Murray |title=A Funny Thing Happened on the Way from the Forum: The life and death of internet memes |date=August 2012 |access-date=22 November 2025 |degree=PhD |publisher=University of Minnesota |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/1112250392 |id={{ProQuest|1112250392}} }}</ref>{{rp|pp=166–167; 180–181}}
As a meme that has had multiple waves of popularity for over a decade, rickrolling has evolved into various forms of humour that incorporate the same song.<ref name="Milner" />{{rp|pp=75–76}} The term has been extended to the act of playing the song to interrupt a public event—as was the case with the Scientology rickrolling<ref name="Nussenbaum" />—which gives the meme a spatial component.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Pailler |first1=Fred |last2=Schafer |first2=Valérie |date=15 October 2022 |title=« Never gonna give you up »: Historiciser la viralité numérique |trans-title="Never gonna give you up": Historicizing digital virality |url=http://journals.openedition.org/rhc/3314 |journal=Revue d'histoire culturelle |issue=5 |doi=10.4000/rhc.3314 |issn=2780-4143 |lang=fr}}</ref>{{rp|p=8}} Other videos inspired by rickrolling include mashups, cover versions, and remixes of "Never Gonna Give You Up".<ref name="Husted" />{{rp|p=141}} Rickrolling also entails a phrase-based meme with the use of the song's lyrics in creative contexts,<ref name="Milner" />{{rp|p=87}} such as in a conversation.<ref name="Sanfilippo et al" />{{rp|p=2316}}
===Hyperlinking=== [[File:Rickrolling QR code.png|thumb|upright|alt=A QR code|Rickrolls may use a QR code that sends viewers to "Never Gonna Give You Up".]] Several YouTube uploads of "Never Gonna Give You Up" are used for rickrolling.<ref name="Baudry" /> The official Rick Astley channel uploaded the music video on 24 October 2009,<ref>{{cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ |title=Rick Astley - Never Gonna Give You Up |date=24 October 2009 |author=RickAstleyVEVO |access-date=2 December 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201018120157/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ |archive-date=18 October 2020 |url-status=live |website=YouTube}}</ref> its URL ending with the identifier "dQw4w9WgXcQ".<ref name="Lerner et al">{{Cite conference |last1=Lerner |first1=Ada |last2=Saxena |first2=Alisha |last3=Ouimet |first3=Kirk |last4=Turley |first4=Ben |last5=Vance |first5=Anthony |last6=Kohno |first6=Tadayashi |last7=Roesner |first7=Franziska |date=18 May 2015 |title=Analyzing the Use of Quick Response Codes in the Wild |conference=MobiSys '15: Proceedings of the 13th Annual International Conference on Mobile Systems, Applications, and Services |pages=359–374 |doi=10.1145/2742647.2742650 |doi-access=free }}</ref>{{Rp|page=369}} Computer scientists Benoit Baudry and Martin Monperrus called this "the canonical rickroll URL", being the first result for the YouTube search string <code>rick astley never gonna give you up</code>.<ref name="Baudry">{{cite conference |last1=Baudry |first1=Benoit |author-link1= |last2=Monperrus |first2=Martin |date=8 April 2022 |title=Exhaustive Survey of Rickrolling in Academic Literature |trans-title= |url=https://www.sigbovik.org/2022/proceedings.pdf |format= |conference=SIGBOVIK 2022 at Carnegie Mellon University |language= |edition= |location= |publisher= |volume= |page= |pages=189–200 |at= |bibcode= |doi= |isbn= |oclc= |id= |access-date= |quote= |conference-url= |editor= |book-title=}}</ref>{{Rp|page=190}} The oldest version of the video on YouTube was uploaded by Cotter when the meme began.<ref name="Roy" /> The website briefly removed this several times, including in February 2010 (which YouTube said was from the video being mistakenly reported),<ref name="McCarthy">{{cite news|last=McCarthy|first=Caroline|date=24 February 2010|title=YouTube gives up on original 'Rickroll'|publisher=CNET|url=http://news.cnet.com/8301-13577_3-10458847-36.html|url-status=dead|access-date=24 February 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110426024130/http://news.cnet.com/8301-13577_3-10458847-36.html|archive-date=26 April 2011}}</ref><ref name="Silverman">{{Cite web |last1=Silverman |first1=Dwight |date=24 February 2010 |title=Rickroll'd no more: Internet meme takedown! [Updated] |url=https://blog.chron.com/techblog/2010/02/rickrolld-no-more-internet-meme-takedown-updated/ |access-date=4 October 2024 |archive-date=28 January 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120128151015/https://blog.chron.com/techblog/2010/02/rickrolld-no-more-internet-meme-takedown-updated/ |website=Houston Chronicle |language=en-US}}</ref> May 2012 (caused by an antivirus software),<ref name="Milner & Phillips" /> and July 2014 (which the company did not explain);<ref name="Schneider">{{cite magazine |url=https://www.billboard.com/articles/business/digital-and-mobile/6165313/youtube-blocks-original-rickroll-video |title=YouTube Blocks Original RickRoll Video |last=Schneider |first=Marc |date=18 July 2014 |magazine=Billboard |access-date=16 September 2014 |archive-date=27 August 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140827153335/http://www.billboard.com/articles/business/digital-and-mobile/6165313/youtube-blocks-original-rickroll-video |url-status=live }}</ref> in each case, it was restored within hours, but its removal received widespread online attention.<ref name="Milner & Phillips" /> By 2014, the original, unofficial upload had 70 million views, while the official upload had 84 million.<ref name="Milner & Phillips" />
Many cases of rickrolling have occurred on forums and on social media platforms such as Twitter and Vine.<ref name="Pailler & Schafer 2023">{{Cite book |last1=Pailler |first1=Fred |last2=Schafer |first2=Valérie |chapter=Keep Calm and Stay Focused: Historicising and Intertwining Scales and Temporalities of Online Virality |date=18 December 2023 |title=Zoomland |pages=119–150 |editor-last=Armaselu |editor-first=Florentina |editor2-last=Fickers |editor2-first=Andreas |series=Studies in Digital History and Hermeneutics |publisher=De Gruyter |doi=10.1515/9783111317779-006 |doi-access=free |isbn=978-3-11-131777-9}}</ref>{{rp|p=126}} Another common way to rickroll is to use a QR code, as this hides the target until it is scanned. According to a study by Ada Lerner et al, users of the Scan app scanned codes leading to the "dQw4w9WgXcQ" URL over 1,600 times between May 2013 and March 2014.<ref name="Lerner et al" /> Authors of academic literature also include rickrolls, such as by placing them in footnotes.<ref name="Heinrichs" />{{rp|p=1382}} Baudry and Monperrus documented such cases by searching Google Scholar for "dQw4w9WgXcQ" in 2022, finding 24 instances in which an author appeared to include the URL with the intent to rickroll.<ref name="Baudry" />{{Rp|pages=189–195}}
==Analysis and impact== The meme had a positive impact on Astley's career,<ref name="Ellen" /> introducing a new group of fans to his music.<ref name="Mackie">{{Cite news |last=Mackie |first=Drew |date=6 February 2016 |title=Celebrate Rick Astley's 50th Birthday with All His Hits That Aren't 'Never Gonna Give You Up' |url=https://people.com/celebrity/rick-astleys-birthday-never-gonna-give-you-up-and-other-hits/ |access-date=21 November 2025 |work=People}}</ref> He said it caused him to like "Never Gonna Give You Up" after "15 years of not singing it".<ref name="BBC 2023" /> He also said it played a role in the reestablishment of his music career—his 2016 album ''50'', his first in over a decade, reached number one on the UK Album Chart.<ref name="Ruggieri" /> In a 2016 interview with ''Rolling Stone'', Astley said of the meme, "It's done me a lot of good, probably. The thing is it's not personal to me, even though I know it is me and it's my name in the title of Rickrolling. It's that video that I'm in, it's that song that's mine, but it could have been anybody."<ref name="ABC" /><ref name="Andrews" /><ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Newman |first=Melinda |date=24 August 2016 |title=Rick Astley on Benefits of Rickrolling, Taking Cues From Adele |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/rick-astley-on-benefits-of-rickrolling-taking-cues-from-adele-252023/ |access-date=18 November 2025 |magazine=Rolling Stone |archive-date=8 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201108095456/https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/rick-astley-on-benefits-of-rickrolling-taking-cues-from-adele-252023/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Quoted in the ''Associated Press'' in 2022, he said, "The video and the song have drifted off into the ether and become something else, and I'm ever so grateful for it."<ref name="Ellen" /><ref name="Kennedy">{{Cite news |last=Kennedy |first=Mark |date=23 June 2022 |title=Rick Astley revisits his career-making song with 'gratitude' |url=https://apnews.com/article/technology-entertainment-music-rick-astley-72dc7faf85f3e2b907df74a9a227bf52 |access-date=18 November 2025 |work=Associated Press}}</ref> After performing at Glastonbury Festival 2023, Astley said this would not have been possible "without my old songs and without the Rickrolling thing with its own little universe".<ref name="BBC 2023">{{Cite news |last=<!--not stated--> |date=17 October 2023 |title=Rick Astley: I've learned to quietly embrace Never Gonna Give You Up |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-manchester-67124061 |access-date=21 November 2025 |publisher=BBC News}}</ref> That year, ''The Observer'' writer Barbara Ellen stated that the meme gave Astley an image of being cool, unlike most late-career musicians.<ref name="Ellen">{{Cite news |last=Ellen |first=Barbara |date=31 December 2023 |title=Rick Astley: why we're never gonna give up the evergreen 80s pop idol |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/dec/31/rick-astley-80s-pop-idol-bbc-new-year-special-star-meme |access-date=18 November 2025 |work=The Observer |via=The Guardian}}</ref>
Writing for ''MEL'' magazine, Brian VanHooker attributed the use of the song to its "randomness" and its status as a decades-old hit.<ref name="VanHooker" /> Writing for ''The New Yorker'', Michael Schulman said these factors and the catchiness of the song contribute to the meme's "Dadaist humor".<ref name="Schulman">{{Cite magazine |last=Schulman |first=Michael |date=19 September 2016 |title=Did Melania Trump Rickroll America? |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/09/26/did-melania-trump-rickroll-america |access-date=18 November 2025 |magazine=The New Yorker |archive-date=24 December 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20251224031231/https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/09/26/did-melania-trump-rickroll-america |url-status=live }}</ref> Rickrolling is less negative than other pranks;<ref name="WBUR" /> unlike other media used in bait-and-switch humour, the song is inoffensive, allowing it to be used by many types of people in many situations as a friendly prank.<ref name="Milner & Phillips" /><ref name="Husted" />{{rp|pp=182–183}} Tumblr user deluxetrashqueen wrote, "Honestly, Rick Rolling is the best practical joke ever. Like, there's nothing offensive or mean spirited about it. It's just like 'Oops you thought there would be something else here but it's "Never Gonna Give You Up".' which isn't even a bad song."<ref name="Nowotny & Reidy" />{{rp|p=80}} According to communication scholars Ryan M. Milner and Whitney Phillips, rickrolling is a form of Internet folklore based on a copyrighted work; as such, participants are an example of "poachers", as defined by Michel de Certeau, whose cultures rely on the property of others.<ref name="Milner & Phillips">{{Cite web |last1=Milner |first1=Ryan M. |author-link1=Ryan M. Milner |last2=Phillips |first2=Whitney |date=29 July 2014 |title=Why we're never gonna give up on the Rickroll |url=https://theconversation.com/why-were-never-gonna-give-up-on-the-rickroll-29864 |access-date=17 November 2025 |website=The Conversation |archive-date=20 September 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250920140723/https://theconversation.com/why-were-never-gonna-give-up-on-the-rickroll-29864 |url-status=live }}</ref>
According to Milner, rickrolling is a meme that appeals to those within Internet culture but also uses elements that resonate with the general public, comparing it to Doge, a meme incorporating a picture of a dog.<ref name="Milner">{{Cite book |last=Milner |first=Ryan M. |author-link=Ryan M. Milner |title=The World Made Meme: Public Conversations and Participatory Media |date=7 October 2016 |publisher=The MIT Press |isbn=978-0-262-03499-9 |edition=1 |doi=10.7551/mitpress/9780262034999.001.0001}}</ref>{{rp|p=83}} Writing for ''Mashable'', Chloe Bryan called rickrolling "universal" as it can easily be adapted to different contexts.<ref name="Bryan" /> According to sociolinguist Danielle H. Heinrichs, some rickrolls blend humour with another genre, which she compares to the folkloric motif of the multifaceted trickster.<ref name="Heinrichs">{{Cite journal |last=Heinrichs |first=Danielle H. |date=21 October 2025 |title=Untamed tongues, wild affects, and Spanish as a world(ing) languaging|journal=International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education |volume=38 |issue=9 |pages=1371–1391 |doi=10.1080/09518398.2024.2388670 |hdl=10072/432210 |issn=0951-8398}}</ref>{{rp|p=1382}} Communication scholar Eric Harvey interprets rickrolling as making fun of the act of clicking a link for instant gratification.<ref name="Harvey" />{{rp|p=89}} Cultural scholar Tracey Potts wrote, "it is easy to see pop culture as one giant rickroll, a cultural bait-and-switch where, regardless of what we select or click on, we end up back with more of the same".<ref name="Potts">{{Cite journal |last=Potts |first=Tracey |date=1 October 2017 |title=Popular Culture |url=http://academic.oup.com/ywcct/article/25/1/125/3847633 |journal=The Year's Work in Critical and Cultural Theory |volume=25 |issue=1 |pages=125–144 |doi=10.1093/ywcct/mbx007 |issn=1077-4254}}</ref>{{rp|p=143}}
Blogger David Griner of ''Adfreak.com'' said in 2008 that rickrolling was the "perfect example of a viral video because the definition of one is something that gets out and is uncontrollable".<ref name="Friedman" /> ''Mashable''{{`s}} Bryan wrote in 2017 that, although the rickroll is no longer popular, this works in favour of the prank as victims are less likely to expect it.<ref name="Bryan">{{Cite news |last=Bryan |first=Chloe |date=1 April 2017 |title=Never gonna give you up: The surprising resilience of the Rickroll, 10 years later |url=https://mashable.com/article/history-of-rickroll-meme |access-date=18 November 2025 |work=Mashable}}</ref> Caldwell of ''Know Your Meme'' said in 2020, "It seems like the volume of memes these days means that none of them have any longevity, but for Rickrolling, it's such an old meme that it's like an 'old-school' Internet reference. It's nostalgic."<ref name="VanHooker" /> Cotter expressed this sentiment in the description of his YouTube upload: "as long as trolls are still trolling, the Rick will never stop rolling".<ref name="ABC" /><ref name="Milner & Phillips" />
==See also== {{Portal|Internet}} * List of Internet phenomena * List of practical joke topics * Sandstorm (instrumental), an instrumental piece by Finnish DJ Darude that has become the subject of a similar Internet meme. * Trololo, another song used as a meme, known as the "Russian Rickroll"
==Notes== {{Notelist}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * {{YouTube|dQw4w9WgXcQ|Rick Astley – "Never Gonna Give You Up" (official video) (4K Remaster)}}
{{Rick Astley}} {{internet slang}} {{4chan}} {{Sister project bar|d=Q695677|c=Category:Rickrolling|wikt=rickroll|n=no|b=no|v=no|voy=no|s=no|species=no|q=no|m=no|mw=no}}
Category:2000s in Internet culture Category:2000s neologisms Category:2007 neologisms Category:2007 YouTube videos Category:2010s in Internet culture Category:2020s in Internet culture Category:4chan phenomena Category:Internet memes introduced from the United Kingdom Category:Internet memes introduced in 2007 Category:Internet trolling Category:Pop music Category:Practical jokes Category:Rick Astley Category:Viral videos Category:Culture of YouTube