# Rickrolling {%youtube iik25wqIuFo %} ---  Rickrolling, alternatively Rick-rolling or Rickroll, is a prank and an Internet meme involving an unexpected appearance of the music video for the 1987 Rick Astley song "Never Gonna Give You Up" --- ## Origin "Never Gonna Give You Up" appeared on Astley's 1987 debut album Whenever You Need Somebody. The song, his solo debut single, was a number-one hit on several international charts, including the Billboard Hot 100, Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks, and the UK Singles Chart. The accompanying music video, Astley's first, features him performing the song while dancing. --- ## Growth in 2008 [1/2]  Rickrolling started to appear in more mainstream sources during 2008, with a SurveyUSA April 2008 poll estimating that at least 18 million American adults had been rickrolled. --- ## Growth in 2008 [2/2]  By November 2008, the "Never Gonna Give You Up" video on YouTube had more than 20 million views and was considered a viral video, however Astley initially appeared indifferent to the newfound fame. --- ## Reaction [1/2]  In an interview in March 2008, Astley said that he found the rickrolling of Scientology to be "hilarious"; he also said that he will not try to capitalise on the rickroll phenomenon with a new recording or remix of his own, but that he would be happy to have other artists remix it. --- ## Reaction [2/2  According to The Register, as of 2010, Astley had only directly received $12 in performance royalties from YouTube. Although by that time the song had been played 39 million times, Astley did not compose the song and received only a performer's share of the sound recording copyright.[37] However, Astley denied those reports in 2016.[38] --- ### Thank you!