So Rickrolling, Rick Astley's Hit Song Now Reaches 1 Billion Views

JAKARTA – British singer-songwriter Rick Astley, who released his 1987 hit "Never Gonna Give You Up", has now passed one billion views on YouTube.

It took more than two decades after the music video was released, for it to become an Internet hit when it was used for the now popular 'Rickrolling' joke. Rickrolling requires the user to click on a disguised hyperlink which ultimately leads to a fresh music video.

Those who fell for the joke, in turn, would be "shocked." On Thursday, July 29, Astley posted a video on Twitter, thanking viewers for helping her music video reach the "amazing, crazy, and incredible" milestone.

1 BILLION views for Never Gonna Give You Up on @YouTube ! Amazing, crazy, wonderful!Rick ️https://t.co/mzyLznTr4R #NGGYU #NGGYU1Billion pic.twitter.com/p5xnn0OZcZ

— Rick Astley (@rickastley) July 28, 2021

However, Astley couldn't help but pull the joke himself either. He shared a link in a tweet that appears to take users to a page linked to his website, but instead, opens to the YouTube video itself.

"So I was just told Never Gonna Give You Up has been played a billion times on YouTube," said Astley, 55. "It was amazing. The world is a beautiful, beautiful place. And I'm so lucky."

A 2016 report by the Associated Press said Astley was initially annoyed by the idea of Rickrolling. But his daughter, Emilie, later reassured him that having a little fun was fun. This realization then helped to raise the singer's profile after years of vacant gigs.

The joke became so popular that one user even edited footage of former US President Barack Obama dancing and talking to remake the lyrics in 2008. Watch the hilarious video here. Don't be, this is one of the rickrolling installed in VOI.

Nearly 200 videos have managed to get more than one billion views on YouTube to date. The first video to reach that milestone was Psy's "Gangnam Style" in 2012. While Guns N' Roses' "Sweet Child o' Mine" was the first music video from the 1980s to hit a billion views in October 2019.