Rickrolling

Rickrolling is an Internet meme and prank involving the unexpected appearance of the 1987 hit song "Never Gonna Give You Up", performed by English singer Rick Astley, or its music video. The meme is a type of bait and switch, usually using 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 4chan website 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.