Rick Astley finally joined the illustrious one billion view club on YouTube this week thanks to his iconic music video for “Never Gonna Give You Up.”
In recent years, the British pop star’s hit 1987 single — which rocketed to No. 1 in 25 countries upon its release — has been co-opted into modern meme culture thanks to the viral Rickrolling prank.
Astley took to Twitter on Wednesday to react to the news, and only had good things to say of the achievement. “So I’ve just been told that ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’ has been streamed a billion times on YouTube. That is mind-blowing. The world is a wonderful and beautiful place, and I am very lucky,” he said with a wink in a selfie video from what appears to be a lake.
To commemorate the achievement, Astley commissioned a special pressing of the single on limited edition, 7-inch blue vinyl. With only 2,500 copies made, each vinyl will be numbered and personally signed by the singer. Alas, at the time of publishing, there are no longer any copies available.
Revisit the classic video and check out the star’s reaction and special vinyl drop after the jump.
Back in February, the video for “Never Gonna Give You Up” was unofficially remastered on YouTube in 4K 60 FPS, adding new levels of details heretofore unseen in the visual’s rampantly ’80s aesthetic. Last summer, Astley also spent his quarantine making delightful cover videos, offering his acoustic take on everything from the Foo Fighters’ “Everlong” to Post Malone’s “Better Now.”
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
To celebrate 1 Billion views for Never Gonna Give You Up I’m releasing a limited & numbered 7” blue vinyl of the song, 2500 of them and I’ll be signing them all! Rick ♥️https://t.co/AOVnRHFN2s
#NGGYU #NGGYU1Billion pic.twitter.com/V473EXct9a— Rick Astley (@rickastley) July 29, 2021
