# Rickrolling

> A link prank crossed into stadiums; Astley received over 5 million Mets song votes.

- Owner: null
- Kind: Meme & format
- Sector: Culture (no sector)
- Seed date: 2007-05-15
- Milestone date: 2008-04-01
- Date basis: Documented milestone; not a measured attention peak.
- Spread Score: 62 (Viral, provisional), v1.2
- Mechanics: Platform jump, Press loop, Response chain

## Summary

A 2007 fake trailer link turned an existing music video into a repeatable prank. YouTube adopted it in April 2008; stadium votes, flash mobs, TV and political accounts carried it beyond forums.

## Timeline

- 2007-05-15 — Shawn Cotter / cotter548 (YouTube) — Cotter uploaded RickRoll'D and linked it on 4chan as a Grand Theft Auto IV trailer.
- 2008-02-10 — Anonymous protesters (Open web) — Protesters played the song at demonstrations against Scientology.
- 2008-03-26 — WIRED / Pawl Fisher (Open web) — Reported Fisher spliced several games into a basketball Rickroll video that fooled New York Times coverage.

The full timeline, metrics and sources are on the case page, or via the Pro API (https://howitspread.com/developers).

Canonical URL: https://howitspread.com/cases/rickrolling

Cite as: How It Spread (2026). “Rickrolling.” Case HIS-01017. Spread Score v1.2: 62/100. Updated 2026-10-15. https://howitspread.com/id/HIS-01017