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Library/Meme & format/Hampster Dance
Grade B22 sourcesHIS-01484

Hampster Dance

Meme & format · 1998 · Notable

50Editable slideCertificate

A GeoCities hamster page drew over 2.2 million reported hits and spawned copycats.

Clip · MNRK Music Group on YouTube
Official HampsterDance: The Album artwork on the artist’s Apple Music release.
Hampton the Hampster / Boomtang Records
Hampster Dance
Wikipedia (non-free, fair use)
Hampton the Hamster "The Hamsterdance Song"
MNRK Music Group on YouTube

Spread Score

How it works
ReachNo data yetContagionNo data yetBreadth50VelocityNo data yetLongevityNo data yet50

Numbers

Milestone date
Week of Dec 25, 1999
Aug 1998 to Week of Dec 25, 1999
Platforms
5
Started on Open web
Origin
Seeded
Culture (no sector)

Mechanics

  • Response chainPrimary
  • Maker origin
  • Platform jump
  • Press loop
  • Controversy

How it spread

Trace the origin

LaCarte published a GeoCities tribute to her pet hamster. Readers shared it and made copycats. The original page logged over 2.2 million reported hits. Music adaptations and merchandise followed; a UK chart milestone anchors this timeline.

Documented milestone; not a measured attention peak. Dates use the stated precision; chart positions are date anchors.

Mar ’98OctMay ’99DecMay ’00DecNov ’01Jun ’03Apr ’05Apr ’07Feb ’09Sep ’10Open webAudioGroup chatsTVPress
Open webAudioGroup chatsTVPress

13 more events on this chart

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Timeline (16)

  1. August 1998

    Deidre LaCarte seed · Aug 1998

    Deidre LaCarte published dancing hamster GIFs and a looping tune on GeoCities.[1][2]

    Open the first post ↗

  2. February 1999

    Slashdot / CmdrTaco platform jump · Feb 9 ’99

    CmdrTaco linked The Cunctator's Hampster Dance submission on Slashdot.[3]

  3. April 1999

    The Cuban Boys platform jump · Apr 1999

    The Cuban Boys sampled the site's tune for Cognoscenti vs Intelligentsia.[4]

  1. commercial · Apr 1999

  2. platform jump · May 13 ’99

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Why it worked

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Origin
Seeded
Sector
Culture (no sector)
Region
CA
Reported figure
—
Evidence
Grade B

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New cases, every week

How the next thing spread, the week it does.