Never Gonna Give You Up (3:31)

“Never Gonna Give You Up” is a pop song originally performed by Rick Astley. It was released as a single from Astley’s multi-million selling debut album, Whenever You Need Somebody, which was written and produced by Stock Aitken Waterman. The song was a worldwide number-one hit, initially in the singer’s native United Kingdom in 1987, where it stayed at number one for five weeks and was the best-selling single of that year. It was knocked off the UK number-one spot by M/A/R/R/S “Pump Up the Volume” who were sued by Stock Aitken Waterman using a distorted sample from their hit single “Roadblock”.

It became number one throughout Europe and hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States on March 12, 1988. It reached number one in Australia in December 1987. Soon after, the song was specifically mentioned in The Manual by hit-makers The KLF as a positive example of ‘genius’ chart pop lyrics. “Never Gonna Give You Up” is listed as the best charting single of the 1980s in Australia, by the Kent Music Report, due to its longevity in the charts. The song reached number 2 in the United World Chart, knocked-off the top spot by George Michael’s “Father Figure”.

The music video for the song has become the basis for the “Rickrolling” Internet meme.

==MUSIC VIDEO==

In the “Never Gonna Give You Up” music video, directed by Simon West, a smiling Astley sings and dances to the song in various outfits and venues in West London, sometimes accompanied by backup dancers.