{"id":1959567,"date":"2025-08-14T07:04:47","date_gmt":"2025-08-14T07:04:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=1959567"},"modified":"2025-08-14T07:04:47","modified_gmt":"2025-08-14T07:04:47","slug":"rick-astley-never-gonna-give-you-up-hits-1-billion-streams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/rick-astley-never-gonna-give-you-up-hits-1-billion-streams\/","title":{"rendered":"Rick Astley &#8216;Never Gonna Give You Up&#8217; hits 1 billion streams"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<div id=\"videoWrap\" class=\"spacer-large videoWrap\" style=\"position:relative\">\n<div id=\"uwVideoPlaceholder\" slot=\"placeholder\" style=\"z-index:19;width:100%;padding-bottom:56.25%;position:relative\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;right:0;bottom:0;width:100%;height:100%;z-index:2\" src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2022\/05\/10\/USAT\/d8a249f6-a7be-4781-9861-e79b13e21879-20220510_SPCL_ET_619_RICK_FINAL.jpg\"\/><\/p>\n<div class=\"vidplaybtn\" style=\"display:-moz-box;display:-ms-flexbox;display:-webkit-flex;display:flex;background-color:rgba(0,0,0,.4);border:2px solid #fff;border-radius:80px;cursor:pointer;height:80px;width:80px;position:absolute;top:50%;left:50%;transform:translate(-50%,-50%);z-index:10\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"vidplayicon\" src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/appservices\/universal-web\/universal\/icons\/icon-play-alt-white.svg\" alt=\"play\" style=\"height:40px;margin:auto 18px auto 27px;width:40px\"\/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div slot=\"videoDetails\" id=\"videoDetails\" class=\"videoDetails\" style=\"padding-top:8px;padding-bottom:8px\">\n<div id=\"videoDetailsContainer\" class=\"videoDetailsContainer\" hidden=\"\">\n<p>Watch Rick Astley&#8217;s reaction to the &#8216;Ted Lasso&#8217; funeral scene<\/p>\n<p>Ahead of his slot on New Kids on the Block&#8217;s The Mixtape tour, singer Rick Astley plays &#8217;80s trivia with USA TODAY&#8217;s Melissa Ruggieri.<\/p>\n<p>Entertain This!, USA TODAY<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>No, <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/entertainment\/music\/2022\/05\/10\/rick-astley-talks-2022-tour-ted-lasso-rickrolling\/9716800002\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Mr. Astley<\/a>, this isn&#8217;t a fake-out. You&#8217;re streaming royalty now.<\/p>\n<p>British pop star <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/entertainment\/books\/2025\/01\/21\/rick-astley-memoir-highlights\/77676712007\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Rick Astley<\/a>, whose\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/entertainment\/music\/2023\/09\/25\/one-hit-wonders-songs-we-cant-forget\/70927585007\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">inescapable &#8217;80s hit<\/a> &#8220;Never Gonna Give You Up&#8221; found an unexpected renaissance in the digital age, has joined the ranks of <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/entertainment\/music\/2023\/05\/10\/the-beatles-billion-spotify-streams-most-streamed-songs-ever\/70200833007\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Spotify&#8217;s &#8220;Billions Club,&#8221;<\/a> according to a June 2 press release. The soulful synth-pop track, taken from Astley&#8217;s 1987 debut album &#8220;Whenever You Need Somebody,&#8221; has exceeded one billion streams on the music platform.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I never could have imagined back in 1987 that &#8216;Never Gonna Give You Up&#8217; would still be going strong decades later,&#8221; Astley, 59, said in a statement. &#8220;Thanks to streaming platforms, a whole new generation has been able to discover music like mine. Reaching one billion streams is something I never dreamed of and to everyone who&#8217;s ever listened, thank you.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"related-link\"><span class=\"exclude-from-newsgate\"><strong style=\"margin-right:3px\">Rick Astley memoir: <\/strong><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/entertainment\/books\/2025\/01\/21\/rick-astley-memoir-highlights\/77676712007\/\" rel=\"noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Singer tackles Rickrolling, Dave Grohl and resurgent pop career in &#8216;Never&#8217;<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p>The song, written and produced by the all-star dance-pop production team Stock Aitken Waterman, peaked at No. 1 on the <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/artist\/rick-astley\/chart-history\/hsi\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Billboard Hot 100<\/a> for two weeks and has sold <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.riaa.com\/gold-platinum\/?tab_active=default-award&amp;se=rick+astley#search_section\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">five million copies to date<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>In the late 2000s, &#8220;Never Gonna Give You Up&#8221; received an unlikely revival when the &#8220;Rickrolling&#8221; internet meme became a viral sensation. The digital prank consists of a bait-and-switch maneuver in which someone opens a disguised hyperlink containing the music video to Astley&#8217;s song. When the individual opens the link and is confused to discover the song, they have been &#8220;Rickrolled.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Thanks to the &#8220;Rickrolling&#8221; effect, &#8220;Never Gonna Give You Up&#8221; earned tens of millions of YouTube views (the music video currently has <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">1.6 billion<\/a>), was played at various sporting events and was even referenced on X, formerly known as Twitter, by The White House during the <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/entertainment\/celebrities\/2025\/05\/02\/michelle-obama-barack-obama-divorce-rumors\/83405997007\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Barack Obama<\/a> administration.<\/p>\n<p class=\"related-link\"><span class=\"exclude-from-newsgate\"><strong style=\"margin-right:3px\">Rick Astley is no one-hit wonder, <\/strong><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/entertainment\/music\/2023\/09\/25\/one-hit-wonders-songs-we-cant-forget\/70927585007\/\" rel=\"noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">but these music stars are.<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t know how my career would have turned out without Rickrolling,&#8221; Astley reflected in his <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/entertainment\/books\/2025\/01\/21\/rick-astley-memoir-highlights\/77676712007\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">2024 memoir &#8220;Never.&#8221;<\/a> &#8220;But it would be stupid to say it hasn&#8217;t ultimately done me a lot of good.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>While &#8220;Never Gonna Give You Up&#8221; remains Astley&#8217;s signature song, his other hits include &#8220;Together Forever,&#8221; &#8220;She Wants to Dance with Me,&#8221; &#8220;Cry for Help&#8221; and &#8220;It Would Take a Strong Man.&#8221; His most recent album, 2023&#8217;s &#8220;Are We There Yet?,&#8221; <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.officialcharts.com\/charts\/albums-chart\/20231020\/7502\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">peaked at No. 2 on the charts<\/a> in his native U.K.<\/p>\n<p>Contributing: Melissa Ruggieri, USA TODAY<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><em> \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.usatoday.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Watch Rick Astley&#8217;s reaction to the &#8216;Ted Lasso&#8217; funeral scene Ahead of his slot on New Kids on the Block&#8217;s The Mixtape tour, singer Rick Astley plays &#8217;80s trivia with USA TODAY&#8217;s Melissa Ruggieri. Entertain This!, USA TODAY No, Mr. Astley, this isn&#8217;t a fake-out. You&#8217;re streaming royalty now. British pop star Rick Astley, whose\u00a0inescapable [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1959568,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25173],"tags":[39915,28769,22220,344610,21751,239390,344612,6297,21741,22240,239389,21739,298114,21800,344613,21738,30600,239343,239347,66251,21940,23083,23759,344609,313919,312400,23681,312401,22821,344611,35643,27158,239345,239344],"class_list":["post-1959567","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-artists","tag-affiliate","tag-and","tag-arts","tag-astley","tag-celebrities","tag-celebrities-u0026-entertainment-news","tag-downloads","tag-eamotion","tag-entertainment","tag-life","tag-life-now","tag-local","tag-local-affiliate-arts-u0026-entertainment","tag-music","tag-music-streams-u0026-downloads","tag-news","tag-now","tag-overall","tag-overall-positive","tag-point","tag-pop","tag-pop-music","tag-positive","tag-rick","tag-rick-astley","tag-singing","tag-songs","tag-songs-and-singing","tag-spotify","tag-streams","tag-the","tag-to","tag-to-the-point","tag-u0026"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Rick-Astley-Never-Gonna-Give-You-Up-hits-1-billion.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1959567","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1959567"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1959567\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1959568"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1959567"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1959567"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1959567"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}