"Never Gonna Give You Up" is a song recorded by British singer and songwriter Rick Astley, released as a single on 27 July 1987.

 

It was written and produced by Stock Aitken Waterman. The song was released as the first single from Astley’s debut album, Whenever You Need Somebody (1987).

 

The song was a worldwide number-one hit, initially in the singer's native United Kingdom in 1987, where it stayed at the top of the chart for five weeks and was the best-selling single of that year. It stayed in the UK chart for almost 6 months. It eventually topped the charts in 25 countries, including the United States and West Germany. 

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The song won Best British Single at the 1988 Brit Awards. At the 1988 Ivor Novello Awards the song won in three categories, Best Selling A Side, International Hit Of The Year and Most Performed Work.

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The music video for the song has become the basis for the "Rickrolling" Internet meme, leading the song to also be referred to as "The Rickroll Song".

 

In 2008, Astley won the MTV Europe Music Award for Best Act Ever with the song, as a result of collective voting from thousands of people on the Internet, due to the popular phenomenon of Rickrolling. 

 

The song is considered Astley's signature song and it is often played at the end of his live concerts.

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In 2018 the song was recognised as having passed one million sales in the UK.