Top 20 Weirdest Things To Go Viral

Since the dawn of the internet, cat videos have consistently left people deeply fascinated. Sometimes, they don’t even need to feature real cats before they go viral, like in the case of the Nyan Cat. But when actual felines are involved, they’re practically guaranteed to become instant internet sensations. Just ask Charlie Schmidt who, in 2007, uploaded an old video of his cat, Fatso, playing the keyboard. Although Fatso had sadly passed away long before the clip hit the internet, it became immensely popular after a website began using it in so-called ‘epic fail’ montages. Fatso may be gone, but he’ll forever live on in our hearts… and our screens.

Sometimes, all it takes to become a global phenomenon are your face, a pair of shoulders and some wildly flailing arms. Shortly before YouTube debuted and revolutionized online video sharing, an unknown vlogger named Gary Brolsma uploaded a homemade clip to the website Newgrounds. In it, Brolsma lip-synced to “Dragostea Din Tei” by Moldovan pop group O-Zone, chanting the now-famous lyrics “numa numa” and waving his arms around. And just like that, one of the internet’s most-watched videos was born. The “Numa Numa” clip has since racked up a staggering 700 million views across all platforms, and landed Brolsma on TV. Nearly two decades later, he was kind enough to treat us to a nostalgic update.

It’s hard to wrap your head around why the internet clings to certain things, but it just does. Danielle Bregoli, or Bhad Bhabie, was merely a teenager when she appeared on “Dr. Phil” in September 2016, in a segment about unruly kids. Apparently, she had made her mother’s life miserable, and after the audience laughed at her, she fired back, daring them to meet her outside. But the way she said it, with that exaggerated accent, turned a simple threat into viral gold. Soon enough, song remixes of the phrase popped up, Bregoli landed a reality show, and even launched a brief music career. We can only wonder if any audience members actually met her outside.

If someone told you an Instagram post dethroned Kylie Jenner to become the most-liked picture, you’d probably think a new reality TV star had emerged. And you’d be right… well, almost. In this case, that star happened to be an egg. Yep, just a picture of a speckled brown egg. In January 2019, the account @world_record_egg posted the photo, hoping to beat Kylie Jenner’s 18.4 million likes on a picture of her daughter Stormi. Within just 10 days, the egg cracked the record, and it ultimately became the most-liked online picture across all platforms. Although it has since been unseated from the top, you can’t deny it was a pretty egg-cellent achievement.

If anyone won the internet in 2016, it was definitely Candace Payne, or as she became known around the world, the Chewbacca Mask Lady. On May 19th, Payne casually posted a video of herself on Facebook, showing off a Chewbacca mask from “Star Wars.” Little did she know that it would send the internet into a frenzy. In the clip, Payne bursts into uncontrollable laughter as the mask makes its signature sound effects. Strange as it was, her pure joy resonated with many. And by many, we mean over 140 million views, on Facebook alone. The viral sensation not only landed her a gig with the TLC, but also $400,000 worth of scholarships from Southeastern University.

It’s not everyday you encounter a dapper monkey while furniture shopping at Ikea. But that’s exactly what greeted shoppers at a Toronto store in December 2012. A male Japanese macaque named Darwin had wandered from his owner’s car and gotten lost. What really turned heads though was Darwin’s stylish shearling coat and diaper ensemble. Before long, pictures and clips of the monkey had gone viral, with everyone from talk show hosts to fashion critics weighing in on his unique look. As these posts spread, it emerged that Darwin was an exotic pet and owning him was illegal. As a result, he was surrendered to an animal sanctuary, where he still resides, probably plotting his next fashion statement.

This clip proves that the internet doesn’t need to understand something to be utterly obsessed with it. Originally shot in 1976, it features Russian baritone singer Eduard Khil vocalizing his way through a song without any real lyrics. The only recognizable word was “trololo,” which became the video’s unofficial title. In a classic case of “better late than never,” Khil became a global sensation decades later after the clip landed on YouTube in 2009. His wild gesticulations and frozen smile captivated netizens, helping the video go viral. The annoyingly catchy melody of the tune certainly didn’t hurt either. The clip’s resurgence reignited Khil’s career, leading to a comeback performance in 2011, which also went viral.

A news story involving attempted sexual assault should be taken seriously, but no one could stop laughing when they watched an Alabama news station interview Antoine Dodson. Dodson, who was recounting the story of an intruder breaking into his home and attacking his sister as she lay in her bed, became an instant Internet celebrity. People thoroughly enjoyed his dramatic rage, and the phrase “Hide your kids, hide your wife,” was suddenly everywhere! The video was such a huge hit, it became a viral autotuned song, similar to the “Ain’t Nobody Got Time for That” sensation. Still, the original news story is the one the masses got hooked on, giving “Hide your kids, hide your wife” millions of views ever since.

Normally, when a person sees a dead raccoon on the street they get grossed out, but this wasn’t the case for the citizens of Toronto. The dead raccoon quickly became known as “Conrad,” while caring Torontonians erected a memorial with flowers and candles by his remains. A vigil was held for the fallen furry friend and thousands tweeted to pay their respects. The raccoon was there for 12 hours before it was picked up by pest control, with the slow response upsetting many folks. Even then Toronto Councillor Norm Kelly tweeted in sympathy of Conrad’s short life. Who knew that a dead raccoon on a city sidewalk could bring so many people together?

Snapchat gags between high schoolers are an everyday occurrence, but for Daniel and Josh, theirs became a huge viral video. Josh started posting snaps of his buddy Daniel every day, and saying “Damn Daniel” or sometimes “Damn Daniel, back at it again with the white Vans.” That was it. The snaps caught on, so the boys decided to post a video compilation to Twitter and Vine, which quickly became a YouTube sensation, receiving over 45 million views in a week, and spawning memes and parody videos. What was it about these boys that captured our hearts? Was it Josh’s voice? Daniel’s dapper good looks? Or is “Damn Daniel” just a fun thing to say? We don’t know, but you’re still laughing.

In 2007, celebrity stan wars weren’t quite as vicious as they are today. But back then, one Britney Spears fan decided she had had enough after the pop star’s VMA performance faced relentless criticism. Cara Cunningham sat in front of a camera and tearfully begged the media and the public to “leave Britney alone!” Her intentions were good, especially with Anna Nicole Smith’s recent overdose, but the internet wasn’t feeling the same compassion. They mocked Cunningham and reshared the video until it hit over 2 million views in just one day. However, years later, with the rise of the #FreeBritney movement, Cunningham’s once-ridiculed plea became a rallying cry for the singer’s liberation.

Every detail of the Super Bowl halftime show is closely watched… just ask Janet Jackson. So when Katy Perry performed at the 2015 Super Bowl, fans everywhere couldn’t help but notice that the dancing shark on her left side seemed to be dancing to the beat of a different drummer. Memes broke out almost instantly, as people mocked the shark’s awkward freestyle. Because who doesn’t love a freestyling shark? The man behind the costume was Katy Perry’s long-time backup dancer Bryan Gaw, and according to Perry’s team, all of the left shark’s dance moves were intentional. Although, considering how subtle the shark’s off-tempo moves were, it is still up for debate.

Kids say the darndest things! Well, at least Jonathan Ware – the zombie kid who likes turtles – does. When a news reporter interviewed Jonathan about what he thought of his zombie painted face, the boy replied with a straight-faced non-sequitur “I like turtles”. Nothing more, just “I like turtles”. Maybe we loved the sheer randomness of his answer. Or perhaps it was the awkwardness of the reporter who didn’t know what to ask as a follow-up question and just walked away. But fear not! The Internet knew how to respond to Jonathan: with memes about turtles and videos parodies breaking out everywhere.

Oddly enough, this is the second entry on our list that involves someone freaking out over a pair of shoes. In this short video, Instagram user Brandon Moore asks a police officer “What are those?”, while pointing the camera to the officer’s shoes. The video was quickly reposted onto Vine, and within a few weeks it had received over 200,000 views, and had numerous parodies. The phrase “What are those?!” quickly became an urban dictionary term meaning someone without shoe game. What is it about this video that made us laugh so much? Was it the fact that he was mocking a police officer’s footwear? Whatever it was, the world loved it.

What do you get when you combine a pen, an apple and a pineapple? That’s right, a Pen-Pineapple-Apple-Pen. That may make no sense whatsoever, but that’s exactly what catapulted this clip into the stratosphere of online virality. Japanese comedian Daimaou Kosaka knew what he was doing when he created his 2016 hit “PPAP (Pen-Pineapple-Apple-Pen).” He wanted to go viral, and that’s exactly what he did. With its infectious beat and nonsensical lyrics, it was destined to become an internet sensation. The clip has since drawn over 400 million views on YouTube, bringing laughter to some, and driving others to the brink of insanity.

What’s so funny about this video clip? Deez Nuts! The video sensation with over 29 million views is a brief phone conversation between two guys: That’s it. So what made this so funny? Are we laughing with him or at him? Are we enjoying this guy’s supreme confidence at nailing such a lame joke or his sincerity at enjoying such a lame joke? We may never know; perhaps some questions are best left unanswered. According to Urban Dictionary, “Deez Nuts” is something you say to annoy or frustrate. Apparently it’s also something you say to make people laugh and watch your video over and over again!

People love looking at pictures of good-looking people; that’s why we have models. Alex was a teenage boy working a Target checkout counter in Texas, when a teenage girl found him attractive, took a picture of him, and posted it on Twitter. Another girl saw the photo and posted it on Tumblr. That’s pretty much all it took for girls everywhere to fall in love with Alex from Target. Alex went from having 144 Twitter followers to over 300,000 in just 24 hours. Other people have become famous for their appearance, such as the ridiculously photogenic guy, but he was in the middle of a race. Alex was just a guy doing his job, and maybe that’s what makes his story special.

In New York City, pizza and subway rats are famous. So, we guess it’s no surprise that the New York Pizza Rat video became an instant viral hit. It spawned memes, a popular Halloween costume, and over 10 million views on YouTube. Some would say the Pizza Rat became a symbol of what it takes to make it in New York City. People admired the rat’s resourcefulness and persistence, dragging a slice of pizza twice as big as himself down the subway stairs in the wee hours of the night. However, others argued that it also showcased just how gross the New York subway system is. Either way, people cared.

Children’s songs are designed to entertain, and sometimes educate, the little ones, mostly to keep them from causing chaos. And that’s how “Baby Shark” came to be. However, while the song has helped to placate a lot of kids, for many others around the world, it has become an absolute pain in the ear. The song possesses endlessly repetitive lyrics that are impossible to forget, whether or not you even speak English. As a result, it traversed the globe, charting in several countries, and racking up over 15 billion views. Now, it’s not just your least favorite earworm, it also holds the title as the most-viewed YouTube video of all time.

It all started when a girl posted a photo of a dress on Tumblr and asked what color it was. Oddly, it only took a few hours for practically everyone in the world to have an opinion. At one point the dress was so big, it was receiving 11,000 tweets per minute, with half the world believing the dress was blue and black, and the other half believing it was white and gold. Office productivity dropped, families were torn apart and tempers were seriously tested… we assume. No one could understand how any of it was possible. Even though the dress has been proven to be blue and black, you can still find people arguing over it.



What weird posts do you think should have gone viral, but didn’t? Let us know in the comments below.