In 2007 Rick Astley became the subject of a viral Internet meme in which an estimated 25 million Internet users were tricked into watching Rick Astley 's video `` Never Gonna Give You Up '' by posting it under the name of other popular video titles . The practice is now known as Rickrolling . After retiring from the music industry in 1993 , Astley made a comeback in 2007 when he became an Internet phenomenon , as his video for `` Never Gonna Give You Up '' became part of a popular Internet meme known as `` Rickrolling '' .