There are always some specific events and moments each year that tend to stay with us and stick out in our memories as things that defined the year gone by. As December comes to a close, let’s take a look at some viral sensations in the world of pop culture in 2012.
Gangnam Style: Love it, or hate it, this viral video is hard to ignore. Sung by the South Korean K-Pop star Psy, Gangnam Style was posted in July 2012. Since then it has gained over a billion views and millions of ‘likes’. The video took the world by storm making Psy a global celebrity. In the singer’s own words, the song’s theme is ‘Dress classy, dance cheesy’. It is not really that easy to explain why the video became this popular, especially considering the fact that most of its viewers probably don’t even understand the lyrics. But its success can mainly be attributed to its signature horse-
riding steps and catchy tune. If nothing else it can at least be appreciated for dethroning Justin Bieber’s ‘Baby’ as the most viewed Youtube video of all time.
Ridiculously Photogenic Guy: This meme has an interesting story behind it. Taken by a photographer at a marathon in South Carolina, this candid and seemingly random picture of a runner (later identified as Zeddie Little) was uploaded on Flickr where he was tagged as the ‘Ridiculously Photogenic Guy’. It went viral soon after with over 3,00,000 views within an hour of it being posted. People all across the internet drooled over him and created numerous memes based on the picture. Zeddie Little even created a Twitter account and a Tumblr blog to answer questions from his fans, most of whom wanted to know the secret behind his attractiveness.
Grumpy cat meme: It is no secret that cats have a highly acclaimed status on the internet, with cat videos and pictures being very popular. This cat however, was unlike any other seen before. A picture of an angry looking cat nicknamed the ‘Grumpy Cat’ went viral 
after it was posted on Reddit. This meme was viewed over 10,30,000 times in the first 48 hours. The owners of the cat (whose real name is Tard) then posted videos of him on Youtube. This internet famous feline even has parody Twitter accounts like @VeryGrumpyCat and @RealGrumpyCat.
Felix Baumgartner’s supersonic sky dive video: While the reasons for other viral videos and memes may not be that clear, it is no mystery why this one became so popular. The Austrian Sky diver’s super leap from an altitude of 24 miles above the Earth’s surface was streamed live online. The video received 8 million views in a matter of minutes. No doubt the marketing of the event had a role to play, but the video itself is exhilarating to watch. Millions of people across the world held their breath as ‘Fearless Felix’ travelled faster than the speed of sound and created 3 new world records.
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