Numa Numa
The 2004 webcam clip where Gary Brolsma sits at his desk lip-syncing a Moldovan pop song with his entire upper body. One of the first videos to spread globally with no platform to spread on.
The song was O-Zone's "Dragostea Din Tei", already a hit in parts of Europe, and the clip went up on Newgrounds before YouTube existed — so its spread happened through forum links, email and copies on hundreds of sites, which is remarkable given that it still counted in the hundreds of millions of views. What made it good was the sincerity: no ironic distance, no production, just somebody who plainly thinks the song is magnificent. The attention turned out to be too much for an eighteen-year-old from New Jersey, and after a couple of interviews he withdrew entirely for a time, an early reminder that viral fame is not something you consent to. He later came back with sequels of his own and has talked about the whole thing without bitterness.