Nyan Cat

APR 02 2011 · 12:00

Nyan Cat: the 8-bit Pop-Tart cat by Chris Torres (PRguitarman) trailing a rainbow through space, posted 2 April 2011 and looped to infinity on Tumblr Place: YouTube, then everywhere Figures: Christopher Torres (PRguitarman), animator · Momo Momo (Daniwell-P), vocaloid composer of Nyanyanyanyanyanyanya Christopher Torres, 25, posts an animation on his site PRguitarman.com on 2 April 2011: a cat with the body of a strawberry Pop-Tart, leaving a rainbow trail, flying through space, on a 12-frame loop. Three days later a YouTube user named saraj00n pairs the animation with a sped-up cover of the Japanese vocaloid song Nyanyanyanyanyanyanya by Daniwell-P. The video racks up tens of millions of views in months. Within hours of the YouTube upload the animation exists as a GIF, then as a thousand GIFs, then as a Chrome new-tab extension that plays the loop indefinitely. By July 2011 YouTube ranks it among the year's top videos. The chiptune cover loops in the background of dorm rooms across at least three continents. Video: The official canonical upload of Christopher Torres' Pop-Tart cat animation paired with the sped-up Momo Momo vocaloid cover, posted 12 April 2011, seven days after saraj00n's now-deleted original. Source of every Nyan Cat GIF in circulation.