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Not to be confused with the character of the same name.

Not to be confused with the character of the same name.

Nyan Cat is the name of a YouTube video uploaded in April 2011 which became an Internet meme. The video merged a Japanese pop song with an animated cartoon cat with the body of a Pop-Tart, flying through space, and leaving a rainbow trail behind it. The video ranked at number 5 on the list of most viewed YouTube videos in 2011.

The song[]

The original version of the song "Nyanyanyanyanyanyanya!" was uploaded by user "daniwellP" to the Japanese video site Nico Nico Douga on July 25, 2010. The song features the Vocaloid Hatsune Miku (初音ミク).

Popularity[]

The Nyan Cat music video reached ninth place in Business Insider's top ten viral videos of April 2011, with 7.2 million total views. The original YouTube video has received over 70 million views as of April 10, 2012 (2012 -04-10). Due to its popularity, many new remixes, parodies and cover versions have been made, some hours long. There are also ringtones, wallpapers and applications created for operating systems including Windows 7, Nokia, iPhone, iPad,[14] Android HP, webOS and Windows Phone 7. "Nyan Cat Adventure", by 21st Street Games, is an officially licensed game.

Christopher Torres criticized the website nyan.cat, which originally featured a similar-looking cat with the same background music. The site, which uses the .cat sponsored top-level domain, was described by Torres as "plagiarized". The website is now operated by Torres, and shows the authentic version of the cat.

Temporary DMCA Takedown[]

A user named "Momomomo" ("もももも") uploaded a remixed version of the song "Nyanyanyanyanyanyanya!", adding the repeating vocal sound "nyan" throughout the song, to Nico Nico Douga on January 31, 2011. The added vocal sound was created using the singing synthesizer software UTAU with the voice preset, "Momone Momo" (桃音モモ).[The UTAU voice preset, "Momone Momo", gets its name from the kanji "momo" 桃, meaning "peach", and "ne" 音, meaning "sound". The voice source used to create the Momone Momo voice was Fujimoto Momoko (藤本萌々子?), a Japanese woman who lives in Tokyo.

YouTube video[]

YouTube user "saraj00n" (whose real name is Sara) combined the cat animation with the "Momo Momo" version of the song "Nyanyanyanyanyanyanya!", and uploaded it to YouTube on April 5, 2011, three days after Torres had uploaded his animation, giving it the title "Nyan Cat".[ The video rapidly became a success after being featured on websites including G4 and CollegeHumor. Christopher Torres said: "Originally, its name was Pop Tart Cat, and I will continue to call it so, but the Internet has reached a decision to name it Nyan Cat, and I’m happy with that choice, too."

Trivia[]

  • "nyā" (にゃ) is the Japanese onomatopoeia for the sound cats make, which is the equivalent of the English language word "meow". Because of how this sounds in the Nyan Cat Theme, many think that the cat is saying "Meow Meow Meow"
  • The nyan cat was inspired by Marty, who was a russian blue cat
  • The Nyan Cat was originally called "Pop Tart Cat"
  • Many parodies, remixes and even official extra Nyans were made due to Nyan Cat's popularity (See them all on this category)
  • The nyanyanyanyanya! song was featured in Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA
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