"Numa Numa" () is an

Internet meme An Internet meme, or meme (, Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''MEEM''), is a cultural item (such as an idea, behavior, or style) that spreads across the Internet, primarily through Social media, social media platforms. Internet memes manif ...

based on a video by American

vlogger A vlog (), also known as a video blog or video log, is a form of blog for which the medium is video. Vlog entries often combine embedded video (or a video link) with supporting text, images, and other metadata. Entries can be recorded in one ta ...

Gary Brolsma made after the song "

Dragostea din Tei "Dragostea din tei" (; Romanian: "Love From the Linden Tree") is a song recorded by Moldovan group O-Zone, released around July 2003 in Romania by Media Services as the lead single from their third studio album '' DiscO-Zone'' (2003). It was ...

", released by Moldovan pop group

O-Zone O-Zone is a Moldovan Eurodance group and boy band produced by Dan Bălan; originating in 1999 as a duo, which consisted of Bălan, and Petru Jelihovschi before the latter's departure. Their official trio lineup in 1999 consisted of Bălan, ...

in 2003. Brolsma's video, entitled "Numa Numa Dance", was uploaded to the website

Newgrounds Newgrounds is an American entertainment website founded by Tom Fulp in 1995 and owned by Newgrounds.com, Inc. The site hosts user-generated content such as games, films, audio, and artwork. Fulp produces in-house content at the headquarters and ...

on December 6, 2004, under the username ''Gman250'', showing Brolsma's

lip-syncing Lip sync or lip synch (pronounced , like the word ''sink'', despite the spelling of the participial forms ''synced'' and ''syncing''), short for lip synchronization, is a technical term for matching a speaking or singing person's lip movements ...

of the song with lively dance moves. The video's title is derived from the

Romanian Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language ***Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language **Romanian cuisine, traditional ...

words "" occurring in the refrain of O-Zone's song, which was the first Numa Numa-themed video to gain widespread attention. ''Numa Numa Dance'' has since spawned many parody videos, including those created for the ''New Numa Contest'', sponsored by Brolsma, which promised US$45,000 in prize money for submissions. His original video was named 41st in the 2006 broadcast of ''100 Greatest Funny Moments'' by

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. The video was featured on

's ''

Virtually Famous ''Virtually Famous'' is a British comedy panel game show most recently presented by Chris Ramsey. In each episode, two teams of three panelists compete. The teams were, in the final series, captained by Vicky Pattison and Seann Walsh. The que ...

'', and ranked No. 1 in

VH1 VH1 (originally an initialism for Video Hits One) is an American basic cable television network that launched on January 1, 1985, and is currently owned by the MTV Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global's networks division based in New Y ...

's "40 Greatest Internet Superstars" in March 2007. '' The Viral Factory'' estimated that the video had been viewed over 700 million times by November 27, 2006.

History

, ''Numa Numa Dance'' has since earned over 8,000,000 views, from which it has been reposted to hundreds of websites. A 2006

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

report claimed that ''Numa Numa Dance'' was the second most-watched viral video of all time, with 700 million views accumulated, losing out merely to the " ''Star Wars'' kid", based on page impression figures collated by

viral marketing Viral marketing is a business strategy that uses existing social networks to promote a product mainly on various social media platforms. Its name refers to how consumers spread information about a product with other people, much in the same way th ...

company '' The Viral Factory''. Brolsma received mainstream media's coverage from

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

's ''

Good Morning America ''Good Morning America'', often abbreviated as ''GMA'', is an American breakfast television, morning television program that is broadcast on American Broadcasting Company, ABC. It debuted on November 3, 1975, and first expanded to weekends wit ...

'',

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

's ''

The Tonight Show with Jay Leno ''The Tonight Show with Jay Leno'' is an American television talk show broadcast by NBC. The show is the fourth and sixth installment of ''The Tonight Show''. Hosted by Jay Leno, it aired from May 25, 1992, to May 29, 2009, replacing ''The Ton ...

'',

's ''

Best Week Ever ''Best Week Ever'' is an American comedy series created and executive produced for VH1 by Fred Graver. The series, which first aired from January 23, 2004, to June 12, 2009, is a spin-off of the '' I Love the...'' series and was renamed ''Best ...

'', with ''Numa Numa'' having been listed as No. 1 on

s ''Top 40 Internet Superstars''. ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' said that Brolsma was an "unwilling and embarrassed Web celebrity" however.Feuer & George (2005) He cancelled media appearances, but reappeared in September 2006 with a professionally produced video, ''New Numa'' or ''Numa Numa 2'', featuring a song dedicated to him by the ''Variety Beats''. This video, hosted on

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

, marked the start of the "New Numa Contest", which promised US$45,000 in prize money and a US$25,000 award to the winner. On May 23, 2008, Brolsma was featured alongside other

internet celebrities An Internet celebrity, also referred to as an Internet personality, is an individual who has acquired or developed their fame and notability on the Internet. The growing popularity of social media provides a means for people to reach a large ...

in the MV of

Weezer Weezer is an American rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1992. Since 2001, the band has consisted of Rivers Cuomo (lead vocals, guitar, keyboards), Patrick Wilson (drums, backing vocals), Brian Bell (guitar, keyboards, backing ...

's song "

Pork and Beans Pork and beans is a culinary dish that uses pork and beans as its main ingredients. Numerous variations exist, usually with more specific names, such as '' fabada asturiana'', '' olla podrida'', or American canned pork and beans. American can ...

", from their self-titled 2008 album ''

''. On December 5, 2014, Brolsma uploaded a video entitled ''Numa Numa 10-Year Reunion'' to the

. The video featured his lip-syncing of several songs, including "

Shake It Off "Shake It Off" is a song by the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift and the lead single from her fifth studio album, '' 1989'' (2014). She wrote the song with its producers, Max Martin and Shellback. Inspired by the media scrutiny on Swif ...

" by

Taylor Swift Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is an American singer-songwriter. Known for her autobiographical songwriting, artistic versatility, and Cultural impact of Taylor Swift, cultural impact, Swift is one of the Best selling artists, w ...

, "

Don't Think Twice, It's All Right "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right" is a song written by Bob Dylan in 1962 and released the following year on his album '' The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan'' and as the B-side of the single " Blowin' in the Wind". The song has been covered by several ot ...

" by Bob Dylan and "

Firework Fireworks are Explosive, low explosive Pyrotechnics, pyrotechnic devices used for aesthetic and entertainment purposes. They are most commonly used in fireworks displays (also called a fireworks show or pyrotechnics), combining a large numbe ...

" by Katy Perry. Both the original video and 10-Year Reunion video have been deleted by the moderation team of the ''Newgrounds'' over

music licensing Music licensing is the licensed use of copyrighted music. Music licensing is intended to ensure that the owners of copyrights on musical works are compensated for certain uses of their work. A purchaser has limited rights to use the work without a ...

issues. Brolsma later stated in an interview, "...I found "

Dragostea Din Tei "Dragostea din tei" (; Romanian: "Love From the Linden Tree") is a song recorded by Moldovan group O-Zone, released around July 2003 in Romania by Media Services as the lead single from their third studio album '' DiscO-Zone'' (2003). It was ...

" in another (I believe it was Japanese) flash animation with cartoon cats". On April 1, 2017, Brolsma uploaded the original video to his own YouTube channel. On November 20, 2022, an emote based on the viral dance was released in

Epic Games Epic Games, Inc. is an American Video game developer, video game and software development, software developer and video game publisher, publisher based in Cary, North Carolina. The company was founded by Tim Sweeney (game developer), Tim Sween ...

' '' Fortnite: Battle Royale'' as a collaboration with Brolsma and O-Zone. On May 11, 2023, the video was permanently deleted from the original channel, formerly ''Numa Networks'' – now named the ''Dork Daily'', on livestream due to threats of a copyright strike from Brolsma. On 11 August 2023, Brolsma released a remake of his 2004 video on his YouTube channel. As of 17 October 2024, the remake has accumulated 1,771,125 views.

Gary Brolsma

Gary William Brolsma (born January 14, 1986) is an American vlogger and musician who gained worldwide attention after posting the ''Numa Numa Dance'' video in 2004. He made appearances on

's ''

'',

's ''

The Tonight Show ''The Tonight Show'' is an American late-night talk show that has been broadcast on NBC since 1954. The program has been hosted by six comedians: Steve Allen (1954–1957), Jack Paar (1957–1962), Johnny Carson (1962–1992), Jay Leno (1992–2 ...

'' and

's ''

''. A 2006 story in ''The Believer'' explored the song's spread and global homogenization, while arguing that Brolsma's video "singlehandedly justifies the existence of webcams... It’s a movie of someone who is having the time of his life, wants to share his joy with everyone, and doesn’t care what anyone else thinks." In 2007, he was voted the Number 1 Internet Icon by

in their ''40 Greatest Internet Superstars'' list, beating the ''Star Wars'' kid who placed at Number 2. On October 15, 2007, ''

'' reported that Brolsma had collaborated on a video with

lonelygirl15 ''lonelygirl15'' is an American science fiction thriller web series created by Miles Beckett, Mesh Flinders, Greg Goodfried, and Amanda Goodfried. It was independently released on YouTube from June 16, 2006, to August 1, 2008, and was also bri ...

Glenn Rubenstein Glenn Rubenstein (born March 2, 1976) is a writer, director, and journalist based in Northern California. Journalism Rubenstein has been a columnist for the ''San Francisco Examiner'', ''Sports Illustrated'' for Kids, CNET's (now defunct) GameCen ...

, and

Chad Vader ''Chad Vader: Day Shift Manager'' is an American fan web sitcom created by Aaron Yonda and Matt Sloan, who wrote, directed, and appeared in the series, which parodies ''Star Wars''. The show's central character is Chad Vader, the day-shift manag ...

Aaron Yonda Aaron Yonda (born January 19, 1973) is an American comedian, writer, actor, director, and YouTuber from Menomonie, Wisconsin. He portrays the title character in '' Chad Vader: Day Shift Manager'', a web serial he co-produced with his friend Ma ...

and Matt Sloan as a part of

Canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the material accepted as officially written by an author or an ascribed author * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western canon, th ...

's ''Battle of the Viral Video Superstars''. In 2008, Brolsma released his first album, ''Weird Tempo''. In 2019, he released his second album, ''Haunted House of Pancakes''.

Notes

References

External links

* {{Newgrounds 2006 YouTube videos Internet memes introduced from the United States Internet memes introduced in 2004 Viral music videos 2000s viral videos American musical short films 2004 short films