Nyan Cat is a YouTube video uploaded in April 2011 that became an internet meme. It shows an animated pixel-art cat with a Pop-Tart for a torso flying through space and leaving a rainbow trail, set to a Japanese song (Wikipedia). The video ranked fifth on the list of most viewed YouTube videos of 2011.
Origin
- July 25, 2010, the song. The original “Nyanyanyanyanyanyanya!” was uploaded by “daniwell” to the Japanese video site Niconico and features the Vocaloid singer Hatsune Miku (Wikipedia). Nya is Japanese onomatopoeia for a cat’s call, like English “meow”.
- January 30, 2011, the cover. A user named “Momomomo” uploaded a cover using the UTAU voice Momone Momo. This is the version heard in the meme.
- April 2, 2011, the GIF. Christopher Torres of Dallas, known as “prguitarman”, posted the animation on his site LOL-Comics. Torres said two viewers of his Red Cross donation-drive livestream had suggested he draw a “Pop Tart” and a “cat”. Know Your Meme notes the original drawing was based on his own Russian Blue cat, Marty.
- April 5, 2011, the video. YouTube user “saraj00n” combined the animation with the Momomomo cover and uploaded it as “Nyan Cat”. Know Your Meme records that blogs including Memebase and BuzzFeed picked it up on April 10, and Tosh.0, CollegeHumor and G4TV on April 12.
Torres originally called it “Pop Tart Cat” but accepted the internet’s name for it: “the Internet has reached a decision to name it Nyan Cat, and I’m happy with that choice, too” (quoted by Wikipedia).
Credits at a Glance
| Element | Credit | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Song “Nyanyanyanyanyanyanya!“ | daniwell, sung by Vocaloid Hatsune Miku | July 25, 2010 (Niconico) |
| Cover used in the meme | ”Momomomo”, UTAU voice Momone Momo | January 30, 2011 |
| Animated GIF | Christopher Torres (“prguitarman”) | April 2, 2011 (LOL-Comics) |
| Real-life model | Torres’s cat Marty (died November 2012) | — |
| “Nyan Cat” video | saraj00n | April 5, 2011 (YouTube) |
All per Wikipedia.
How It Spread
Wikipedia reports that the video won the 2012 Webby Award for “Meme of the Year”. It also inspired remixes, ringtones, and games on iPhone, Android and other platforms, including the officially licensed “Nyan Cat Adventure”. Know Your Meme says the single-serving site nyan.cat launched on April 13, 2011. Wikipedia notes Torres first called that site “plagiarized” but has operated it since 2012.
The 2013 Lawsuit
In May 2013, Torres and Charles Schmidt, creator of #Keyboard Cat, sued 5th Cell and Warner Bros. for copyright and trademark infringement over their characters appearing without permission in the Scribblenauts games (Wikipedia). The suit was settled in September 2013, with Torres and Schmidt being paid for the use of the characters.
Recent Developments
- February 2021, NFT. For the meme’s upcoming 10-year anniversary, Torres auctioned a remastered edition of the GIF on the crypto art platform Foundation. Know Your Meme reported on February 19, 2021 that it went to an anonymous bidder for 300 ETH, or $587,658. See #NyanCatNFT.
- November 2023, the video goes private. According to Wikipedia, the original video had 210,009,029 views on November 9, 2023, before it was made private. It ceased to be available on the saraj00n channel, with its new location given as the NyanCat YouTube channel.