1. 1. KONY 2012

   Invisible Children, a movement seeking to end the conflict in Uganda, created the film Kony 2012. They hoped it would accelerate the arrest of Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) leader Joseph Kony, who has been kidnapping and abducting Uganda’s youth for nearly three decades.

   With more than 100 million views in six days, Kony 2012 became the most viral video in history.

   The movement, however, ended quite strangely. The video’s creator, Jason Russell, was detained in the Pacific Beach neighborhood, with charges of public drunkenness and lewd behavior.

2. 2. Gangnam Style

   Gangnam Style in a nutshell:

   PSY, a South Korean rapper, singer and dancer, jams out for four minutes to an aggressively hypnotic techno track, while surrounded by horses, beautiful women, a carousel, commuters and old people. He also sings from the toilet. So naturally, the video became incredibly popular.

   According to Unruly Media, 29 million shares worth of popular. Here’s how it got so big.

   PSY quickly became a sensation, with appearances on the Today show, Saturday Night Psy quickly became a sensation, with appearances on the Today Show, Saturday Night Live and even the United Nations.

   The video even set a Guinness World Record, for the most likes ever on YouTube.

3. 3. A Dramatic Surprise on a Quiet Square

   “A Dramatic Surprise on a Quiet Street,” an ad by TNT, takes place in a “little town in Belgium” in a “square where nothing really happens.” TNT’s ad agency, Duval Guillaume Modem, placed a large red button there and invited passers-by to “Push to Add Drama.”

   The ad, which was released on April 11, has been shared over 4 million times.

4. 4. Opera duo Charlotte & Jonathan — Britain’s Got Talent 2012 audition

   A stunning opera performance by teenage singers Jonathan Antoine and Charlotte Jaconelli on Britain’s Got Talent gained more than 1.1 million views in three days.

   The heartwarming, seven-minute video shows the singing partners discussing their friendship before performing for the judges and a thrilled audience.

5. 5. Call Me Maybe

   Technically, “Call Me Maybe” didn’t come out in 2012 — the song released in Sept. 2011 in Canada, with little fanfare or airplay.

   So what happened? The Biebs happened.

   One tweet from Justin Beiber rocketed Jepsen into international web stardom. “Call Me Maybe” love (and mockery) rushed in from Harvard athletes, celebrities, half-naked models, Sesame Street‘s Cookie Monster, musicians, digital versions of Barack Obama and Mitt Romney and millions of YouTube viewers.

6. 6. Catch the Ice Dude

   This German man didn’t make quite the splash he was hoping for, when his attempted cannonball ended with a painful thud.

   The diver’s friends shared the entire frozen pool fiasco on YouTube, offering giggles for the Internet and a cautionary tale for ice acrobats.

   We hope he feels better. Who wouldn’t, after 1.5 million shares?

7. 7. Somebody That I Used to Know

   “Somebody That I Used to Know” is a smash hit itself. In fact, it’s one of YouTube’s most-viewed clips ever — it’s been shared over 17 million times.

   What we love most about it, though, is the parody and cover culture that it has spawned. Check out a ton of covers and parodies of the song here.

8. 8. Best Job

   Right before the London Olympics, Procter & Gamble released an ad praising mothers worldwide, and it’s an absolute tearjerker.

   The ad features mothers on four continents — from London, Rio de Janeiro, Los Angeles and Beijing — and shares their journeys while raising their young Olympians.

   In three days, the video received over 700,000 views on YouTube. It has been shared over 2 million times. The original video can be found here.

9. 9. Donna the Deer Lady

   Donna the Deer Lady, as she’s now known, called up a local Fargo radio station and demanded to know why the Minnesota and North Dakota departments of transportation “allow these deer crossings to be in such high traffic areas.”

   She’s since learned truth about deer crossing signs, but not before the video was uploaded to YouTube by the radio station. It went wildly viral, hitting almost 2.5 million views in only 10 days. At this point, it has been shared over 1.5 million times.

10. 10. Arrested Drunk Guy Sings Queen’s ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’

    Robert Wilkinson, a 29-year-old from Edson, AB, was arrested by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police for intoxication, and evidently he didn’t agree with the charges. After pleading his case in slurred speech, he decided to describe his ordeal by belting out Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody.

    Despite his inebriated state, Wilkinson manages to sing the entire song, accompanied by some serious headbanging and air drumming. The performance has been shared over one million times.

Read more: http://mashable.com/2012/11/19/george-takei-tumblr/