Sheet 02 · Specimen #0000035 · Internet History → Early viral videos · 1993-1997
Macarena
Spanish pop song that defined 1990s dance crazes
Rejected. It isn’t going to the Arctic.
“It spent 14 weeks at number one in 1996, mostly at weddings, before most people had an email address.”
Why Noah said no
The Macarena was a 1996 dance craze carried by radio, MTV and wedding DJs, with 14 weeks at number one in the US. It happened before most people were online, and the internet never turned it into a meme of its own. Gangnam Style is the Ark's dance craze that actually spread online.
- Rejected
- 24 Oct 2026
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- Wikipedia contributors
Found via Noah’s canon · en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macarena
What it is
A 1993 Spanish song by Los del Río that became a global hit in 1996 through an English-language remix by the Bayside Boys. The song came with a simple dance routine that people learned and performed at parties, weddings and public events, spreading the dance as much as the song itself.
Why it’s internet culture
Macarena shows how a pre-internet hit could still become a mass phenomenon through radio, MTV and word of mouth, and how a simple, teachable dance could unite people across language barriers and geography. It was one of the last major dance crazes before the internet made viral videos the primary way people learned and spread new dances.
The Macarena spread in 1996 through radio, MTV and people teaching each other the moves at weddings and parties. It shows how a dance craze travelled before the internet, which is why it sits outside this Ark.
What Noah read
"Macarena" is a song by Spanish pop duo Los del Río, originally recorded for their 1993 album A mí me gusta. A dance remix by the electropop group Fangoria was a success in Spain, and a cover version by Los del Mar became popular in Canada. Another remix by Miami-based producers the Bayside Boys, who added a section with English lyrics, expanded its popularity, initially peaking at No. 45 on the US Billboard Hot 100 in late 1995. The Bayside Boys mix enjoyed a significant revival the following year when it re-entered the Billboard Hot 100 and reached No. 1 for 14 weeks between August and November 1996. Its resurgence was aided by a dance craze that became a cultural phenomenon throughout the latter half of 1996 and early 1997. The song got the group ranked the "No. 1 Greatest One-Hit Wonder of All Time" by VH1 in 2002. In 2012, it was ranked No. 7 on Billboard's All Time Top 100. It also ranked at No. 7 on Billboard's All Time Latin Songs list. In 2023, Billboard ranked "Macarena" number 500 in their list of Best Pop Songs of All Time. All versions of the song have sold over 14 million copies worldwide, becoming one of the best-selling singles of all time. Los del Rio versions Co…
The rest wasn’t kept.
History
Rejected
“The Macarena was a 1996 dance craze carried by radio, MTV and wedding DJs, with 14 weeks at number one in the US. It happened before most people were online, and the internet never turned it into a meme of its own. Gangnam Style is the Ark's dance craze that actually spread online.”