OSLO: A zany Norwegian music video originally intended as a joke was the most popular video of the year on YouTube, the website revealed Wednesday.
Since its release on September 3 the clip -- featuring people in animal costumes dancing in a forest to the refrain "What does the fox say?" -- had more than 276 million views on YouTube, the site said.
"The Fox" shot to eighth place in the popular music chart compiled by US music magazine Billboard in October, ahead of major artists such as Lady Gaga and Lana Del Rey.
It even led to a children's book deal for the Norwegian comedy duo Baard and Vegard Ylvis, who first released the music video to promote a TV comedy show.
The brothers, simply known as Ylvis, were not available to comment on their latest success, but they have previous called their unexpected viral hit a "rubbish song."
Some have compared it to the global Korean YouTube phenomenon "Gangnam Style" which still maintains a comfortable lead with more than 1.8 billion views.
However, "The Fox" is far ahead of this year's equally cheesy second contender, (95.3 million views), also from Norway: the country's national army dancing the Harlem Shake to the US electronic music artist Baauer.
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