# We Are Number One > We Are Number One is a 2016 remix meme featuring Robbie Rotten, played by Icelandic actor Stefán Karl Stefánsson in LazyTown, whose YouTube parody edits raised over $151,000 for Stefánsson's cancer treatment. "We Are Number One" is a song from the Icelandic children's show *LazyTown*, performed by Stefán Karl Stefánsson as the villain Robbie Rotten. Originally airing in 2014, the song exploded into meme culture in late 2016 through an avalanche of remixes and parody edits on YouTube and SoundCloud. The meme took on a deeply personal dimension when fans learned Stefánsson had been diagnosed with cancer, turning their remix efforts into a fundraising campaign that raised over $151,000. ## Origin Composer Máni Svavarsson wrote the song, originally under the working title "Villain Number One"[1]. The track's fast tempo came at the request of *LazyTown* creator Magnús Scheving, who always wanted the show's music to be energetic. Svavarsson later said he never once heard Scheving ask for a song to be "slower"[1]. The musical style drew inspiration from "Baggy Trousers" by the band Madness[1]. The song premiered on October 3, 2014, in the 107th episode of *LazyTown*, titled "Robbie's Dream Team"[3]. Many lyrics were cut from the final version. Stefánsson joked that the unedited song would have run at least ten minutes[1]. The official music video was uploaded to the LazyTown YouTube channel on July 25, 2015, and has since pulled in over 170 million views[4]. - **Platform:** SoundCloud (first remix), YouTube / SiIvaGunner (viral spread) - **Creator:** Máni Svavarsson (composer), Stefán Karl Stefánsson (performer / Robbie Rotten), NBG (first remix), SiIvaGunner (key popularizer), Grandayy (prolific remixer) - **Date:** 2016 ## Overview The song comes from *LazyTown* episode "Robbie's Dream Team," where the show's villain Robbie Rotten tries to teach three clones of himself how to be proper bad guys. The performance is upbeat and theatrical, with Robbie running through increasingly absurd schemes to catch the hero Sportacus, all of which backfire spectacularly[4]. The music video features slapstick gags involving overhead cages, trapping pits, butterfly nets, a sugar apple, and banana peels[4]. What made "We Are Number One" so meme-friendly was its combination of catchy melody, quotable lyrics, and visually rich source material. Every frame offered something for editors to manipulate, and the song's repetitive structure made it ideal for the "word replacement remix" format that was popular at the time[4]. ## How It Spread For two years after its debut, "We Are Number One" lived quietly as just another *LazyTown* musical number. The first spark came on July 23, 2016, when the Facebook group Lazy Town Memes posted the clip, pulling in 97,000 views and 15,000 shares[3]. The real ignition happened on September 10, 2016. SoundCloud user NBG uploaded a remix titled "when montage parodies died a long time ago but u can't let go of the past," racking up 460,000 plays[3]. Three days later, the bait-and-switch YouTube channel SiIvaGunner picked up the track, disguising it as music from the game *Kirby Super Star Ultra* and uploading it as "We are Number One – LazyTown: The Video Game." That upload pulled over 3 million views[3]. November 2016 brought an explosion of creativity. On November 1st, a then-unknown creator named Grandayy uploaded his first remix, "we are waking up inside"[3]. His subsequent remixes sent his channel into orbit, eventually reaching roughly two and a half million subscribers. His biggest hit, "We Are Number One but it's woahed by Crash Bandicoot," mixed the song with the Woah meme and hit 33 million views[3]. Word replacement remixes also surged that month, with titles following the formula "We Are Number One but..." followed by some absurd modification[4]. Examples ranged from "every word is in alphabetical order" to "it's co-performed by Epic Sax Guy"[1]. The edits grew so elaborate that their full titles sometimes had to be placed in the video description[4]. The meme's emotional center shifted in October 2016 when Stefán Karl Stefánsson announced he had been diagnosed with bile duct cancer[4]. Mark Valenti, head writer for *LazyTown*, created a GoFundMe campaign to cover Stefánsson's living costs while he was unable to work[4]. Remix creators began using their videos to drive awareness and donations[2]. The campaign blew past its $100,000 goal, eventually raising over $151,000[1]. Reddit's r/dankmemes named "We Are Number One" its Meme of the Year for 2016, beating out Harambe and Pepe in the vote[2]. The Daily Dot noted that fans felt a personal connection to Stefánsson after helping fund his treatment, which likely swayed the vote toward a "feel-good" choice over more established memes[2]. ## How to Use The standard format for a "We Are Number One" meme is a remixed version of the original music video with some creative twist applied. Creators typically title their edit "We Are Number One but..." followed by the modification[4]. Common approaches include: - **Word replacement remixes**: Swap specific words with sounds, clips, or other songs. Example: "We Are Number One but every time they say 'one,' it gets faster"[3]. - **Mashups**: Blend the song with another track or meme. Grandayy's Crash Bandicoot "Woah" remix is the gold standard here[3]. - **Visual edits**: Alter the footage in some escalating or absurd way. - **Bait-and-switch**: Present the video as something else entirely, then reveal "We Are Number One" as the actual content, following SiIvaGunner's original approach[4]. The song's quotable lines, particularly "Look at this net" and the opening "Hey!", also work as standalone reaction content and image macros[3]. ## Cultural Impact The charity campaign around Stefánsson's cancer treatment turned a silly meme into something genuinely moving. Over $151,000 was raised through GoFundMe, exceeding the original $100,000 goal by more than 50%[1]. This made "We Are Number One" one of the rare memes that directly translated internet popularity into real-world financial support for its creator. Reddit's r/dankmemes choosing the song as Meme of the Year 2016 was itself a cultural moment, sparking arguments about what qualifies as a "real meme" versus a heartwarming cause[2]. The Daily Dot covered the controversy, with some voters arguing Harambe's broader cultural reach should have won[2]. The petition for a Robbie Rotten statue and the campaign to reach one million YouTube likes both showed how the meme community adopted Stefánsson as one of their own[4]. His December 2016 live performance with the original cast became a bridge between the show's creators and the internet remix culture that had given the song a second life[4]. ## Fun Facts - The song was originally called "Villain Number One" before being renamed during production[1]. - Composer Máni Svavarsson was inspired by "Baggy Trousers" by Madness when writing the track[1]. - Stefánsson first watched a meme remix of his song while on morphine in a hospital bed and loved it immediately[1]. - *LazyTown* had already produced two earlier meme-famous songs: "You Are a Pirate" (2005) and "Cooking by the Book" (2009)[1]. - A Change.org petition for a Robbie Rotten statue in Hafnarfjörður, Iceland, collected over 100,000 signatures[4]. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is "We Are Number One"? It's a song from the Icelandic children's show *LazyTown*, performed by Stefán Karl Stefánsson as the villain Robbie Rotten. It went viral in 2016 through thousands of remix videos and parody edits[4]. ### Where did "We Are Number One" come from? The song debuted in the *LazyTown* episode "Robbie's Dream Team," which aired on October 3, 2014. Composer Máni Svavarsson wrote it under the original title "Villain Number One"[1]. ### What does "We Are Number One" mean? In the show, Robbie Rotten sings the song to teach his three clones how to be villains. Online, it became a vehicle for creative remix culture and, later, a tribute to Stefánsson during his cancer battle[4]. ### How do you use "We Are Number One"? The standard format is editing the original music video with some twist, titled "We Are Number One but..." followed by the modification. Word replacements, mashups, and visual edits are all common approaches[3]. ### Is "We Are Number One" still popular? The meme peaked between late 2016 and 2018. It saw a major revival of tribute content following Stefánsson's death in August 2018[4]. As of the early 2020s, new remixes are less frequent, but the song holds a respected place in meme history. ### Who composed "We Are Number One"? Máni Svavarsson composed the song, drawing inspiration from the band Madness. The fast tempo was a request from *LazyTown* creator Magnús Scheving[1]. ### How much money did the GoFundMe raise? The campaign raised over $151,000, exceeding its original $100,000 goal by more than 50%[1]. ### Who was SiIvaGunner's role in the meme? SiIvaGunner uploaded the first major YouTube remix on September 13, 2016, disguising it as video game music from *Kirby Super Star Ultra*. The video pulled over 3 million views and was a key catalyst for the meme's spread[3]. ### Who is Grandayy? A Maltese YouTuber who built his early career almost entirely on "We Are Number One" remixes. His most popular edit, mixing the song with Crash Bandicoot's "Woah," reached 33 million views[3]. ### What happened after Stefán Karl Stefánsson died? Reddit's r/dankmemes temporarily restricted all posts to Robbie Rotten tribute memes. A fake BuzzFeed screenshot briefly sparked a "Reddit vs. BuzzFeed war" before being debunked[1]. Fans also campaigned to get the original video to one million YouTube likes[4]. ### Did "We Are Number One" chart on any music lists? Yes. Following the meme's peak, the song appeared on the Icelandic Singles Chart[4]. ### What was the live performance in December 2016? On December 11, 2016, Stefánsson performed "We Are Number One" live on Facebook with the original actors Björn Thors, Bergur Þór Ingólfsson, and Snorri Engilbertsson to thank the meme community for their donations[4]. ## References 1. [We Are Number One — Энциклопедия Руниверсалис]() 2. [Why Robbie Rotten's 'We Are Number One' Was Named 'Meme of the Year']() 3. [We Are Number One - Know Your Meme]() 4. [We Are Number One]() 5. [We Are Number One - Urban Dictionary]() --- Source: https://meme.com/memes/we-are-number-one Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library