No, we aren’t talking about the popular Manhattan neighbourhood. And yes, if you live in the world of YouTube and viral videos you’d know exactly what we are talking about.

Harlem Shake — a popular video named after the dance move that originated in the 1980s in the US — is becoming a rage around the world, with many touting it as the next Gangnam Style.

Till Tuesday morning, the video had scored 12 million views — and counting. Gangnam Style is the world’s most viewed video at one billion hits.

Nobody knows when the craze for Harlem Shake gathered momentum, but the general view is that the 36-second clip hit bullseye when a YouTube user named ‘Filthy Frank’ super-imposed electronic music by New York-based DJ Bauer on a video of his own that shows four boys in bodysuits doing pelvic thrusts to the music.

After about 15 seconds of pelvic thrusts comes the chorus that starts with the line Do the Harlem Shake. Cue for the boys to suddenly switch to flailing their arms wildly. A few seconds later, we get to hear the only legible sentence in the whole video: ‘Con los terroristas’ (Colombian Spanish for ‘with the terrorists’).

The video doesn’t make any sense at all — but that’s the whole idea! Harlem Shake aims to be as nonsensical as possible, which is probably why the video now has many more versions, each crazier than the other.

The common theme in each video is of a bunch of people in a room lounging about or just doing their thing, while one person wearing a helmet or a mask starts thrusting his/her hips to the electronic beat playing in the background. Once the beat drops, the others in the room suddenly join him/her and start following their cue.

Each of these meme versions is generally 30-seconds long. A striking feature that is common to each meme? The performers wear outrageous costumes — Spiderman to Power Ranger to even a Sumo wrestler!

t2 picks the craziest Harlem Shake versions on YouTube

The best so far is a version by a YouTuber by the name of SunnyCoastSkate where one man in a motorbike helmet does the Harlem Shake with four of his friends.

The “Army version” takes place in freezing weather (in picture above) where a group of men form a military regiment-like formation. Once the music starts, they move crazily and switch their uniforms for props like ski-gear and red caps. One brave soul even ditches his shirt to go bare-back in the snow.

Big conglomerates have joined the bandwagon with Pepsi coming out with its own version of Harlem Shake. One lone can of Pepsi bounces to the beat in front of a desktop computer. When the beat drops, other cans and bottles join in. Gulp!

The University of Georgia’s men’s swimming team has plumbed the depths: doing pelvic thrusts underwater!

The Puppy Version is for dog lovers. A dog stands up on its legs “dancing” to the music. When the beat drops, it is joined by companions who bound about the place. Aww.