Written and produced by Stock Aitken Waterman, it was released by RCA Records as the first single from Astley's debut studio album, Whenever You Need Somebody (1987), with a music video directed by Simon West.

The song became a worldwide hit, initially in the United Kingdom in 1987, where it stayed at the top of the chart for five weeks and was the best-selling single of that year.

In 2008, Astley won the MTV Europe Music Award for Best Act Ever with the song, as a result of a collective campaign by thousands of people on the Internet.

[10] Mike Stock stated that the Colonel Abrams hit "Trapped" (1985) was a big influence on "Never Gonna Give You Up", saying: "For Rick Astley's song I didn't want it to sound like Kylie or Bananarama so I looked at the Colonel Abrams track 'Trapped' and recreated that syncopated bassline in a way that suited our song.

[12] Initial mixing was done by Phil Harding, with the song's distinctive synthetic string and brass lines later added by Fairlight operator Ian Curnow.

[14][15] A review in Pan-European magazine Music & Media presented "Never Gonna Give You Up" as a "carefree and cheerful pop ditty, sung with that youthful, muscular voice".

[16] On 12 March 1988, "Never Gonna Give You Up" reached number one in the American Billboard Hot 100 chart[17] after having been played by resident DJ, Larry Levan, at the Paradise Garage in 1987.

[26] Yung Gravy's 2022 song "Betty (Get Money)" prominently interpolates "Never Gonna Give You Up"'s synthesizer riff and chorus, with Stock Aitken Waterman credited as songwriters.

[29] In 2014, Matt Dunn of WhatCulture ranked the song at number one in his "15 unforgettable Stock Aitken Waterman singles" list.

[33] In October 2023, Billboard magazine ranked "Never Gonna Give You Up" number 244 in their list of "500 Best Pop Songs of All Time".

[34] "Never Gonna Give You Up" is the subject of an Internet meme known as "rickrolling" involving misleading links (commonly shortened URLs) redirecting to the song's music video.