Rick Astley’s MTV shock

Rick Astley is a shock nominee for Best Act Ever at the MTV Europe Music Awards.

The ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’ singer received his first ever nomination – 17 years after his last chart success – alongside Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Green Day, Tokio Hotel and U2.

Astley’s surprise inclusion in the category - which is voted for by MTV viewers - comes less than a year after 25 million people were tricked into watching the video of Rick’s biggest single ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’, which reached number one in 16 countries in 1987.

The promo was posted under the title of several other popular music artists on video sharing website YouTube, and the prank became known as ‘Rickrolling’.

Speaking about Astley’s inclusion in the awards, Richard Godfrey, MTV Europe Music Awards Senior Vice President, said: “The audience has spoken and MTV has been well and truly ‘Rickrolled’. This surprise nomination truly demonstrates that the MTV Europe Music Awards is the most democratically selected Awards show there is.

“Rick’s fans have obviously decided that he deserves recognition as a pop icon and no doubt they are determined to make sure he wins on the night. It’ll be interesting to see if he comes out on top.”

The finalists in the Video Star category have also been unveiled, with Madonna receiving her only nomination for ‘4 Minutes’.

She is up against last year’s awards host Snoop Dogg for ‘Sensual Seduction’, rockers 30 Seconds To Mars’ ‘A Beautiful Lie’, Weezer for ‘Pork and Beans’ and ‘L.E.S. Artistes’ by Santogold.

Fans can vote for the winners of the awards at www.mtvema.com with the winners announced at a ceremony in Liverpool on November 6.