The holiday season is a time for music. More and more often, that music is brought to you unexpectedly while shopping in a mall, eating in a food court, or visiting a museum—by a flash mob.
Flash mobs of all kinds have been a worldwide cultural staple for more than a decade. The first flash mobs were initiated as a social experiment in Manhattan in 2003 by Bill Wasik, senior editor of Harpers Magazine. He has said they “started as a kind of playful social experiment meant to encourage spontaneity and big gatherings to temporarily take over commercial and public areas simply to show that they could.” Since that time, they have become a global phenomenon.
YouTube has been tracking viewership, and lists The 10 Most Viewed Flash Mobs of All Time. Not surprisingly, many popular flash mob videos have a holiday theme.