PewDiePie released Congratulations in 2019 during his closely followed subscriber race with Indian music label T-Series, a rivalry that had become a huge YouTube storyline. The song sarcastically congratulated T-Series on overtaking him, and its chorus and spoken lines were quickly clipped for memes, reaction videos and edits. Short excerpts spread because the joke needed little context for viewers who already knew the rivalry, and the clip has remained a shorthand for mock celebration long after the subscriber race ended.