Best Lip Dub Videos: What Is Lip Dub and Why It Went Viral

There are moments online when something silly becomes something unforgettable. That is exactly what happened with lip dub. These fun videos mix people pretending to sing with the real track playing in the background. They often turn into giant group performances that feel like a celebration.

And some of the best lip dub videos ever made still get plenty of watch time on YouTube, even if they were filmed years ago.

A lip dub can take place anywhere as a creative way to tell a story. This can be a college campus, a workplace, a street, or even weddings. People love the idea because anyone can create one. There are no strict rules; just a good song, a camera, and excited participants.

In this article, we’ll discuss what a lip dub is, how these videos work, what makes them click among audiences, and how Murf AI fits into all of this.

Key Takeaways

• You’ll get a clear idea of what a lip dub is and why lip dub videos became such a viral trend years ago.
• You’ll see what makes the best lip dub videos special and why some are still shared online on YouTube today.
• You’ll learn how these videos bring together participants like communities and high school groups in a fun, creative video project.
• You’ll understand how planning, music selection, and filming in places like city bridges or large campuses help grab attention and make viewers want to watch.
• You’ll know how modern tools, like Murf AI, can help you create and update your own lip dub idea, while keeping the same community spirit that made the trend so big in the first place.

What Is Lip Dub?

A lip dub is a fun mix of music and movement. People silently mouth the lyrics to a song while walking, dancing, or goofing around, and the real track gets added later in editing. The magic comes from the one-take technique. The camera never cuts; it keeps gliding forward, passing through different scenes and groups of excited participants. You see the school hallway or city street unfold like a mini tour.

It feels casual and even looks effortless. But behind the scenes, there’s an entire plan.

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Why people love lipdub:

• It champions authenticity
• It celebrates real communities
• It turns everyday places into stages
• It spreads joy

The format is so easy to understand that the audience connects instantly. That connection made the trend explode years ago, and it still grabs attention today when someone does it well.

How Do Lip Dub Videos Work?

The best way to think about lip dub videos is as a moving party. Each group knows exactly when the camera will reach them. They jump in at the right moment, mouth the right words, and hype up the vibe.

Here’s how a Lip Dub Gets Filmed

• Choose a catchy song that everyone knows
• Map the camera route
• Lock down timing for each part of the track
• Dress up spaces with props, signage, and color
• Rehearse with the music playing out loud
• Shoot the whole video in one continuous take
• Add the original track afterward
• Upload to YouTube so people can watch and share

And this format opens doors. A high school lip project might capture school spirit, a workplace version can show off staff culture, or local business owners sometimes pop into frame, waving from their storefronts. People even use lip dub videos at weddings because it turns the day into something playful and unforgettable.

The point is: anyone can create one. You don’t need fancy equipment. You need teamwork and enthusiasm.

 Why Did This Viral Trend Take Off?

A lip dub looks like joy made visible. That’s why people around the world started copying the idea. They wanted their own moment of community pride.

Why audiences gravitated toward it:

• It shows real people instead of performers
• It values participation, not perfection
• It feels like a celebration of place
• It only works when people work together
• Incredible payoff with a simple production setup
• It turns normal streets, schools, or bridges into movie sets
• It brings residents together like a block party

 Take the Grand Rapids lip dub, for example. A city like Grand Rapids didn’t just make a lip dub, they went huge. The iconic Grand Rapids lipdub included thousands of locals, hometown landmarks, and even marching bands. It took place right in downtown Grand Rapids, making the city itself the star, and giving a big public thanks to everyone who helped out.

Major outlets noticed. Good Morning America and other media shared it widely. People started calling some entries the greatest music video experiences created outside Hollywood.

And when they used timeless tracks like Don McLean’s American Pie, that nostalgia hit hard.

Why the Momentum Slowed, and Why It Might Come Back

Creativity ran into reality. Copyright rights became a big hurdle. Popular songs are protected, and uploading a hit track without permission creates problems. That slowed the trend a bit over the past year.

Still, the idea is too good to disappear. People continue to find new ways to bring it back. They get permission before posting, pick music from independent artists, and use modern editing and audio tools to keep it updated.

Even now, you’ll see a lip dub pop up from a school, a city group, or a team that wants to show what community feels like. The format still inspires and makes people smile.

The Best Lip Dub Videos People Still Talk About

Some lip dub videos didn’t just go viral. They became cultural markers. Schools, cities, and entire communities stepped up to show that a simple one-take video could express everything from school pride to hometown love.

Below are the top picks that shaped the trend.

The Massive Community Showcase in Downtown Grand Rapids

This one changed the game. The Grand Rapids lipdub brought thousands of participants into one huge street takeover. The people of Grand Rapids demanded to be seen after a negative label was placed on the city. Their answer was creativity and pure confidence.

The lip dub became iconic for various reasons, including the fact that it was shot in downtown Grand Rapids in one stunning take. Further, it featured the legendary track American Pie by Don McLean.

Many viewers called it the greatest music video moment created by a community. Mainstream outlets like Good Morning America highlighted how bold it was. More than a decade later, people still watch and cheer like it’s brand new.

The Broken Arrow High School Lip dub That Went Wildly Viral

The Broken Arrow High School Lip Dub features around 3,600 students, teachers, and staff from the school, including cheerleaders, athletes, band, administrators, all lip-syncing and dancing together.

Why these lip dub videos worked was because it showed the school spirit cranked up to the max. This is something that gives future graduates something to look back on years ago with pride.

 The Lindsay LipDub

This was a full city-wide event held in Ontario, Canada. On May 31, 2012, more than 9,300 people came together on the main street of the city.

The goal was to create a massive communal video, bring exposure to the town, and set a record for the largest lip dub ever done at the time.

This shows how lip dub isn’t just for schools, but entire communities can participate.

 The Grand Valley Lipdub

This Grand Valley State University lipdub involved over 600 students and featured many campus locations, special effects like a confetti canon and smoke machine, all in a single continuous shot.

The selected song was “Come Sail Away” by Styx. The project was initially meant to mark the university’s 50th anniversary.

The video quickly went viral. It garnered tens of thousands of views in days and became an example of how lip dub can showcase community spirit, not just high-school energy.

Why Murf AI Works for Lip Dub Videos

Creators who want to turn a fun, group-driven lip dub into a polished, shareable video can use Murf's AI dubbing tool to make it happen: easy, fast, and high-quality.

What Murf AI Offers

• Realistic, human-like voices: Get these across many languages and accents. Murf provides more than 200 AI voices across 40+ languages and accents.
• Flexible voice customization: You can adjust pitch, speed, tone, emphasis, and pronunciation to match the mood of the original performance, whether it’s energetic, playful or emotional.
• Multilingual dubbing/localization: Murf Dub can automatically dub existing video/audio into various languages. That means a lip dub video made in one language can be adapted globally.
• Speed and efficiency: Instead of spending days or weeks organizing voice actors, recording, editing, Murf lets you dub in hours. The tool is 30× faster than traditional dubbing.
• Seamless sync with video: Murf Dub maintains original background music, sound effects, and video timestamps so you don’t have to manually adjust the timing after dubbing. That keeps the original lip dub visuals intact while replacing audio.
• Scalability and easy export: You can export dubbed videos in common formats like MP4, ready for content creator platforms like YouTube, TikTok or Instagram.

Conclusion

Lip dubs will always have a special place online. It is a format built from real people, real locations, and real joy. The best lip dub videos remind us of how communities can come together to create something that feels bigger than a single person. Whether it is a High School lip project, a full-city event like the Grand Rapids lip dub in downtown Grand Rapids, or other playful clips, the result is pure entertainment.

And with modern tech, creators can keep this trend updated without losing the heart that made it iconic years ago. Tools like Murf AI’s dubbing solution help sync voices perfectly with lip dub videos, making it easier to polish audio, reach global audiences, and keep people coming back to watch, share, and smile.