By now it’s a given — pop icon (almost always a girl) releases a hit single, it gets in the hands of the gays, and before you go searching for remixes on LimeWire, somebody, somewhere, has uploaded their own version.

Fans have been singing along to their favorite songs and uploading the results to YouTube for years. But the video tribute — or, in some cases, step-for-step remake — is a relatively new phenomenon that exploded when Shane Mercado (followed by a slew of imitators) took on Beyoncé’s “Single Ladies.” But Mercado’s success didn’t begin and end on YouTube — talk show stints and even a red carpet date with Sasha Fierce herself followed.

And so did the gays.
 
Click to the next page to watch highlights from the many tributes, including songs by Miley Cyrus, Whitney Houston, Shakira, and Britney Spears. Some are goood, some questionable, but all of them keep us coming back for more.