Miley Cyrus' "Wrecking Ball" is once again at the top of the Billboard Charts. The song first charted September 28 off the strength of its controversial music video. However, its run at the top was short lived, replaced by Lorde's "Royals" on October 12.

The song's reemergence at the top is due to a string of viral videos that have parodied the original one. The most prominent spoof came from Stephen Kardynal, who reenacted Miley's video for random people on Chatroulette and recorded their reactions. That video has over 67 million views to date. 

"Wrecking Ball" netted 18.6 million streams last week, with 67 percent coming from random videos such as Kardynal's. 29 percent came from the video's actual VEVO page, while the remaining nine percent came from non-YouTube streams (like this remix, for example).

The nine-week gap at the top for is the longest gap for a song in the Hot 100's 55-year history. The viral resurgence is similar to that of Bon Jovi's "Living On A Prayer," which several weeks ago returned to the charts thanks to a popular video on YouTube.

[via Billboard]

