THE FRUITS OF SUCCESS: Chopstick Brothers perform Little Apple at the 17th Shanghai International Film Festival on June 21 (CFP)

I rub it, rub it, rub it on the smooth floor...one step, two steps, one step, two steps, like the steps of devil.

These are some of the lyrics from the song My Skating Shoes, describing a young man finally getting his hands on his dream footwear. Clearly sung without any professional music training, frequently out of time, as well as sung with a thick accent, it blew up on the Internet, garnering over half a million views within three days and even gaining the attention of famous professional musicians from China.

Twenty-four year-old Pang Mingtao, who claims to be from Taiwan, but whom many suspect to actually be from Shaanxi Province, has carved an unlikely niche for himself.

To pay homage to the tunes, netizens have made various parodies including My Excavator, My Apartment and My Restaurant.

Ear worms

The song Little Apple, which ranked No. 1 on the recently released 2014 Divine Comedy List, has also enjoyed a similar level of viral success. With more than 1 billion hits online, the song was used as promotional material for the film Old Boys: The Way of the Dragon, a movie directed by a duo known as the Chopstick Brothers, who also wrote and sang the song. Formed in 2007, the Chopstick Brothers first became popular online in 2010 with a similarly titled short movie Old Boys.

The song became a nearly inescapable hit in China in 2014. It was played nearly everywhere and was enjoyed by Chinese citizens of all generations. Even soldiers from People's Liberation Army have made videos of themselves dancing along to the song.

"It is only once easy to hum along after listening to it," said a netizen using the handle hahajing.

Zhang Wei's Hulu Hulu Piaoer, which ranked the fifth on the list, was also made as promotion for a film—My Girlfriend Is Sick. In the video, Zhang, a 31-year old male singer, dresses up in a short, pink skirt and dances together with 48 girls dressed like Barbie dolls.

Zhang used to be the lead singer for the pop-punk band Flowers, which was formed in 1998 in Beijing when the band members were still in school. In the early years of the band, their lyrics focused more on facets of teenage life.

In 2005, the band caused a huge sensation in China with the song Xishuashua and made it onto TV as part of China Central Television's Lantern Festival Gala.

The term "divine melody" was first used to refer the song Tante, which means "uneasy" in English by a female singer Gong Linna in 2010.

Gong sang the song at the 2010 New Year Concert of Hunan Satellite TV, a local TV channel in Hunan Province. The fast-paced fusion piece soon swept China. The song possesses no lyrics, just vowel sounds. It became best known for Gong's facial expression and movements while singing the song, as she mimicked what people look like when they feel uneasy. It also combined a wide variety of traditional Chinese opera singing styles along with vocal imitations of traditional Chinese instruments.