The 5 Best Viral Videos of December

This merry month brings you a holy rap battle, a presidential postapocalyptic speech and Britain's newest pop sensation — the "One-Pound Fish" man

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Ah, December. The year’s end is upon us; it’s a time to reflect and wind down. But this month in the world of viral videos, it was anything but quiet. We were serenaded by a trifecta of expertly produced music videos: a (possibly sacrilegious) rap battle, a send-up of the beloved photo-sharing social network Instagram and an unlikely singing sensation straight from the cramped markets of East London.

Muhammad Nazir’s “One-Pound Fish” video was perhaps the most shocking viral hit of December. He crafted his simple ditty to set himself apart from the competition at his fish stall in London’s Upton Park neighborhood. But a fish seller with a stellar voice and a congenial attitude is a YouTube clip waiting to happen — and Nazir became a small-time online sensation earlier this year. Enter an X Factor appearance and a bit more street cred, and Nazir now has his own high-budget music video. We hope the increased demand won’t spike the price of his fish, though.

(LIST: TIME’s Top 10 Viral Videos of 2012)

The demand is certainly strong for Epic Rap Battles, we’ve found. The same YouTube phenoms that previously put together such historic face-offs as Justin Bieber vs. Beethoven and Mitt Romney vs. Barack Obama went a couple of millennia back this time, bringing us a battle between Moses and Santa just in time for Christmas. But what made this special is that they farmed out the role of Moses to none other than Snoop Lion (formerly Snoop Dogg).

Instagram, a Mayan-apocalypse gag from one of the world’s most major heads of state, and how physics responds to these insanely frigid temperatures made up the rest of our favorite videos of the past month. May 2013 hold just as many viral hits.

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