Dance craze is the new Gangnam Style

A new viral dance craze looks set to take over from Gangnam Style at the top of the viral charts.

The Harlem Shake is taking the internet by storm, notching up tens of millions of hits in weeks.

It is based on a style of hip hop dance which has actually been around as far back as 1981, reports Metro.

But it has been given a new lease of life by the bass heavy track Harlem Shake by New York producer Baauer.

It has spawned a whole series of dance videos which all begin with a solo dancer wearing a crash helmet or mask.

He - or she - is surrounded by a group of people who do not move until the bass line drops, triggering wild scenes.

"Despite what the name suggests, the videos present a wide range of hip hop dances, including the Bernie, Twerking as well as improvisations," explains knowyourmeme.com.

A YouTube search for Harlem Shake brings up more than 15,000 videos with the most popular attracting millions of hits.

Office workers, university students and firemen have all made their own Harlem Shake videos.

Last year, Gangnam Style became the first video in YouTube history to rack up more than a billion hits.