The Fox comedy-drama series Glee follows the travails of the "New Directions," a glee club at the fictional William McKinley High School of Lima, Ohio. Each week on the show, the members of New Directions perform well-known or iconic pop songs in their own style. The show debuted on May 19, 2009, and gradually built a sizable following. In 2010, it won the Golden Globe for Best TV Series - Musical or Comedy as well as the Peabody Award.

Since the show's debut in 2009, it has inspired a number of live performances by so-called "flash mobs," seemingly spontaneous public gatherings that are typically organized via social media, Twitter, text message or other real-time technological means. On April 10, 2010, a group estimated at over 1,000 people collected in multiple locations in downtown Seattle, Washington, to perform a medley of songs from the series. A variety of clips of these performances have since been uploaded to YouTube. Previous Glee flash mobs were seen in Rome, Italy and Dublin, Ireland.

The largest Glee flash mob to date, held in Downtown Seattle, Washington, was organized by a group calling itself "One Degree Events." The group also uploaded videos of the event to YouTube in the days that followed. One Degree's producer, Egan Orion, had previously orchestrated a flash mob that performed the Michael Jackson song "Beat It" on the singer's birthday in 2009. Previous flash mobs devoted to Glee in other cities throughout Europe had been planned in advance by Fox, the network that broadcasts the show.http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman2/publish/Alternative_media_43/Dancing_to_Glee_just_for_the_fun_of_it.asp

The flash mob was performed in 3 different Seattle venues - Westlake Park, Pioneer Square and the Seattle Center - giving the same performance at each location. This included 4 songs taken from the soundtrack to Glee: Journey's "Don't Stop Believing" (performed in the show's pilot episode), Credence Clearwater Revival's "Proud Mary" (a song famously covered by Tina Turner), Kanye West's "Gold Digger" and "Somebody to Love," originally by Jefferson Airplane.http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman2/publish/Alternative_media_43/Dancing_to_Glee_just_for_the_fun_of_it.asp