The world that we live in does most of the talking through what we call memes. There’s always this one meme that expresses our feelings better than we can.
Memes are the new trend where even if we have to share a piece of news, it's done through a meme. Social media are filled with it. Every time a new web series or some popular meme or incident occur, the internet is flooded with a new meme, each edited and posted promoting their individual feelings.
Whether intentional or accidental, people from all around the world have hopped onto the meme trend and have found themselves in a laughter riot.
Let us take a trip down memory lane and take a look at the list of the most popular memes of all time.
1. Hide the Pain Harold
When Harold from Hungary was asked if he wanted to be a model for stock photos, he went in hoping to see himself in business websites and advertisements.
Little did he know he would blow up all over the internet as one of the most popular memes of all time.
I think we can all agree that the Harold within us, smiling with painfully sad eyes, can often be seen peeking through.
2. The Distracted Boyfriend Meme
Spanish photographer Antonio Guillem’s representation of infidelity is exactly what the world was looking for.
Used as a template for a range of distractions, starting from Netflix distracting us with our books open right in front of us to actual infidelity, this meme continues to be one of the most popular memes of all time.
3. Will Smith
While the world was adjusting to the new normal, the news of Jada Pinkett Smith’s ‘entanglement’ made everyone’s jaws drop.
The pair talked it through on the red table talk and sadly Will Smith’s reaction to his wife’s entanglement rose to the top of popular memes for the world.
4. Salt Bae Meme
Nusret Gökçe, the owner of Nusr-Et, a lavish steak house chain, gained worldwide popularity, both as a meme and as an internet personality, in the year 2017 owing to his uniquely suave way of cutting meat and sprinkling salt on top.
5. Woman Yelling at a Cat
This split-screen meme template of a woman yelling at a feline making a face in front of a plate of greens is hands down one of the most popular memes of all time.
Although merging these two images has led to eruptions of laughter all around the world, the story behind the woman screaming comes from an episode of ‘The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills’ wherein she’s addressing domestic violence that she was subjected to in the courtesy of her late ex-husband.
6. Roll Safe Meme
Reece Simpson, playing Roll Safe, the protagonist of #HoodDocumentary, a parody of documentaries based on urban culture, imparting his wisdom on a genius strategy to find a way around the obstacle became one of the most popular memes of 2017.
7. The Disappointed Man (Muhammad Sarim Akhtar)
Muhammad Sarim Akhtar’s reaction to Pakistan’s Asif Ali dropping a catch while facing Australia in the Cricket World Cup 2019 will forever remain the most popular way of expressing disappointment that leaves us speechless.
8. Evil Kermit
Remember how shows bring out a character’s angel and devil twins during a moment of dilemma? Kermit from the Muppet Show meets his evil twin is the new way of expressing how there’s always an evil Kermit figure inside us telling us to go do that thing we are skeptical about.
9. The Doge Meme
Originating in the year 2010, with a Shiba Inu named Kabosu, this meme became one of the most popular memes throughout the years and never fails to express one’s worry, judgment, or even confusion.
10. Drake Hotline Bling
With his oversized hoodies and jackets, Drake never fails to provide us with entertainment even outside songs.
In the year 2015, Drake not only gave us a new song to jam to but also gave us one of the most popular memes to date that never fails to engage the internet.
11. Laughing Leo DiCaprio
Along with captivating performances in movies that never fail to make the audience fall in love with him, Leonardo DiCaprio is a constant source of content for the netizens.
This scene from the movie Django Unchained is the perfect way of expressing contempt and ridiculing situations that call for it.
12. Cheers!
As I said, Leo never fails to deliver content to netizens. What better way to celebrate your achievements than through this perfect meme depicting Leo raising a glass to you?
13. Face Swapped Sully-Wazowski
Who would’ve thought that trying the face swap filter on Sully and Mike Wazowski from Monsters Inc would end up rising to the top of the list of popular memes?
14. Thumbs-up Crying Cat
Originating in the year 2017 on Discord, this meme has gained worldwide popularity over the year and has managed to capture the feelings of every hurt netizen showing compliance with sadness.
15. Pepe the Frog
With roots of its origin lying in a comic called Boy’s Club by Matt Furie in the year 2008, Pepe the frog has managed to climb the rungs of the ladder of popular memes to the very top.
16. The Blinking Guy
Remember that one professor in school whose words ran faster than a bullet train and one blink could land you in a complete change of scenery?
Drew Scanion, a video editor at giantbomb.com, managed to bless us netizens with the perfect meme template for such situations.
17. Rasode Mein Kaun Tha?
One of the very few things that made a worldwide lockdown bearable is Yashraj Mukhate and his take on scenes from popular Indian TV shows.
Kokila Ben with her intimidating gaze and tone managed to give us one of the most popular memes of 2020.
18. Stonks
Meme man’s representation of stocks became the perfect way of poking fun at the whole GameStop stock surge brought about by Reddit users and ended up becoming one of the most popular memes in the early months of 2021.
19. Surprised Pikachu
Whether or not you’ve watched Pokemon, you can’t deny the omnipresent love for Pikachu.
No wonder people chose to express their reactions of wondrous surprise through the perfect meme template of adorable Pikachu standing with his mouth agape.
20. Evil Patrick
Spongebob never fails to grab its rank amongst the topmost popular memes of the year.
With his eyes inverted, this image of Patrick turned out to be the perfect representation of one’s evil intentions.
21. Maro Mujhe Maro
Nothing hurts more than seeing our team losing a match, especially for die-hard cricket fans. It hits even harder when it’s India and Pakistan on the field battling it out.
Pakistan’s Momin Saqib’s jab at the fitness of the Pakistani cricket team’s players which he believes to have cost them the match became everyone’s perfect way of expressing frustration.
22. Baby Yoda
The Mandalorian, the Disney + originals series introduced the world to Grogu, a toddler from the alien species that Yoda from the Star Wars franchise belongs to.
Grogu’s resemblance to Yoda earned him the title of Baby Yoda and the world couldn’t stop ogling at his cute features, making him one of the most popular memes of 2020.
23. Ming's face
Professional Basketball player Yao Ming certainly didn’t imagine gaining worldwide popularity by accidentally hopping on the meme trend express and become the poster face of the term “Oh Please!”.
24. Ye Bik Gayi Hai Gormint
During an interview with Waqt News, a Pakistani lady from Karachi calling out the Pakistani Government on its inadequacy in fulfilling the citizens’ expectations, ended up becoming one of the most popular memes of 2016 and 2017.
25. Modi Fitness Challenge
In the year 2018, Prime Minister Narendra Modi set out to inspire the country to hop on the exercise trend but accidentally ended up hopping on the meme trend instead.
The internet couldn’t have enough of the PM’s exercise postures giving rise to an endless string of hilarious memes.
26. Change My Mind
Stephen Blake, an American-Canadian political commentator managed to become of the most popular meme templates through his segment ‘Change My Mind’ wherein he sits outside University campuses with a banner saying ‘change my mind’ following a controversial topic inviting students to give an alternate viewpoint.
27. Exit 12
This image of a car swerving off-ramp is the perfect way to express what we’re provided or tempted with instead of staying on track and moving towards the better thing.
28. Disaster Girl
Photoshop and its wonders never fail to capture attention. This image of a girl with a devilish grin photoshopped in disastrous situations implying that she has caused it became one of the most popular memes on the internet and is widely used to date.
29. Success kid
This image of Sammy Grinner eating sand became the perfect way for us netizens to express the joy of success and even won the little guy an opportunity to be on TV making him a ‘success kid’ in the true sense.
30. Be Like Bill
This one is a passive-aggressive jab at the overly opinionated social media crowds with addictive oversharing habits.
31. Squinting Fry
Philip J. Fry from Futurama gave us the perfect way of saying ‘Not sure if..’ in the year 2012 and can be seen on the internet till date as one of the most popular memes.
32. Fancy Winnie The Pooh
Gaining popularity in the year 2013 through Reddit, this one is a perfect fit for all you fellow men and women of culture always looking to fancy things up a notch.
33. Sarcastically Surprised Kirk
It’s the era of saying things we mean but don’t mean at the same time and tagging it as sarcasm.
This image of Star Trek captain Jim Kirk, surprised but not surprised, serves as the perfect poster of sarcastic bemusement for us netizens hence pushing it to the top of popular memes.
34. Shocked Tom
Whether or not we remember what our childhood was like, the one thing we can all agree with is being a fan of Tom and Jerry.
Remembering it as a cartoon series of comical nature, it came as a shock to see an expression of shock heavily laden with emotions on our beloved Tom’s face.
Nevertheless, the internet didn’t waste any time and quickly turned it into one of the most popular memes of all time.
35. Lonely Pablo Escobar
Pablo Escobar from the Netflix series Narcos, played by Wagner Moura, became the internet’s way of expressing sadness over something that is supposedly minor and we’re all here for it.
36. Bundled Up Bernie Sanders
Who would’ve thought to get popular meme content out of the US Presidential Inauguration?
In the middle of guests in fancy outfits could be seen US politician and Vermont senator Bernie Sanders bundled up in cozy winter clothing with a pair of patterned mittens who ended up becoming one of the most popular memes of 2021.
37. Binod
Originating in August 2020, with the comment Binod under YouTube videos, it remains a mystery to date as to why and how it blew up on the internet as a popular and quite annoying meme stealing the limelight from other popular memes as well as matters.
There was a video featuring funny and hilarious comments on the Slayy Point channel on Youtube from where a person named Binod commented just “Binod” on several videos and became one of the most popular memes of 2020.
38. Shehnaaz Gill
Another one of Yashraj Mukhate’s creative take on Indian TV programs, Shehnaz Gill from Bigg Boss season 13, and her dismay at receiving no reciprocation for her feelings went viral on the internet as a popular song as well as a meme.
39. Pooja, What is This Behaviour
Originating in Bigg Boss season 5, Indian TV once again proved that nothing can be at par with the entertainment it is capable of providing across all platforms. ‘Pooja, What is this behavior?’ quickly became the perfect way of reacting to disagreeable behavior and remains one of the most popular memes to date.
40. If the Monolith Had Been Found in India.
India and its unique take on things never fail to create a laughter riot.
Therefore, it didn’t come as a surprise when in contrast to using the newly discovered monolith pictures from the US as a means to advertise products like other countries, India chose to demonstrate its capability of utilizing everything to the fullest of its potential.
41. Pennywise in the Sewer
Originating from the movie It, based on Stephen King’s horror novel, this one is indeed the perfect way to express how easy it is to lure us into something in the name of our guilty pleasures.
42. Land Kara De
Vipin Sahu’s attempt at paragliding ended up being his gateway to internet popularity. His fear of heights but the determination to vlog his experience made him one of the most popular memes of 2019.
43. Spiderman Pointing at Spiderman
This scene of Spiderman pointing at a villain impersonating him gained popularity on the internet and became the perfect way to express the act of unintended similarity between two or more things.
44. Crying Michael Jordan
Sadly, Michael Jordan’s emotional speech on being inducted into basketball’s hall of fame in the year 2009 ended up winning him internet popularity as the meme symbolizing crushing defeat.
45. Is This a Pigeon?
Originating from the Japanese anime ‘The Brave Fighter of Sun Fighbird’, this meme template became widely popular in the year 2018 and remains the best way to represent people with no idea of what they’re doing but still managing to power through.
46. Gru’s Plan
Originating from the movie Despicable Me, this one is a perfect meme for people who think they got something figured out but then realize maybe not.
47. Nobody:
This text-based meme template is a jab at that part of the crowd that tends to pull an attention grab stunt by oversharing and over-emphasizing things that no one asked for.
48. Confused Math lady
I believe this particular meme needs no explanation. Renata Sorrah from the Brazilian show ‘Senhora Do Destino’ manages to perfectly express the act of being confused despite trying so hard to be otherwise.
Combined with a superimposition of mathematical formulae that never cease to haunt us, this meme is a crowd favorite to date.
49. Grumpy Cat
Tardar Sauce, more commonly known as Grumpy cat, became an internet sensation owing to the permanent grumpy appearance she wore on her face due to feline dwarfism and underbite.
Her face became a popular meme template for a variety of occasions and is still doing the rounds on the internet.
50. Me Explaining to My Mom
Last but not the least, and a personal favorite, this meme template of a girl trying to explain something to her mom sitting there clueless is exactly what I look like while trying to tell my parents why my favorite celebrity couple breaking up matters to me on a personal level.
No matter what the story behind the meme, everyone enjoys one, especially at the end of a seemingly bad day.
In a world where social media holds endless power, memes have become another way of leaving a permanent mark on people’s minds.
When I open my Instagram feed, the majority of the posts that come up are popular memes from pages that have turned the art of making funny content through memes into a means of making a coin.
Let us hope we continue to get our daily dose of laughter to keep us going through the day. Hope this would have brought a smile to your face. Do like and share with your meme buddies. Happy Laughing!
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