The Most Popular Memes of the Decade (2011-2020)

Hand-drawn sketches, accidentally captured photos, emojis, animals. Unrepeatable moments, unique combinations. The meme easily escapes its generic definition, capturing the public's imagination and attention with things that seem absurd at first glance. At the same time, the meme evolves, and there is no more compelling proof of that than the list of the most popular ones in the last decade, courtesy of the Know Your Meme portal. There you'll find memes that will bring you one more smile, and others that were better left buried…

One of the most impressive details about memes is their flexibility. They generally respond to larger influences such as pop culture (series and/or movies), but there are cases where they operate under a very different context from the original. And within that flexibility, there is also chaos: honestly, there's no way to determine if a meme will become "famous" or not, why they disappear overnight, or on the contrary, how they resist the passage of time so well.

And time is what brings us together here today. A decade, to be more precise. The folks at Know Your Meme, a sort of "Wikipedia of memes" online, published last week a video that helps us visualize which were the most popular memes between 2011 and the first weeks of 2020. From the beginning, we spot some memes we could call "unforgettable", but the speed with which they change positions is impressive, leaving room for new/old creations.

The Early 2010s: The Rise of the Classics

In the first quarter of 2011, everything seemed to be governed by "Forever Alone", joined by two other very famous faces: "Me Gusta", and the classic "Trollface" which had a dedicated article in 2015. Memes related to "My Little Pony" also exploded, but by the end of 2011, Skyrim's "Arrow to the Knee" had conquered the Web (let's not forget that Skyrim was released in November of that year).

In early 2012, the digital world surrendered to "Ridiculously Photogenic Guy", who managed to resist the advances of other memes like "Zerg Rush", but nothing could stand in the way of the reappearance of "Slender Man" and the release of his game, "The Eight Pages". Its natural loss of popularity led to it being replaced by "Harlem Shake", and then by "Moon Moon", temporarily returning to the top spot until "Doge" finally displaced it.

The Chaotic Middle: 2014-2017

"Doge" lasted until mid-2014, and here we enter a more irregular phase. "Feeling So Attacked Right Now", "Darude - Sandstorm", the "Fappening" and the "GamerGate" scandal passed through the top spot. "Lenny Face" brought some order in 2015, lost strength against "Dat Boi", "Harambe" came and went, the "Blue Whale Challenge" surrendered to "Protec / Attac", "Ugandan Knuckles" stole the end of 2017, and then "Momo" appeared.

The Current King: Woman Yelling at a Cat

The last quarter of 2018 was not particularly interesting, but 2019 registered the blip of "Belle Delphine" with her bathtub water, and as a closing, we arrive at the current king of memes: "Woman Yelling at a Cat", a scene from The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills combined with the cat named Smudge, known for his rejection of vegetables. What comes next? It depends. I admit that Baby Yoda gained a lot of traction in recent weeks, but the competition will always remain open.