After Myspace flopped in 2008, social media platforms like Twitter, Instagram, and Reddit moved into the mainstream of the internet. These new platforms became the go-to spaces for global online communities.
With the global connection came the spread and sharing of memes. Once the internet figured out what memes were, these videos and images came to represent moments in pop culture as they spread across the internet. Images, short gifs or short video clips, memes became the main way to react on the internet.
As we hit the end of the decade, let's look back at the things on the internet that made us laugh the hardest. I've gathered 50+ memes that are a perfect representation of the 2010's. In these times, we’ve got to find our joy where we can. Here's PART ONE of the best memes of the 2010s:
Deal With It (2010)
"In June of 2010, animated GIFs with dropping sunglasses were popularized on the media sharing website Dump.fm, which promoted a 'deal with it' GIF contest one month prior. On Tumblr, the meme began spreading when Dump.fm admin jertronic posted a GIF to his personal blog in 2010. It was amplified when Tumblr users reblogged the post. In March 2011, Twitter hashtag #DealWithIt became a trending topic, in reference to Ohio State University students who displayed their support for the basketball team with 1,400 red embroidered towels that read 'DEAL WITH IT.'"
Antoine Dobson (2010)
"On the following day, Redditor panhead posted a link to the WAFF coverage on /r/Funny, where it accrued 810 upvotes, 559 points overall and 225 comments before it was archived. After the news footage was uploaded to YouTube by user Z01D1111 later that same day, Buzzfeed, Dlisted and Best Week Ever all shared the video. Over the course of the next several days, Dodson was featured in a second Best Week Ever article, Cnet News and celebrity gossip site Oh No They Didn’t among many others."
Rebecca Black's 'Friday' (2011)
"'Friday' was subsequently reblogged by other popular blogs like Tosh.0, Urlesque, Huffington Post, Buzzfeed and shared on Tumblr, Twitter, Memebase and various other discussion forums. On March 14th, 2011, "Rebecca Black" emerged to the top trending topics on Twitter. By March 15th, the video had reached over 3 million views and by March 17th it reached 10 million views with the single reaching the Top 100 on iTunes. As of March 30th, 2011, Rebecca Black's 'Friday' YouTube video officially surpassed Justin Bieber's 'Baby' in total number of user downvotes with over 1.1 million downvotes."
You Tried Star (2011)
"On Tumblr, the Gold Star reaction image is typically added at the end of a reblogged post to point out its inadequacy or shortcoming. Since gaining prominence through its usage on the site, the Gold Star has spawned numerous variations of the phrase "You Tried" as well as negative responses from other Tumblr users regarding its allegedly excessive usage."
Grumpy Cat (2012)
"The original photos of Grumpy Cat were posted to the /r/pics subreddit in 2012. The Reddit post was instantly met with photoshopped parodies and image macros from others, reaching the front page with more than 25,300 up votes in the first 24 hours. Meanwhile, the Imgur page gained nearly 1,030,000 views in the first 48 hours. The same day, three video clips of the cat playing indoors were uploaded to YouTube. The rest is history for the grumpy cat."
Crying Michael Jordan (2012)
"On April 23rd, 2012, an image macro titled "Sad Michael Jordan" was submitted to MemeCrunch, featuring a still image of Jordan crying with the caption 'Why / Did I buy the Bobcats?'" The meme continued to grow and the image of Jordan crying peaked in 2014-2015 on twitter and is still used today.
Doge (2013)
"On October 28th, 2010, a photo of Kabosu was submitted to the /r/Ads subreddit with the title 'LMBO LOOK @ THIS FUKKIN DOGE,' where it received 266 upvotes, 218 points overall and 48 comments prior to being archived. Sometime in April 2012, Tumblr user leonsumbitches uploaded an audio file of a computer reading a passage written like the commands of a turn-based adventure game about encountering a 'doge.' The passage was paired with a photo of a woman patting a dog on the head and has gained more than 33,000 notes as of July 2013. On November 20, 2013, Youtube implemented an Easter egg, that changes the text to be colored and in Comic Sans, much like the original internal-monologue style captions, when user searches the phrase 'doge mem.' On Tumblr, in addition to the captioned photos, the "doge" tag often contains images of a Shiba Inu whose facial features have been manipulated."
Side Eye Chloe (2013)
"On September 2013, YouTuber KAftC uploaded a video titled 'Lily's Disneyland Surprise… AGAIN,' which shows two sisters, Lily and Chloe, reacting to the news of a surprise trip to Disneyland on their way to school. As the older sister, Lily, breaks into tears of joy, Chloe is briefly seen on camera with a disturbed look on her face. The same month, Tumblr user Lee submitted an animated GIF photo set of highlights from the YouTube video, including one of Chloe reacting to her sister's crying, with the caption 'i just love this because chloe is like 'da hell is this girl cryin about.' In less than a month, the post gained more than 895,700 notes."
"A Potatoe Flew Around My Room" (2013)
"On October 18th, Viner lil syd from the trap uploaded a video of a potato tied to a spinning ceiling fan and accompanied by the audio track from pg bree's original video, which garnered upwards of 150,000 likes and 144,000 revines in nine days. Days later Viner KingJone$ uploaded a video clip of Frank Ocean singing 'Thinkin Bout You' with pg bree's cover rendition dubbed over the original track. Tumblr user condom submitted a post containing the phrase "A potato flew around my room before you came," which accumulated more than 230 notes in the first 24 hours. In late October 2014, there were more than 1,400 videos associated with the phrase "a potato flew around" on Vine."
"But That's None Of My Business" (2014)
"In June 2014, the @thatsnoneofmybusinesstho Instagram feed was created, which highlights pictures of Kermit the Frog with 'none of my business' captions. In the first four days, the feed gained over 130,000 followers. On the same day, Twitter users began tweeting jokes using the hashtags #NoneOfMyBusiness and #Kermit, reaching over 19,000 and 11,000 mentions in the first four days respectively according to the Twitter analytics site Topsy."
#TheDress (2015)
"On February 26th 2015, BuzzFeed posted a poll asking readers to decide what color the dress really was. Within 10 hours the poll received more than 1.8 million votes, with 72% selecting "white and gold." Later that evening, BuzzFeed published a second post revealing that the dress was actually blue after finding it available for purchase on United Kingdom-based online retailer Roman Originals, which listed it as a 'Royal-Blue Lace Detail Bodycon Dress.' In the coming days, several news sites published articles about the dress debate. Several celebrities also commented on the dress on Twitter."What Colors Are This Dress?http://t.co/IUroKmtl4g pic.twitter.com/rWGrsKfXwk
— BuzzFeed (@BuzzFeed) February 26, 2015
Why The Fuck You Lyin'(2015)
"On August 29th, 2015, Viner Nicholas Fraser uploaded a short clip titled 'That one person that's sways lying on what they own,' featuring himself listening to another person telling a lie. The clip then cut to Fraser, dancing in a backyard while singing 'Why the fuck you lyin'?' to the tune of 1997 single 'Too Close' from R&B band Next. Fraser also uploaded the clip simultaneously to his YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter accounts. That day, the video was reposted to YouTube, where it gained over 3.5 million views and 2,100 comments over the next two years."
Chrissy Teigen's Awkward Crying Face (2015)
"On January 11th, 2015, singer-songwriter John Legend and rapper Common were given the award for 'Best Original Song' for the song 'Glory' off the soundtrack for the 2014 historical drama film Selma. During the acceptance speech, Legend's wife Teigen was filmed crying while watching him speak. Immediately after the speech, the Entertainment Weekly Twitter feed posted a screen-captured image of Teigen crying. That evening, Twitter users began posting the photo of Teigen's face along with humorous captions about what could cause the expression."
Evil Kermit (2016)
"After the meme caught on to twitter, Pop culture news site Pop Sugar published a slideshow of Evil Kermit examples. That same day, Cheezburger published a post about the trending captioned images. Also on November 14th, Twitter launched a moments page for the series titled "Evil Kermit wants you to indulge in your vices." On November 15th, 2016, Redditor Hcyon1 submitted a post titled ''Evil Kermit memes are growing buy now buy now'' to the /r/MemeEconomy subreddit. Meanwhile, BuzzFeed published a listicle of Evil Kermit examples."Me: he apologized. I should just say okay & let it go.
— Brea Simone (@BreaSimone) November 14, 2016
Other me: bring up that thing that pissed you off 3 weeks ago too. Finish him. pic.twitter.com/21Q06Qhxr4
Conceited Reaction (2016)
My Mirror: *Oh, you fine as shit. Never looked better*
— BEk ⋮ (@Bekgurk) September 16, 2016
iPhone Camera: pic.twitter.com/lhOVsXbXoA
"On September 15th, 2016, Twitter user Bekgurk tweeted a GIF of Conceited from the rap battle captioned with a joke comparing how someone looks in a mirror compared to an iPhone camera. That day, Conceited retweeted the GIF, which gathered upwards of 32,500 likes and 27,400 retweets within two months. Throughout the rest of the month, image macros featuring the Conceited reaction regularly hit the front page of /r/blackpeopletwitter. On October 22nd, Redditor Black_Gotenks submitted a post noting that the "reaction face meme" of Conceited was gaining traction on Black Twitter to /r/MemeEconomy."
Confused Math Lady (2016)
"The original gif saw light use as a reaction image over the next two and a half years. It began growing in popularity around the summer of 2016. Buzzfeed Portugal included it as a reaction image in a "top post" on July 29th. A popular post on 9Gag featured four screenshots from the gif of Sorrah with math equations over her face, captioned "when she tells you she's 29 weeks pregnant." The post has over 33,000 points as of October 11th, 2016. After the math symbols were added, the image and gif surged in popularity, particularly on Brazilian parts of social media, before it grew popular worldwide."
Roll Safe (2016)
"On June 1st, 2016, the BBC Three YouTube channel uploaded a mini-documentary on the Hood Documentary series, in which the Simpson is shown pointing to his head and smiling after saying that he finds a woman 'beautiful' because 'she's got good brains,' joking that she is skilled at performing oral sex. Within eight months, the video gained over 1.04 million views and 1,300 comments. From there the screen shot became a viral meme."
Petty Skai Jakcson (2016)
"On April 4th, 2016, the actress Skai Jackson tweeted a photo of herself waiting in the green room of the New York City Fox affiliate before an appearance on the morning news show Good Day New York. The tweet received 666 retweets and 1,679 likes within the month. On April 15th, Buzzfeed explained the photo meme in an article. An image search for the original photo upload confirms thousands of instances on Twitter. The meme got more spread later in the year, after Jackson and rapper Azealia Banks exchanged words on twitter, resulting in Banks receiving a twitter suspension."
Distracted Boyfriend (2017)
"On February 23rd, 2017, Instagram user @_dekhbai_ posted the image with the caption 'Tag That Friend / Who Falls in Love Every Month.' Within seven months, the post gained over 28,500 likes. On August 19th, Twitter user @n1m161 posted the stock depicting the man staring longingly at "socialism" while "capitalism" looks on. Within 24 hours, the post gained over 31,200 points (93% upvoted) and 130 comments on /r/me_irl. In the coming days, several posts about the meme format were submitted to /r/MemeEconomy."
White Guy Blinking (2017)
"The GIF had been around for nearly two years, it was not until February 2017 that it spiked in popularity on Twitter. On February 5th, user @eksbl used it in a tweet describing his reaction in biology class, gaining nearly 50,000 retweets. In the coming week, several other tweets employing the GIF would gain tens of thousands of retweets, turning the GIF into a meme."me: ill take a biology class, im smart enough for this just watch me
— INIRO 🥕 (@eskbl) February 5, 2017
teacher: cells
me: pic.twitter.com/fHJJsPLioO
Squinting Woman (2018)
"Quickly after the image was posted to Twitter, other users began pairing it with various captions. For example, on March 19th, user @bbigga25 tweeted it with the caption "Me looking for the part in the long ass paragraph that ima reply to," gaining over 29,000 retweets and 73,000 likes. Another tweet by @UneekDiva gained over 12,000 retweets and 30,000 likes. The meme spread primarily through Black Twitter. It began seeing more attention after an example was tweeted by NFL player John Ross III on March 23rd, gaining over 30,000 retweets and 65,000 likes."When I see a white person in a red hat pic.twitter.com/EIWTXSzBTn
— Rodney (@Rodd18) March 27, 2018
And I - OOP (2019)
"On October 28th, 2015, RuPaul's Drag Race contestant Jasmine Masters uploaded a video entitled 'Jasmine Masters handle your liquor.' In the video, Masters rants about friends who become overly intoxicated when socializing. During her speech, she interrupts herself by saying 'And I--Oop.' After composing herself, Masters says, '"I just hit my balls.' Within four years, the video has received more than 149,000 views. In 2019, the "oop" clipped turned into the biggest meme of the year."Ancient Greeks after accidentally looking at Medusa pic.twitter.com/oKlv1Lt9Xx
— ☀️🌻KANSAS DAY QUAD🌻☀️ (@quaddiequad) March 17, 2019
Kombucha Girl (2019)
"On August 6th, 2019, TikTok user @brittanyt445 uploaded a video with the description 'Me trying Kombucha for the first time.' In the video, she smells a can of kombucha and declares 'it smells like a public restroom' before taking a sip, then appears to go back and forth on whether it tastes pleasant or foul. Her iconic reaction turned into a viral meme."Looking at myself naked in the mirror pic.twitter.com/qtAJympbBi
— lil adam (@MaxxAtom) August 11, 2019
"Rise and Shine" (2019)
"Kylie Jenner "Rise and Shine" is a viral video clip of Kylie Jenner waking up her daughter Stormi by singing "rise and shine" during an October 2019 YouTube video of Kylie Jenner giving a tour of the Kylie Cosmetics offices. The clip was then remixed by Twitter users and turned into ringtones due the moment's comedic delivery."4:12 am and this is sending me pic.twitter.com/cGSaDazzA4
— c (@christinajuuI) October 13, 2019
"Sorry To This Man" (2019)
"Keke Palmer "Sorry to This Man" refers to actor Keke Palmer's reaction to a photograph of Vice President Dick Cheney in which she admits that she does not recognize him. The video has been used as a reaction image and has quickly become one of the best memes of 2019.":Travels internationally:
— Octavia Butler knew... (@NotNikyatu) September 13, 2019
"Isn't that your Preside-"
Me:pic.twitter.com/PRyG4e7Xey
What are your fav memes of the decade, ONTD?
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