Most Popular Memes

Thousands of memes exist on the internet. After consulting several "Best Memes" lists and drawing from my own experience as a casual meme consumer, I created the following list of the 30 most popular and culturally relevant memes.

1) lolcats

Origin: 4chan

Around in current form since 2004, popularity took off in 2007 with "icanhazcheezburger"
LOLcats are image macros consisting of humorous photos of cats with superimposed text written in a form of broken English known as lolspeak (knowyourmeme.com)
Common themes include jokes of the form "Im in ur [noun], [verb]-ing ur [related noun]. Variations on the lolcat concept include captioning photos of other animals in a similar style (e.g. loldogs for dogs, etc. (wikipedia.com)
Commonly used phrases: kthxbai, nom(z), I can haz, haz, dem...

2) Boromir

Origin: ytmnd.com in 2004, evolved over next few years

The phrase “One does not simply walk into Mordor” originates from a scene in Peter Jackson’s 2001 film adaption of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. In the scene, the Council of Elrond reveals that an evil ring must be destroyed by being thrown into the fires of Mount Doom, a volcano deep in the territory of Mordor. Boromir promptly points out the difficultly of the task by saying, “One does not simply walk into Mordor." (knowyourmeme.com)

3) Scumbag Steve

Origin: 4chan, January 2011

Scumbag Steve is a guy sporting a sideways cap and standing in a hallway. He has a look on his face that pretty clearly states “I am a douche”. The text that often accompanies his image focuses on behavior that can be deemed immoral, unethical, rude, and usually illegal. (memegenerator.net)
The key feature is Steve's hat. The meme has evolved, so that any person/item/image with the hat accompanied with douche-y text can be "Scumbag _____".
Some of Scumbag Steve’s attributed notable quotes include “Hey can I Borrow Everything?” and “Do You Want the Red Pill? Both” (memegenerator.net).

4) Philosoraptor

Origin: YTMND in March 2007, 4chan February 2009

"Philosoraptor" stems from a combination of the words Philosopher and velociraptor.
Philosoraptor is an image macro series featuring a clip art of Velociraptor deeply immersed in metaphysical inquiries or unraveling quirky paradoxes. One of the more thoughtful (and successful) Advice Dog variations, Philosoraptor challenges the reader with his deep, existential, Paleolithic questions (knowyourmeme.com).

5) First World Problems

Origin: Urban Dictionary 2005, Tumblr 2008, hashtag gained popularity in 2011

Many different images have been used with this meme title.
First World Problems, also known as “White Whine,” are frustrations and complaints that are only experienced by privileged individuals in wealthy countries. It is typically used as a tongue-in-cheek comedic device to make light of trivial inconveniences (knowyourmeme.com)
Evolution: ______ Problems (e.g. 1990s Problems, Over-Educated Problems, etc)

6) Success Kid

Origin: "I hate Sandcastles" original image in 2008, current form on Reddit in 2011

Success Kid, sometimes known as I Hate Sandcastles, is a reaction image of a baby at a beach with a smug facial expression. It has been used in image macros to designate either success or frustration... advice animal style image macro with captions describing a situation that goes better than expected (knowyourmeme.com).
Also: "Fuck Yeah Success Kid", any image with a person clenching fist paired with "succes" text

7) Socially Awkward Penguin

Origin: 4chan in May 2009

Socially Awkward Penguin is an advice animal image macro series featuring a penguin lacking both social skills and self esteem. The text typically narrates uncomfortable life situations, highlighting an exceptionally clumsy or inelegant response (knowyourmeme.com).
Many spin offs: Socially Awesome Penguin (this can be combined with the original for comic effect), Socially Average Penguin...

8) College Freshman

Origin: Reddit in July 2011

College Freshman (a.k.a Uber Frosh) is an image macro series featuring a college student with headphones, a University New Hampshire hoodie and a mobile phone. Portrayed as a hybrid of Scumbag Steve and Socially Awkward Penguin, the captions usually highlight the all-too-familiar cliches found in campus social scenes and student life during college years (knowyourmeme.com).
"Death Trend": trend in the series where the bottom caption of the image macro would always be “dies”. E.g. "Goes to Party / Dies". (knowyourmeme.com)

9) Lazy College Senior

Origin: Reddit November 2011

Lazy College Senior is an advice animal image macro series featuring a young man with short disheveled brown hair drinking a pint of beer. The images are typically captioned with unmotivated statements or behaviors that are associated with burnt out college students during their final year of school, a phenomenon commonly known as “senioritis.”[5] The character can be seen as the antithesis of College Freshman.

10) Annoying Facebook Girl

Origin: 4chan, 2010

Annoying Facebook Girl is an advice animal image macro series featuring a photo of a teenage girl rolling her eyes with her mouth agape, accompanied by a blue and white color wheel background. The overlaid text typically depicts vapid status updates, attention whoring and generally irritating Facebook activity. (knowyourmeme.com)
Inside look at the annoying facebook girl: Annoying Facebook Girls generally think that everything they do is totally adorable, funny, and cute. Everyone else usually has to grind their teeth in frustration and bear it. The other aspect to Annoying Facebook Girls is that they are extremely prolific, so it becomes very difficult to avoid seeing or experiencing the results of their hard work doing cute things on Facebook. (memegenerator.net)

11) Condescending Wonka

Origin: Quickmeme 2011, also “Creepy Wonka”

Condescending Wonka is an advice animals image macro series featuring a screen capture of actor Gene Wilder in the 1971 musical Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. As its name suggests, the captions can be characterized as patronizing and sarcastic. (knowyourmeme.com)
Background: The image comes from a scene in the 1971 musical Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory in which Willy Wonka, played by Gene Wilder, asks the children if they would like to see a new candy he is working on called “The Everlasting Gobstopper.”

12) Challenge Accepted

Origin: How I Met your Mother (Barney Stinson) episode 2006, Late 2010 “Fuck Yeah Challenge Accepted Guy” Tumblr

“Challenge Accepted” is an expression used to indicate that the speaker is willing to attempt completing a difficult task. The phrase is often associated with a rage comic character illustrated as a stick figure with crossed arms and a smug facial expression. (knowyourmeme.com)
The “challenge considered” rage comic character (shown below, left) is used to indicate that a task is being considered and “challenge denied” (shown below, right) is used to indicate that a task has been rejected. (knowyourmeme.com)

13) Most Interesting Man In the World

Origin: Dos Equis TV commercial 2007, Quickmeme page created January 2012

The Most Interesting Man In The World is an image macro series based on an advertising campaign for Dos Equis beer. The captions typically follow the phrasal template “I don’t always X, but when I do, I Y.” (knowyourmeme.com)

14) Drunk Baby

Origin: Reddit 2012

Drunk Baby is an advice animal image macro series featuring a photograph of an infant sitting next to a pint of beer. The captions typically portray the baby as an intoxicated storyteller mimicking the behavior of older bar patrons. (knowyourmeme.com)

15) Imminent Ned

(or “Winter is Coming”)

Origin: Game of Thrones episode 2011,

Reddit 2011

Imminent Ned (also know as “Winter is Coming”) is an image macro series featuring the character Eddard “Ned” Stark from the HBO series Game of Thrones, a television adaption of George R. R. Martin’s epic fantasy novel series A Song of Ice and Fire. Itssnowclone template “Brace Yourselves, X is Coming” can be versatilely used to forewarn or proclaim the impending arrival of a highly anticipated event, a product or an internet meme. (knowyourmeme.com)

16) Sudden Clarity Clarence

Origin: Reddit 2011

Sudden Clarity Clarence is an advice animal image macro series featuring a photo of a young man at a party staring into the distance as if he is experiencing an epiphany. The captions often contain the phrase “Oh my God” or “Holy Shit” followed by a sudden realization that is trivial and insignificant. The series has been criticized for being redudant, due to its similarities to Conspiracy Keanu featuring an image of a frightened-looking Keanu Reeves. (knowyourmeme.com)

17) Futurama Fry

Origin: TV show Futurama, 2011

Futurama Fry is an image macro series that uses a still of Fry squinting his eyes from the TV show Futurama, and is typically paired with overlaid text using a phrasal template. The top line reads “Not sure if X”, with “or just Y” as the bottom line, and is used to represent an internal monologue. (knowyourmeme.com)
The text surrounding the meme picture, as with other memes, follows a set formula. This phrasal template goes as follows: “Not sure if (insert thing)”, with the bottom line then reading “or just (other thing)”. (memegenerator.net)

18) Unhelpful High School Teacher

Origin: Quickmeme 2011

Unhelpful High School Teacher is an advice animal image macro series featuring astock photo of a woman standing in front of a map of the world and a chalkboard. The captioned text describes lazy or irresponsible teaching methods, as well as cliche expressions and retorts frequently used by teachers in interacting with students. (knowyourmeme.com)

19) F*ck Yeah / Lika a Boss

Origin: Saturday Night Live song "Like a Boss" 2009

Like A Boss is a catchphrase often used in image macros or GIFs that feature a person completing an action with authority and finesse. Similar to Haters Gonna Hate, the characters in the macros have an air of superiority and do not care how others perceive them. (knowyourmeme.com)
“Like A Boss” as a catchphrase has been popular on Twitter and Tumblr[9], as a hashtag for posts about successful actions or things they are proud of doing:
Link to Digital Short (click here)

20) Hipster Kitty

Origin: Tumblr 2009

Hipster Kitty (a.k.a Hipster Cat) is an advice animal image macro series featuring a fashion-conscious kitten wearing a lavender hoodie and a pair of thick-framed glasses. The image macros are typically paired with tongue-in-cheek sayings to poke fun at the self-righteous lifestyles of vintage-loving, cheap beer-sipping, Bukowski-quoting urban demographic. To a certain extent, Hipster Kitty can be seen as a self-parody phenomenon. (knowyourmeme.com)
Etymology: Hipster is a media stereotype commonly associated with young middle-class adults who share certain interests or values in alternative cultures, mainly independent label music, film and art. Today, the term is predominantly used as a pejorative label to describe someone who outwardly seeks nonconformity through niche consumerism and boycott against mainstream culture. (knowyourmeme.com)
Evolution: Hipster Ariel (The Little Mermaid), Hipster ____ became fairly common, the “hipster” glasses alone became a symbol for hipsters

21) Successful Black Man

Origin: 4chan 2010

Successful Black Man, also known as “Successful Negro”, is an image macro series featuring a black man dressed in business attire and a witty one-liner satirizing the stereotype of young African American male as street hustlers or gangsters who only care about cars, moneys and hos. The humor is mostly derived from the intentional line break in mid-sentence, with the top line impersonating a black male stereotype (EX: I Got the Best Hos’) and the bottom line suddenly falling flat in character (EX: Out in My Tool Shed). (knowyourmeme.com)
Interesting note: The meme spread primarily through anonymous hubsites like Memegenereator and 4chan’s ever-popular random board /b/, where blatantly racist comments prevail from time to time. An interesting hybrid of both American black and white male stereotypes, there are many notable examples of this meme, but there are also tons of “erroneous” instances that solely consist of witless racist remarks. (knowyourmeme.com)

22) High Expectations Asian Father

Origin: Tumblr 2010

High Expectations Asian Father is an advice animal image macro series based on stereotypes and cliches about first-generation Asian parents pushing their children to excel in academic fields in an overbearing manner. Centered around a photograph of a middle-aged Asian man with glasses and grey hair... One of the most common tropes used in the series is the wordplay on character’s demanding standards for academic grades. (knowyourmeme.com)

23) Good Guy Greg

Origin: 4chan 2011

Good Guy Greg (GGG) is an advice animal image macro series featuring a photo of a square-jawed man smiling at the camera with a marijuana cigarette in his mouth. As the antithesis of Scumbag Steve, the captions generally depict the character as kind, generous or empathetic to other people. (knowyourmeme.com)

24) Yo Dawg

Origin: 4chan 2007

Yo Dawg, or Sup Dawg, is an image macro series based on portrait shots of American hip hop artist Alvin Nathaniel Joiner, better known by his stage name Xzibit, and humorous captions that are composed around the recursive phrasal template “Yo Dawg, I herd you like (noun X), so I put an (noun X) in your (noun Y) so you can (verb Z) while you (verb Z).” Since rising to popularity in early 2007, the series has been considered one of the most well-known and longest lasting examples of recursive humor on the Internet. (knowyourmeme.com)
The original image macro first appeared on 4chan in early 2007 and experienced a resurgence in late 2008 on Reddit, Tumblr, and social networking sites. The Yo Dawg series has a unique characteristic in being recursive. (knowyourmeme.com)
While Xzibit initially began his career in the entertainment industry as a rapper from Los Angeles, his mainstream breakthrough came almost a decade later as the host of the MTV show Pimp My Ride, which ran for six seasons from 2004 to 2007. In the show, Xzibit gained a reputation for adding luxurious amenities and equipments like fish tanks, clothes dryers and fireplaces into the participant’s car, presumably without consent. (knowyourmeme.com)
Derivatives: Standard: {yo,sup} dawg, I herd you like X, so I put an X in your Y so you can VERB while you VERB
Repetitive: {yo,sup} dawg, I herd you like X, so I put an X in your X so you can X while you X
Abstract: {yo,sup} dawg, I herd you like X, so I put an Y in your Z so you can VERB while you VERB

25) ___ Ryan Gosling

Origin: Various/Unknown 2008

Ryan Gosling is a Canadian film actor who is known online for being the subject of several image macro series. These often involve photos of Gosling with a caption that starts “Hey girl.”
In December 2008, Gosling became the subject of single-topic Tumblr Fuck Yeah! Ryan Gosling.The first two posts were uncaptioned photos of the actor before the first “Hey girl” post. (knowyourmeme.com)
Popularity surged around the time that Gosling's acting skills and good looks became openly celebrated in the media.
Derivaties: Feminist Ryan Gosling, Typographer Ryan Gosling, Shakespearian Ryan Gosling, Silicon Valley Ryan Gosling...

26) Overly Attached Girlfriend

Origin: YouTube 2012

Overly Attached Girlfriend is an advice animal image macro featuring webcam picture of a girl and various captions portraying her in the stereotype of an overprotective and clingy girlfriend. (knowyourmeme.com)
Origin: On June 6th, 2012, YouTuber wzr0713 uploaded a webcam video titled “JB Fanvideo”[1]in which she performs a parody rendition of Justin Bieber’s latest single “Boyfriend” with personalized lyrics. According to Gawker’s article[2], the video was submitted in response to Bieber’s announcement of an online sing-off contest[3] in promoting his celebrity perfume “Girlfriend.” (knowyourmeme.com)
Derivates: Overly Attached Boyfriend, Misunderstood Girlfried, Underly Attached Girlfriend

27) Bad Luck Brian

Origin: Reddit 2012

Bad Luck Brian is an image macro series featuring a photo of a blonde teenage boy wearing a plaid sweater vest and braces, accompanied by captions that describe a variety of embarrassing and tragic occurrences. (knowyourmeme.com)

28) Forever Alone

Origin: FunnyJunk 2010

Forever Alone is an exploitable rage comic character that is used to express loneliness and disappointment with life. Creators of this variety of rage comic occasionally alter one word or both of the words “forever alone” for a more humorous effect. Forever Alone is considered one of the first major spin-off characters to evolve out of the popular Rage Guy comic series, which first sprang up on 4chan in 2009. (knowyourmeme.com)
The story behind it is almost more interesting than the meme itself. In 2011, a scheme was developed to create a flashmob in New York’s Times Square comprised entirely of men who had set up dates with fake users on the popular dating website OKCupid. The event crashed the servers of EarthCam, the cameracompany responsible for the cameras that show Times Square. The entire event was commemorated by a Forever Alone poster plastered to a phone booth in the area. (memegenerator.net)

29) Foul Bachelor Frog

Origin: Memegenerator 2009

Foul Bachelor Frog is an advice animal image macro series featuring a frog’s face in front of a color wheel background containing various shades of green. The images captions often depict lazy, disgusting and hedonistic behaviors associated with single men. (knowyourmeme.com)

30) Y U No...

Origin: Tumblr 2010

“Y U NO” Guy (also known as “Y U No [X]?”) is an image macro series using SMSshorthands and carefree grammar as a way to bring someone’s attention on a particular subject or issue. The unique facial expression worn by stick-figure character is believed to have been traced from the Japanese sci-fi manga / anime series Gantz. (knowyourmeme.com)
(Possibly) Original instance: However, the original instance with the “Y U NO” phrasal template was first posted via LOLTumblrWallpapers, which gained over 10,000 reblogs & likes on Tumblr.[2] Set to a beige/light brownish background with the Gantz character placed in center, the image macro read: “I TXT U, Y U NO TXT BAK!? (knowyourmeme.com)