The Memes of 2006
The year the audience became the show
Forums and Image Boards, 2006–2010
Twitter opened to the public in July. Facebook opened to everyone over thirteen in September. In December, Time magazine named its Person of the Year “You”, a nod to the people making things online.
Google bought YouTube in the autumn for 1.65 billion dollars. Online video was no longer an experiment, and every viral clip now had a home and an audience waiting for it.
Top memes of 2006
No meme in the archive peaked this year. These were the strongest still circulating.
1Leeroy Jenkins
11/100+1%Classic2005Peaked in 2005
2006, month by month
The leading memes of the year on one scale, 0 to 100. The yellow dot marks each one’s highest month.
Leeroy Jenkins
Leeroy Jenkins: Jan 41, Feb 40, Mar 38, Apr 38, May 36, Jun 36, Jul 36, Aug 36, Sep 35, Oct 34, Nov 33, Dec 32
Attention index, 0 to 100 on one scale for the whole archive. Estimated from each meme’s key dates, not measured.
Timeline
Dated moments from the memes above, in order.
What kind of memes
Categories across the memes active in 2006.