The Memes of 2013
Thirty seconds of chaos
The Social Boom, 2011–2015
The Harlem Shake began in late January and in a matter of weeks thousands of near-identical thirty-second videos had been posted. Vine launched at the end of January and made the six-second loop a creative form of its own.
In December a Shiba Inu with a speech bubble in broken English reached its peak, and Oxford Dictionaries named “selfie” its word of the year.
Top memes of 2013
3 memes in the archive peaked this year, and 2 first went viral.
1Doge
63/100+14%Hot2010Peaked in 2013
2Harlem Shake
6/1000%Classic2013Peaked in 2013
3Gangnam Style
20/100−1%Classic2012Peaked in 2012
2013, month by month
The leading memes of the year on one scale, 0 to 100. The yellow dot marks each one’s highest month.
Doge
Doge: Jan 6, Feb 6, Mar 7, Apr 7, May 8, Jun 8, Jul 20, Aug 38, Sep 56, Oct 75, Nov 89, Dec 92 Harlem Shake
Harlem Shake: Jan 6, Feb 90, Mar 56, Apr 34, May 20, Jun 16, Jul 14, Aug 10, Sep 9, Oct 10, Nov 9, Dec 9 Gangnam Style
Gangnam Style: Jan 89, Feb 74, Mar 66, Apr 61, May 55, Jun 52, Jul 49, Aug 44, Sep 42, Oct 44, Nov 41, Dec 40 Grumpy Cat
Grumpy Cat: Jan 75, Feb 81, Mar 82, Apr 80, May 79, Jun 78, Jul 78, Aug 79, Sep 74, Oct 77, Nov 75, Dec 71 Trollface
Trollface: Jan 69, Feb 65, Mar 62, Apr 62, May 60, Jun 58, Jul 56, Aug 55, Sep 55, Oct 52, Nov 53, Dec 50 Rage Comics
Rage Comics: Jan 66, Feb 65, Mar 60, Apr 59, May 58, Jun 56, Jul 54, Aug 52, Sep 50, Oct 49, Nov 50, Dec 48
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.
On Fire. KC Green publishes a comic of a dog in a burning room.
The first video. A 30-second video of a masked dancer sets the format.
Copies appear. Groups of friends, teams and offices begin posting their own.
4,000 a day. Around 4,000 new versions are being uploaded each day.
700 million views. 40,000 versions have been uploaded, with a combined 700 million views.
Overtaken by new crazes. The Harlem Shake takes over as the dance meme of the moment.
National television. Grumpy Cat appears on Good Morning America and visits Time magazine.
A billion views. Brands and institutions join in; the novelty fades within weeks.
Celebrity cat. Books, merchandise and appearances follow.
The White House. The image appears in official social media messaging on immigration reform.
Comic Sans and “such wow”. The image is combined with coloured captions on Reddit and 4chan.
Top meme of 2013. Know Your Meme names it the top meme of the year.
A shared lawsuit. Schmidt and the creator of Nyan Cat settle a suit with the makers of a video game that used both.
A lawsuit settled. Torres and the creator of Keyboard Cat settle with the makers of Scribblenauts over use of both characters.
Dogecoin. A cryptocurrency based on the meme launches in December.
What kind of memes
Categories across the memes active in 2013.