The Memes of 2017
A boyfriend looks away
Feeds and Algorithms, 2016–2020
In August the stock photograph of a man looking at another woman while his partner watches reached its peak. It became the template of the year because anyone could replace the three people with ideas of their own.
Fortnite’s battle royale mode launched on 26 September. In November, the Chinese company ByteDance agreed to buy Musical.ly, setting up the next dominant platform. In May a tweet ending in “covfefe” showed that a typo from a head of state was enough to start a meme.
Top memes of 2017
1 meme in the archive peaked this year, and 1 first went viral.
1Distracted Boyfriend
36/100+1%Classic2015Peaked in 2017
2Pepe the Frog
44/100+6%Rising2005Peaked in 2016
3This Is Fine
47/100+7%Rising2013Peaked in 2020
2017, month by month
The leading memes of the year on one scale, 0 to 100. The yellow dot marks each one’s highest month.
Distracted Boyfriend
Distracted Boyfriend: Jan 10, Feb 20, Mar 35, Apr 48, May 59, Jun 72, Jul 84, Aug 85, Sep 82, Oct 73, Nov 67, Dec 64 Pepe the Frog
Pepe the Frog: Jan 79, Feb 73, Mar 67, Apr 64, May 62, Jun 60, Jul 56, Aug 55, Sep 52, Oct 49, Nov 50, Dec 43 This Is Fine
This Is Fine: Jan 60, Feb 62, Mar 61, Apr 59, May 55, Jun 54, Jul 55, Aug 54, Sep 52, Oct 48, Nov 47, Dec 49 Drake Hotline Bling
Drake Hotline Bling: Jan 51, Feb 50, Mar 50, Apr 46, May 49, Jun 48, Jul 46, Aug 45, Sep 43, Oct 44, Nov 43, Dec 42 Wojak
Wojak: Jan 34, Feb 35, Mar 36, Apr 36, May 37, Jun 38, Jul 38, Aug 40, Sep 42, Oct 40, Nov 44, Dec 42 Fortnite Dances
Fortnite Dances: Sep 8, Oct 16, Nov 23, Dec 34
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.
A prog rock group. A Turkish progressive rock Facebook group becomes the first known user of the image as a meme.
Pepe is killed. After repeated objections to its misuse, Matt Furie publishes a comic in which Pepe dies.
A BBC feature. The group is introduced to a global audience by BBC News.
A deliberate typo. The image of Meme Man in front of a stock chart is posted with the caption “stonks”.
Nostalgia. The faces remain recognisable shorthand for the early-2010s Internet.
Everyone is labelled. The format is applied to every subject, from politics to pasta.
Generational politics. A Twitter post turns the image into the dominant template of the month.
Battle Royale launches. Fortnite Battle Royale is released with dance emotes among its cosmetic items.
A photo project. A portrait from the Sleek’N’Tears project is linked on Reddit.
A name appears. A 4chan thread gives the portrait its name, GigaChad.
What kind of memes
Categories across the memes active in 2017.