The Memes of 2018
Dances, detergent, and a word nobody agreed on
Feeds and Algorithms, 2016–2020
The Tide Pod Challenge peaked in January, and the company and several platforms stepped in to discourage it. In May, an audio clip that sounded like “Yanny” to some and “Laurel” to others split the Internet for a few days.
In August, Musical.ly was folded into TikTok. Fortnite’s dance moves were everywhere by summer, and a small multiplayer game called Among Us quietly came out in June.
Top memes of 2018
1 meme in the archive peaked this year, and 1 first went viral.
1Fortnite Dances
28/100−2%Classic2017Peaked in 2018
2Wojak
57/100+9%Rising2009Peaked in 2020
3Distracted Boyfriend
36/100+1%Classic2015Peaked in 2017
2018, month by month
The leading memes of the year on one scale, 0 to 100. The yellow dot marks each one’s highest month.
Fortnite Dances
Fortnite Dances: Jan 39, Feb 48, Mar 59, Apr 65, May 78, Jun 87, Jul 88, Aug 86, Sep 86, Oct 81, Nov 76, Dec 79 Wojak
Wojak: Jan 45, Feb 44, Mar 47, Apr 50, May 50, Jun 51, Jul 54, Aug 53, Sep 55, Oct 56, Nov 57, Dec 60 Distracted Boyfriend
Distracted Boyfriend: Jan 60, Feb 60, Mar 56, Apr 55, May 52, Jun 49, Jul 52, Aug 49, Sep 48, Oct 47, Nov 47, Dec 44 This Is Fine
This Is Fine: Jan 47, Feb 44, Mar 42, Apr 42, May 42, Jun 42, Jul 42, Aug 43, Sep 44, Oct 45, Nov 46, Dec 47 Pepe the Frog
Pepe the Frog: Jan 45, Feb 42, Mar 43, Apr 40, May 40, Jun 40, Jul 40, Aug 40, Sep 41, Oct 42, Nov 42, Dec 43 Drake Hotline Bling
Drake Hotline Bling: Jan 42, Feb 40, Mar 41, Apr 41, May 42, Jun 41, Jul 39, Aug 42, Sep 38, Oct 41, Nov 37, Dec 38
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 trademark verdict. A jury awards Grumpy Cat Limited $710,000 in a lawsuit over unlicensed use of her name and image.
Streamers show off. Streamers and YouTubers popularise the emotes in their videos.
In the playground. Children and athletes imitate the dances outside the game.
Day traders adopt it. Used as a reaction image on Twitter and Reddit for jokes about risky investments.
Still the template. A fixture of the image-macro canon, remembered as the template for modest triumph.
Sincerity, preserved. Remembered as an early viral video that was shared affectionately rather than ironically.
A small release. Innersloth releases Among Us for mobile devices; it attracts a modest audience.
A cultural moment. The dances appear in sports, television and school halls worldwide.
The variants. Doomer in September 2018, NPC in October 2018, and Coomer in November 2019 spread widely.
An advertising ruling. Sweden’s advertising ombudsman rules that an internet provider’s use of the image violated gender discrimination rules.
Who owns a dance?. Several performers file lawsuits against the game’s publisher over the use of their moves.
What kind of memes
Categories across the memes active in 2018.