The Memes of 2021
Mittens, Dogecoin and a game of marbles
Short Video and Brainrot, 2021–2026
In January a senator in a parka and mittens was pasted into every scene imaginable, and weeks later a group of Reddit users helped send GameStop’s stock price soaring. In May, Dogecoin hit an all-time high just as its most famous fan hosted Saturday Night Live.
In September a Korean series about deadly children’s games became the most-watched in Netflix’s history at that point and gave Halloween its costume. A month later a word game’s grid began to fill social feeds.
Top memes of 2021
4 memes in the archive peaked this year, and 5 first went viral.
1Squid Game
35/100−2%Falling2021Peaked in 2021
2Bernie Sanders Mittens
27/100−1%Classic2021Peaked in 2021
3Wojak
57/100+9%Rising2009Peaked in 2020
2021, month by month
The leading memes of the year on one scale, 0 to 100. The yellow dot marks each one’s highest month.
Squid Game
Squid Game: Aug 4, Sep 52, Oct 94, Nov 68, Dec 42 Bernie Sanders Mittens
Bernie Sanders Mittens: Jan 89, Feb 34, Mar 24, Apr 19, May 18, Jun 18, Jul 18, Aug 17, Sep 17, Oct 17, Nov 16, Dec 16 Wojak
Wojak: Jan 73, Feb 73, Mar 77, Apr 71, May 68, Jun 75, Jul 74, Aug 71, Sep 67, Oct 66, Nov 69, Dec 65 Gigachad
Gigachad: Jan 74, Feb 74, Mar 76, Apr 76, May 77, Jun 75, Jul 68, Aug 71, Sep 66, Oct 63, Nov 63, Dec 62 Stonks
Stonks: Jan 62, Feb 72, Mar 73, Apr 69, May 71, Jun 66, Jul 60, Aug 60, Sep 54, Oct 55, Nov 52, Dec 52 Doge
Doge: Jan 54, Feb 57, Mar 63, Apr 66, May 66, Jun 65, Jul 64, Aug 62, Sep 59, Oct 58, Nov 57, Dec 50
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.
GameStop. Reddit traders push up GameStop’s share price and the image becomes the face of the story.
Merchandise. Sweatshirts and stickers with the image are sold to raise money for charity.
The week of the mittens. News outlets cover the meme as it dominates feeds.
The photograph. A seated figure in a parka and handmade mittens is photographed at the inauguration.
Pasted anywhere. Within hours users edit him into films, paintings and historical scenes.
Sold as an NFT. An updated version of the animation sells for 300 ether, about $587,000 at the time.
Mainstream. Newspapers and brands use the word and the picture.
Average Fan vs. Average Enjoyer. The format puts the portrait on the confident side of a comparison.
Quickly over. Attention fades within weeks, as with most event-driven memes.
NFT and museum. Ramirez announces plans to sell the image as an NFT; a bust of it is exhibited in Mexico City.
Mainstream. Video edits and reaction images spread across social platforms.
Saturation. The meme saturates and attention moves on.
A billion views. The original music video passes one billion views on YouTube.
The giant doll. Clips of “Red Light, Green Light” start circulating on TikTok.
A series launches. Netflix releases the nine-episode series.
A global conversation. The show becomes the most-discussed series in the world.
A gift. Josh Wardle releases a word-guessing game he made for his partner.
Halloween. The tracksuits and masks become a Halloween standard.
A small community. Players share the game by word of mouth.
The grid. Players start pasting the spoiler-free grid of squares into Twitter.
What kind of memes
Categories across the memes active in 2021.