Classic memes

● Aliven.✎ 2

Moai Emoji

🗿 — the Easter Island head, adopted in 2022 as the emoji for deadpan: no reaction, stone face, 'I have seen this and I am not moving'. The record's entry for the emoji that means nothing on purpose.

▸ 2022peak 2023still up

☠ Deadn.✎ 2

Amogus

The Among Us crewmate, seen in everything — a fire hydrant, a sandwich, a cloud — and named 'amogus' in a voice of exhausted recognition. The 2021 meme about a meme being everywhere, which then was. The record's entry for shape recognition as a joke.

▸ 2021peak 2021†2022

◐ Dyingphr.✎ 3

Bing Chilling

John Cena, in Mandarin, holding an ice cream — 'bīngqílín' — in a promotional video, which became the internet's 2021 phrase for anything Chinese, ice cream, or John Cena, and a 'social credit' joke that the record files separately. The record's entry for a wrestler's Mandarin.

▸ 2021peak 2021still up

● Aliven.✎ 2

Melting Face

🫠 — a smiling face melting into a puddle, added in 2021 and immediately the most-used new emoji in a decade, for embarrassment, exhaustion, and the specific feeling of a Monday. The record's entry for an emoji that arrived exactly when it was needed.

▸ 2021peak 2022still up

◐ Dyingn.✎ 2

Mr. Incredible Becoming Uncanny

A face from The Incredibles getting progressively more distorted and horrifying across panels, each with a caption that escalates: 'you live in the UK' to 'you live in Luton'. The 2021–22 format for a slide into horror, and the record's entry for a cartoon dad as a scale.

▸ 2021peak 2022still up

● Alivephr.✎ 2

One Must Imagine Sisyphus Happy

Camus's line about the man pushing the boulder, attached to a wojak pushing a boulder, attached to any repetitive task: the commute, the dishes, the inbox. The internet's favourite philosophy quote, used mostly by people who have not read the essay and understood it anyway.

▸ 2021peak 2022still up

● Aliven.✎ 3

Saluting Face

🫡 — 'o7', the salute, as an emoji: for acknowledging an order you will follow, a friend's decision you respect, or a message you have read and will not answer. The record's entry for the emoji that replaced 'ok'.

▸ 2021peak 2022still up

◐ Dyingn.✎ 3

Sigma Male Grindset

'Sigma rule #47: never let them know your next move' — a parody of alpha-male self-help, delivered over Patrick Bateman edits, which was a joke about grindset content and then, for a lot of teenagers, grindset content. The record's entry for an ironic ideology that some people took straight.

▸ 2021peak 2022still up

◐ Dyingn.✎ 3

Social Credit

'+15 social credit' — a joke about China's monitoring system, applied to anyone doing anything, with a score going up or down. The 2021 format that lived alongside 'bing chilling' and was funnier than it was accurate about the system it parodied.

▸ 2021peak 2021still up

◐ Dyingn.✎ 2

Trade Offer

A man in a suit pointing at two columns — 'I receive', 'you receive' — with a deal that benefits only him. The 2021 format for any lopsided proposal, from a landlord's terms to a toddler's negotiation over bedtime.

▸ 2021peak 2021still up

◐ Dyingn.✎ 2

Walter

A bull terrier photographed from below, with a long snout and a look of alarm, named Walter and used for any reaction that needs a dog who has just heard something. The record's entry for the dog whose face is a whole sentence.

▸ 2021peak 2021still up

◐ Dyingn.✎ 2

Bonk Doge

A Shiba Inu hitting another Shiba Inu with a baseball bat — 'bonk' — usually to send them to 'horny jail'. The 2020 meme for policing a friend's thirst, and, in 2022, the name of a mascot that revived a whole blockchain's mood. The record's entry for the bat.

▸ 2020peak 2020still up

◐ Dyingn.✎ 2

Buff Doge vs Cheems

A muscular Shiba Inu representing the past and a small, sad one representing the present, in a two-panel comparison of how things used to be — 'people in 1999 vs people now' — that ran through 2020–21. The record's entry for nostalgia as a dog.

▸ 2020peak 2021still up

◐ Dyingphr.✎ 2

I Am Once Again Asking

A senator in a parka, in front of a shelf, asking for financial support — 'I am once again asking' — as the format for any repeated request: for the group chat to reply, for the roommate to buy milk. The record's entry for the ask as a meme, one year before the mittens.

▸ 2020peak 2020still up

◐ Dyingn.✎ 2

Karen

A woman who wants to speak to the manager — the haircut, the sunglasses, the entitlement — as the internet's name for a type, which went from a niche joke to the word of the year in 2020, when the videos of Karens in car parks became a genre. The record's entry for a first name as a diagnosis.

▸ 2020peak 2020still up

◐ Dyingn.✎ 3

Panik Kalm Panik

Three panels of a smooth grey figure — panic, calm, panic — for any situation that resolves and then does not. The three-beat joke of 2020, and the record's entry for the meme that gave the internet a rhythm for relief that was premature.

▸ 2020peak 2020still up

● Aliven.✎ 3

Sadge

A sad Pepe emote, and the word for being sad in Twitch chat and everywhere it leaked: 'sadge'. The record's entry for the emote that became the mildest possible expression of grief, used for a lost game and a death in equal measure.

▸ 2020peak 2021still up

● Aliven.✎ 2

Skull Emoji

💀 — 'I'm dead', the laughing emoji for people who found the laughing emoji embarrassing. Replaced 😂 as the reaction of the 2020s and became the subject of a generational argument about which one was cringe. The record's entry for the emoji that means the opposite of death.

▸ 2020peak 2022still up

● Aliven.✎ 2

5Head

An emote of a streamer with an enlarged forehead, spammed for a clever play — and, ironically, for a stupid one. The record's entry for the Twitch word for 'genius', which is used sincerely about a third of the time.

▸ 2019peak 2020still up

☠ Deadn.✎ 3

Cheems

A small Shiba Inu with a sad, hopeful face and a habit of adding 'm' to words — 'bonk', 'chemsburger' — who was the weaker half of every 'strong vs weak' comparison for three years. The dog, Balltze, died in August 2023, and the internet held a funeral.

▸ 2019peak 2021†2023

● Aliven.✎ 3

Clown Emoji

🤡 — the reaction for someone who has embarrassed themselves and does not know it, or, applied to oneself, for the moment you realise you were the clown all along. The record's entry for the emoji that became a whole genre of self-deprecation.

▸ 2019peak 2021still up

● Alivephr.✎ 3

EZ Clap

'Easy', with a clapping emote — the Twitch chat's response to a win, especially one that was not easy. The record's entry for the sarcastic congratulation that became sincere and back again.

▸ 2019peak 2020still up

◐ Dyingphr.✎ 3

Joe Mama

'Don't say it — who's Joe?' — the 2019 revival of the 'your mama' setup as a trap: someone mentions Joe, someone asks who Joe is, and the answer is Joe Mama. The record's entry for the setup joke's second wind.

▸ 2019peak 2020still up

◐ Dyingn.✎ 3

Simp

A man who does too much for a woman who does not want him to — the internet's 2019–20 insult, which was old slang given a new life by TikTok, banned by Twitch, and then, by 2021, a joke about the people who used it. The record's entry for the word that made kindness suspicious for a year.

▸ 2019peak 2020still up

● Aliven.✎ 3

Vibe Check

An assessment of someone's mood or energy — 'vibe check' — first as a joke about hitting someone with a bat, then as a real question, then, by 2023, as a method for evaluating AI models. The record's entry for a phrase that went from a meme to a metric.

▸ 2019peak 2020still up

◐ Dyingn.✎ 2

Bloomer

The doomer who got better — a wojak with a smile, a plant and a plan — as the hopeful member of the 2018 wojak family. The record's entry for optimism as a character type, which the internet found harder to draw than despair.

▸ 2018peak 2019still up

● Aliveadj.✎ 3

Blursed

Blessed and cursed at once — a picture that is wholesome and wrong in the same frame. The record's entry for the portmanteau that described a whole category of the internet, and the subreddit that files it.

▸ 2018peak 2020still up

◐ Dyingn.✎ 2

Doomer

A wojak in a black hoodie smoking, with a playlist of sad songs and no hope: the doomer, one of the 2018 wojak types, for the young man who has read too much and gone outside too little. The record's entry for the mood that became a character.

▸ 2018peak 2020still up

◐ Dyingn.✎ 3

Ligma

A fake disease that exists to be asked about — 'what's ligma?' — with a punchline that the record will not print. The 2018 setup joke that killed a streamer in a hoax and produced a family: sugma, bofa, and others. The record's entry for the trap question.

▸ 2018peak 2018still up

● Aliven.✎ 3

Pepega

A Pepe with a lopsided face, spammed in Twitch chat when a streamer does something stupid — and, as 'pepega', an adjective for anything dim. The record's entry for the emote that made the frog an insult again, gently.

▸ 2018peak 2019still up

● Aliven.✎ 3

Pleading Face

🥺 — the big wet eyes, for asking for something, for being touched by something, and, with 👉👈, for the shy request that became a whole personality in 2019–20. The record's entry for the emoji that made everyone soft.

▸ 2018peak 2020still up

● Aliven.✎ 3

Zoomer

A member of Generation Z, in the wojak family: a haircut, a Fortnite reference, a vape, a phone. From a 4chan drawing in 2018 to a general word for anyone under twenty-five, used by people over twenty-five. The record's entry for the generation as a caricature.

▸ 2018peak 2020still up

● Aliven.✎ 3

Chad

The confident, effortless man who wins — first as a bitter archetype on forums, then as a joke, then, by 2021, as an adjective for anything done with confidence: 'a chad move'. The record's entry for an insult that became a compliment by way of a drawing.

▸ 2017peak 2021still up

◐ Dyingphr.✎ 2

Omae Wa Mou Shindeiru

'You are already dead' — 'nani?!' — a 1984 anime's catchphrase, revived in 2017 as the format for any delayed consequence: the email sent, the reply not yet arrived. The record's entry for the exchange that taught the internet a single Japanese word.

▸ 2017peak 2017still up

● Aliven.✎ 3

Soyjak

A wojak with an open mouth, glasses and a beard, pointing at something with excessive enthusiasm — the 'soy' face — used to mock anyone who likes anything too much. The record's entry for the drawing that made enthusiasm embarrassing.

▸ 2017peak 2021still up

◐ Dyingn.✎ 2

Stonks

A smooth grey figure in a suit in front of a rising chart with the word 'stonks' — the joke for any financially stupid decision that looked clever for a second. Peaked in January 2021, when the decisions got real. The record's entry for the misspelling that became a thesis.

▸ 2017peak 2021still up

◐ Dyingn.✎ 2

Virgin vs Chad

Two figures — one hunched, one striding — with a list of traits each: the virgin walk, the chad stride. The 2017 comparison format that was used for everything from operating systems to sandwich techniques, and the origin of 'chad' as a compliment.

▸ 2017peak 2018still up

◐ Dyingn.✎ 3

Cringe Culture

The practice of collecting and mocking embarrassing behaviour online — the compilations, the subreddits, the word 'cringe' as a verdict — which peaked in the late 2010s and was declared dead in 2020 ('cringe culture is dead') by people who kept doing it. The record's entry for mockery as a hobby.

▸ 2016peak 2019still up

● Aliven.✎ 3

Cursed Image

A photograph that is wrong in a way you cannot name — a bathtub full of eggs, a man in a field with too many arms — presented without comment. The 2016 genre that produced 'cursed' as a verdict and 'blursed' as its blessing. The record's entry for the unexplained.

▸ 2016peak 2018still up

● Alivephr.✎ 3

Is This a JoJo Reference

The reflex of a fandom that sees its show everywhere — a pose, a name, a colour — asked so often that the question became the joke. The record's entry for the fandom whose references are, in fact, everywhere, because the show referenced everything first.

▸ 2016peak 2018still up

● Aliven.✎ 3

Normie

A normal person, as an insult from people who spend too long online — someone who uses memes a month late, has friends, goes outside. The record's entry for the word that divides the internet into those who know and those who are fine.

▸ 2016peak 2017still up

● Aliven.✎ 3

OMEGALUL

A Twitch emote — a streamer's laughing face stretched into a circle — spammed in chat when something is very funny, and typed in full caps as a word when you are not on Twitch. The record's entry for the laugh that is a shape.

▸ 2016peak 2019still up

● Aliven.✎ 3

PepeHands

A crying Pepe holding its hands up in despair, for the moment a streamer loses, a chat's favourite dies, or a game is cancelled. The record's entry for the Twitch emote for hopelessness, which is older than Sadge and more dramatic.

▸ 2016peak 2018still up

◐ Dyingn.✎ 2

Wholesome Memes

Memes that are kind on purpose — the format used to be nice instead of cruel — which emerged in 2016 as a reaction to the rest of the internet and produced a subreddit, a tone, and the phrase 'wholesome' as a verdict. The record's entry for the year the internet tried being nice.

▸ 2016peak 2018still up

● Aliven.✎ 3

monkaS

A sweating, wide-eyed Pepe, spammed in chat when something tense is happening — a boss fight, a bomb defusal, a streamer's mother entering the room. The record's entry for the emote that means 'I am nervous on your behalf'.

▸ 2016peak 2018still up

● Alivephr.✎ 2

Deez Nuts

The punchline to a prank call in a 2015 Vine — 'deez nuts!' — which became a presidential candidate in a poll, a reply to anything, and the joke that will not die. The record's entry for a 1992 skit reborn as a 2015 sound, and a 2025 comeback in 'Guess what'.

▸ 2015peak 2015still up

● Aliveinterj.✎ 3

Bruh

'Bro', flattened into a sound of disbelief — 'bruh' — which became a Vine sound in 2014, a whole genre of reaction ('bruh moment'), and the most-typed one-word reply of the late 2010s. The record's entry for the syllable that means 'I cannot believe you'.

▸ 2014peak 2019still up

◐ Dyingv.✎ 3

Yeet

To throw with force and joy — from a Vine dance in 2014 to a verb every child used and every parent misused by 2018. The record's entry for the word that peaked when a teacher said it in assembly, which happened in most schools in 2019.

▸ 2014peak 2018still up