KYM Review: The Top 10 TikToks Of 2022

In 2022, TikTok continued its quest to infiltrate every subculture it could get its hands on. From sped-up TikTok audios to the new TikTok Photo Slideshow feature, the app's influence on internet media and memes this year has been undeniable — especially given that its primary competitor has lagged far behind in terms of generating novel meme concepts.

Love it or hate it, TikTok solidified its position in cultivating the memetic zeitgeist in 2022. So, here are our top picks for some of the most influential meme contributions from TikTok in 2022.

Corn Kid / Corn Song

An innocent street interview of a little boy munching on a cob of corn that turned into a viral full-length song about loving corn.

• Month: August

• How It Started: Street interviewers post a video of their host interviewing a child professing his deep love of corn. Between bites of his corn cob, the kid says, "I can't imagine a more beautiful thing. Not everyone has to like it, they just have to try it" and "I hope you have a corntastic day!"

• How It Unraveled: The video went viral on TikTok, and would have disappeared within the week if it weren't for a cohort of musicians and TikTok artists that used the Corn Kid for inspiration. In particular, Schmoyoho took the cake for making the most earworm hook from the video, complete with corn munching ASMR.

Nathaniel B

A high school rap battle ends in one participant landing the most esoteric roast to hit the internet. "You can't handle me … Hol' up. Ain't you Nathaniel B?"

• Month: July

• How It Started: A TikToker posted "Part 5" of a freestyle roast rap battle between members of his high school football team, capturing the hilarious moment where a guy in an orange shirt says, "That shit was trash. You can't handle me. Hold up, ain't you Nathaniel B?" He then shrugs as his friends jeer and laugh, with the occasional "what?" ringing through the chatter.

• How It Unraveled: The sheer absurdity of the statement piqued the curiosity of shitposters around the web, and the bar made its way into the vocabulary of meme creators who doubled down on the question, "Who tf is Nathaniel B?"

Cbat By Hudson Mohawk

A bizarre Reddit /r/TIFU story about a guy's insistence on only freaking it to the beat of a really odd song goes viral on TikTok.

• Month: September

• How It Started: A TikTok account reposts a Reddit story about a man trying to understand why his girlfriend refuses to let him listen to Cbat by Hudson Mohawke in bed. TikTok's audio-visual interface allows people to actually listen to the song mentioned in the story, and people are appalled by how distinctly un-sexy it is.

• How It Unraveled: TikTokers begin to dissect details of the story, with some brave individuals attempting to hump the air to the beat of the track. Those not in the know are left to wonder why a skeletal song rife with sirens and trumpets is all of their FYP. The cycle leads to the meme gaining critical viral mass on the platform.

Quandale Dingle

A high school football player from New Jersey unwittingly becomes the subject of a series of goofy ahh shitposts due to the absurdity of his name.

• Month: September

• How It Started: Someone took a picture of a PC login screen that showed a user named "Quandale Dingle," along with an Instagram text caption that read, "who tf goofy ass name is this bruh." People began to make memes due to the sheer absurdity of the name, setting off a prime in-joke for premier shitposters.

• How It Unraveled: The internet soon realized that the name isn't just a made-up joke, but refers to an actual living New Jersey high school football player. People recorded him walking to get his high school diploma and even started a death hoax. Let's hope Mr. Dingle finds this one more funny than annoying.

One Piece Is Real

A tongue-in-cheek reference to the NSFW One Piece Cock Edits memes manage to skirt community guidelines and become a huge TikTok meme.

• Month: July

• How It Started: People begin to riff on the "One Piece Cock Edit" meme format, where characters from the popular anime show One Piece are redrawn with massive … "pieces." A particularly notorious NSFW image of a character named Whitebeard had become so infamous that even the sight of the original SFW image became meme fodder on TikTok, managing to skirt community guidelines by its sheer capacity to illicit the mental image of an anime weiner.

• How It Unraveled: TikTok's algorithms were already going to make the sound effect of Whitebeard screaming "the One Piece is real!" go viral, but a combination of the cock edits, Kanye's song "Dark Fantasy," and a peculiar "Cameo" by the actor that plays Howard Hamlin from Better Call Saul drove the meme into infamy, making The One Piece is real edits inescapable on TikTok (and the rest of the internet) this year.

My Money Don't Jiggle Jiggle

A clip of British filmmaker Louis Theroux insisting he can rap gets autotuned and workshopped by TikTok creators, turning his lyrics into a viral hip-hop song.

• Month: March

• How It Started: Theroux features on an episode of the "Chicken Ship Date" web series with Amelia Dimoldenberg in February 2022. On Amelia's insistence, Theroux delivers a few bars he wrote while traveling through the American South for an episode of a part docuseries. His lines get picked up and remixed by TikTokers @dukeandjones, turning it into a catchy earworm hook.

• How It Unraveled: As with any viral sound on TikTok, a dance trend eventually emerges, leading to people making countless videos where they fold over in half for the main chorus. The sound gets used in over 6.5 million videos on TikTok and becomes one of the most popular sounds on the platform.

You Thought I Was Feelin' You? / Ice Spice

A song by Bronx drill rapper Ice Spice goes viral on the platform and propels her to instant internet fame.

• Month: August

• How It Started: The catchy chorus from Ice Spice's song "Munch" gets used by massive creators on the platform, and a combination of streamer reaction clips and bonafide fans lead to the popularization of the phrase, "You thought I was feelin' you?"

• How It Unraveled: Ice Spice becomes an instant cultural phenomenon, enters the word "munch" into mainstream slang vocabulary and starts headlining shows across the U.S. Her endearing personality helps her shed her initial "meme music" image, and people start referring to her as a "modern-day Diana."

Uncut Jams

A soundbite of Julia Fox butchering the name of a movie she was in goes viral in a series of TikToks that nonetheless lead to her accumulating a massive fanbase.

• Month: February

• How It Started: Julia Fox appears on an episode of the "Call Her Daddy" podcast where she is asked how she feels about being Kanye's new "muse." She responds by saying that she was Josh Safdie's muse when he wrote Uncut Gems, but pronounces "gems" as "jams." Her manner of speaking and her unabashedness in calling herself a bonafide muse for several creatives led to people relentlessly parodying the interview on TikTok.

• How It Unraveled: Julia Fox goes from niche NYC socialite to meme queen, capitalizing on her newfound social media fame by creating her own TikTok account and steering the narrative away from ridicule and towards her own ideas, which include how she raises her kids and her opinions on social justice issues.

Rosalía Chewing Gum

Videos from Spanish pop star Rosalía's tour go viral after she perfects her signature chewing gum sneer.

• Month: July

• How It Started: A video of Rosalía standing with her hip cocked as the opening riff of her song "Bizcochito" plays began to circulate on the internet. People appear to be enamored by her effortless attitude and comical mannerisms, especially after more videos from further legs of her concert tour emerge and show her doing the same thing every time her song plays.

• How It Unraveled: People begin to recreate her stance and make parody videos copying her movements. The combination of her song and chewing instantly connects the two, and the song "Bizcochito" becomes intertwined with the act of sneering as you chew. Marketing magic or serendipitous meme? With these things, you never know.

West Elm Caleb

A notorious New York Hinge personality goes viral for being a menace in the NYC dating scene and ghosting countless women, but not before he purportedly sent off a bunch of unsolicited dick pics.

• Month: January

• How It Started: A bunch of New York women began to realize that they all had suffered at the hands of a man that soon came to be known as "West Elm Caleb," due to his supposed job with the furniture company West Elm. The women had all met him on Hinge, been ghosted by him and some had even allegedly received unsolicited dick pics from the man.

• How It Unraveled: More and more women came forward with their stories of dating and being ghosted by a "tall, financially stable" guy named Caleb, but the idea that a man was being vilified for simply ghosting a bunch of women did not sit right with a lot of people on the internet, who thought that the issue was being blown out of proportion. A counter-cyberbullying campaign against Kate Glavan, one of the main proponents of the "cancel Caleb" cult, led to her eventually deleting her account.

Looking for more of this year's best viral phenomena and memes? Be sure to check out our other 2022 meme roundups below:

• The Top 10 Memes Of 2022
• KYM Staff Picks Of 2022
• The Slang of 2022
• Breakthrough Meme Formats Of 2022
• The Year Of AI Generators
• Top Gaming Memes Of 2022
• Wildest Stories Of 2022
• Top Streamer Moments Of 2022
• Top TikToks Of 2022
• Top Lewd Memes Of 2022
• Trolls, Rumors and Hoaxes Of 2022
• Top Exploitables Of 2022
• Top Meme Creators Of 2022
• Top Meme Revivals Of 2022