And the winner of January 2026's Meme of the Month award, with over 22 percent of the total votes, is …

Skeleton Banging On Shield! This meme takes an animation of a Skyrim skeleton banging on its shield and combines it with a funny yelling noise and other elements to represent feelings of anger, frustration, determination or simply represent yourself screaming.

The meme started spreading at the end of 2025 but really found its footing in January as it spread across sites like YouTube, TikTok, Instagram Reels and X / Twitter, proving that Skyrim might just be an infinite source for memes.

This simple format got a lot of use in January as a way of sharing those moments when you just need to scream, much like a skeleton in a random Tamriel dungeon before charging to its demise against your level 30 orc barbarian. It was also recreated numerous times as meme lovers replaced the skeleton with other popular characters.

@source.paladins #screaming #meme #skeletonbangingonsheild #robloxfyp#fyp ♬ original sound – Source Paladins

@djams_pizzaplex Withered Freddy doing the "Skeleton Banging Shield" meme #fnaf #fivenightsatfreddys #fnaf2 #fnafmovie #fyp #witheredfreddy #raah ♬ original sound – DJam's Pizzaplex

@beenie_weanie RAGHHHH #skeleton #fyp #funny ♬ original sound – Truly_Gifted

@diasama47 Help~#skeletonshieldmeme #trend#ishowspeed#humor#viral ♬ son original – Eywe23

Amelia (Pathways)

In a close second place with over 19 percent of the total votes is Amelia, a character from the U.K.-government-funded educational game Pathways, who is meant to teach the youth about the dangers of extremism and radicalization.

Amelia is a college girl with a staunch anti-immigration stance. When you meet her in the game, you're meant to side against her. A certain section of the internet, however, had other ideas and turned her into a waifu and symbol for the online anti-immigration crowd.

This resulted in an absolute storm of AI-generated memes (and some genuine fan art) depicting Amelia making the most controversial takes possible regarding the U.K. and immigration laws.

Nihilist Penguin

Coming in third place with over 8 percent of the total votes is the Nihilist Penguin, a depressingly relatable series of memes based on a scene from a Werner Herzog film.

The memes come from the 2007 documentary Encounters at the End of the World. In the scene, a penguin is seen separating from its colony to head for the mountains. Herzog cannot understand why the penguin would do this and wonders if the animal has gone insane.

This clip has been spreading online for years now, but it got a huge boost in January across social media as people made sad, nihilist-driven edits, AI memes and more about the penguin who decided to do its own thing, the threat of death not even a thought in its mind.

City Boy! City Boy!

In fourth place with about 7 percent of the total votes is the return of the City Boy! meme.

The meme combines several reaction clips and starts with a clip of Deputy Durland from Gravity Falls yelling "City boy, city boy!" followed by clips of people laughing and acting shocked.

As a meme, the reaction video mashup is attached to other viral videos of someone epically burning someone else.

This meme first popped off on TikTok back in 2022, but it saw a massive resurgence in January 2026, becoming bigger than ever and inspiring lots of standalone edits and reaction images. This time around, it also became the subject of recreations, animations and brainrot-esque references.

@chickensandwhichnick City boy city goy #cityboy #cityboys #tuff #meme #funny ♬ original sound – ChickenSandwiches

@lkgainss City boyyy (I won a 40v1 btw) #cityboy #meme #40v1 #CapCut ♬ original sound – Lk

@mrgoatman87 KARMA BOIIII 🗿🗿🗿😈😈😈 #cityboy #karma #cityboi #funny #relatablevideos ♬ original sound – Ion man

@vristok City Boy Chico de Ciudad MEME PARODIA #cityboy #meme #humor ♬ sonido original – Vristok

Naoya Hair Flip

Finally, coming in at fifth place with about 7 percent of the total votes is Jujutsu Kaisen's Naoya Hair Flip meme.

The beloved and highly memed anime series Jujutsu Kaisen started its third season in January, and by episode two, it already inspired a huge meme thanks to Naoya's sassy mid-fight hair flip.

In the scene, while confidently fighting Choso, Naoya briefly brushes back his hair. The scene struck viewers as funny and iconic, and it was quickly shared online, becoming one of the biggest redraw formats of 2026 so far.

As a meme, the scene is redrawn and reanimated with other popular characters in an effort to imagine them with as much raw aura as Naoya.

And now for the memes that didn't quite make the top five.

Coming in at sixth place is the Yumeko Grabbing Her Chest meme, followed by Oi Oi Oi A Eye Eye, Listen Up Christopher, the 2016 Trend and Who Is This? in spot 10.

Then we had Franklin's Home Defense, the U.S. President's Ahegao face, the Gabagool Memes, Die In This House, Goo Goo Gaga Santa Claus and Zohran Mamdani and Ms. Rachel's 'Wah Wah Wah' clip.

Next was Nutella Tricks, the Steve Harrington Drawing, Conformity Gate, Kaboom Kablow, Cory In the House's Metacritic Raid, the Angry Boss With a Happy Family and the Orbology Girl.

Finally, at the very bottom of everything, was Eye of Horus, Performative Kai Cenat, Jestermaxxing, Who's In the Cage, NES for Nintendo Switch, Gween Bean, Go To Japan, Parryslop, El Wiro, Victoria Beckham's Dance, Hood Sax, New Restaurant Called Karma and Ashley Tisdale's Mom Group Drama.

Thank you for voting, and see you next month!