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KYM Review: The Top 20 Memes Of 2024
Well, meme lovers, enthusiasts and enjoyers worldwide, another year has gone down in meme history, and as 2025 is creeping ever closer, it's time to take a good look back at the passing year and remember hundreds of amazing memes that brought so much joy to our lives in 2024.
We asked you to tell us which memes you liked most this year, with numerous responses soon pouring in. Now that the count is over, we have the ultimate list of just 20 memes that you, dear readers, named the best of the best.
Some of these were impossible to escape on TikTok, others blew up on X / Twitter and Reddit, but most were simply everywhere you went online. Regardless of where they came from, one thing is common: They all put a big smile on our faces.
Here are 2024's top 20 memes of the year, kicking things off with a quick roundup of honorable mentions first.
Honorable Mentions
So, before we jump into our top 20, let's take a brief moment to remember some memes that didn't get enough votes to get on our list but were just too memorable and impactful not to mention.
In 2024, we put Dancing Toothless on an infinite loop, learned the proper way to react when asked, "English or Spanish?," happily got promoted after becoming one of the elite employees, suddenly craved a cold bottle of Cerveza Cristal while watching Star Wars, observed nothing ever happening, experienced severe brainrot, were in awe of Trump's instantly iconic raised fist photograph, watched from the sidelines as Kendrick and Drake beefed with each other, consumed the cringe of the TikTok Rizz Party and experienced unexplained joy from watching the many antics of Moo-Deng the baby hippo.
20. Verbalase's $50K Hazbin Hotel AMV (2.2% of Votes)
YouTube creator and beatboxer Verbalase was already a known figure in memes for his viral "Low Tetris" beatbox and for being the person behind the "Cartoon Beatbox Battles" series.
In 2024, however, Verbalase went viral for a reason unrelated to his beatboxing talents after it was revealed that a few years back, the YouTuber casually dropped $50,000 to commission a music video in which an animated version of himself is getting chased around by a very infatuated Charlie Morningstar from Hazbin Hotel.
Verbalase later released a response in which he said that the unreleased video was meant for his secondary YouTube channel and a more mature audience, but hey, we're not kink-shaming here, and the memes were helluva good.
19. In The Stripped Club. Straight Up "Jorking It" (2.2% of Votes)
Among all the brainrot catchphrases and copypastas that 2024 gave us, "Jorkin It" stood out for its almost sophisticated kind of stupidness.
Its amazing way with words allowed the copypasta to contain any kind of reference while still remaining highly recognizable. The eloquence of "Jorkin it" should be studied, really, a top-notch pasta all around.
18. No Problem! Here’s the Information About the Mercedes CLR GTR (2.2% of Votes)
"No Problem! Here’s the Information About the Mercedes CLR GTR," a cryptic copypasta about a non-existent Mercedes model, plagued Instagram posts and Reels so much in 2024 that it became a subject of memes.
The most bizarre thing about the pesky pasta is that nobody knows for sure why exactly it was being used in the first place, with the common theory being that it was utilized by bots to make their content appear more educational so the algorithm picked them up. A certified "Beautiful Cabin Crew 🌹" moment right here.
17. KSI's "Thick Of It" (2.2% of Votes)
Let's be real here, YouTuber KSI's song "Thick of It" is not considered by many to be a musical masterpiece by a long shot, but it would not have gotten nearly as much hate as it did if it wasn't released immediately after KSI's involvement in the Lunchly controversy and his attempts to start a beef with Minecraft YouTuber DanTDM.
The freshly released rap song got instantly weaponized against its creator, with the lyric "from the screen to the ring to the pen to the king" becoming a particularly prevalent spam comment in almost every one of KSI's comment sections, especially in its emojipasta form. "Thick of It" may not have been the worst rap song of 2024, but it surely was the most memed one.
16. Akakichi no Eleven Redraws (2.4% of Votes)
Even if you've never learned the proper name of the meme format in which a large-chinned dude puts his hand on another guy's shoulder, you've surely seen it before.
A frame from an obscure 1970s soccer anime Akakichi no Eleven achieved unexpected virality this year both as a redraw and reaction, all thanks to it being able to convey a very specific range of emotions: condescension, patronization and reminding the little bro that they are the lil bro. You won't find another reaction that can communicate all of that half as clearly as this banger of a meme does.
15. Freaky 👅 (2.4% of Votes)
While the Chinese calendar might try to convince you that 2024 was the "Year of the Dragon," we here at Know Your Meme know that 2024 was actually the "Year of the Freak."
The 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓴𝔂 aesthetic, a subset of Papyrus Irony memes that made use of over-editing and filters like Rio De Janeiro, took over Instagram, eventually giving birth to its ultimate champion, Freakbob. Santa will decide if you were freaky or nice in 2024, and, brother and sisters, we're afraid we're all on a list here.
14. Queen Never Cry (2.4% of Votes)
Born to cry but forced to lock in at the age of 10 seconds, the little queen from The Ki Sisters manhwa taught us all that slaying is an innate skill.
The Queen Never Cry and her expression of stoic composure was something that equally endeared and impressed users on every platform as the meme quickly spawned seemingly every type of fan labor from fancams on TikTok to redraws on X / Twitter.
13. That Feeling When Knee Surgery Is Tomorrow (2.6% of Votes)
While the ironic That Feeling When Knee Surgery is Tomorrow joke didn't start in 2024 – in fact, it's been used since 2021 – the addition of the smirking Blue Grinch breathed a new life into the meme — or maybe it was the fact that since 2021, we have all gotten three years older and the joke became just a tiny bit more relevant for many of us.
Whatever the case may be, Knee Surgery Is Tomorrow memes were so massive on TikTok this year that simply posting a Blue Grinch has become sufficient enough to notify everyone that a medical procedure on a lower limb is imminent.
12. Brother, Ew! What's That? (2.6% of Votes)
The expression of pure uninhibited repulsion that Muslim lecturer Mohamed Hoblos managed to produce with his "Ew, Brother, Ew! What's That?" remark has set a new worldwide standard for expressing sheer disgust.
The GOATed clip has remained a prominent reaction format throughout the entire year, coming in handy every time when something people didn't ask for and didn't care for happened anyway. You know how to react the next time someone brings something terrible to your timeline.
11. Yusuf Dikeç Turkish Pistol Shooter (2.9% of Votes)
His drip? Impeccable. His gear? Nonexistent. His aim? Straight.
For many, Turkish Olympic shooter Yusuf Dikeç, who won a silver medal at the 10M air pistol event while looking like he was not even trying, was the main character of the entire 2024 Summer Paris Olympics.
Jokes that Dikeç was secretly a hitman and many pieces of fan art dedicated to him quickly came pouring in, many of them also featuring the cold-as-ice South Korean shooter Kim Yeji who left almost as big a mark on meme culture this summer.
10. Sad Hamster (3.1% of Votes)
https://www.tiktok.com/embed/v2/7333332260483009835
Opening our top 10 is the very cute yet very sad Violin Hamster, also known simply as Sad Hamster, and not to be confused with Hampter.
Back in February, people discovered that they felt exactly like how the sorrowful creature looked at least one time in their lives, which opened floodgates to a spew of memes in which the sad-looking hamster got captioned with stressful and traumatic situations that anyone could relate to. Bonus lore: the hamster's name is Tifa (no relation), and she is owned by Instagram user monyo_melo.
9. Absolute Cinema, Kino Is Served (3.9% of Votes)
While the Absolute Cinema reaction image, originally featuring Martin Scorsese throwing his hands in the air, is originally a derivative of the quite similar This Is Cinema meme, the student has since far surpassed the master, becoming a wildly popular reaction for whenever peak kino gets served.
We say "originally featuring" because there have been hundreds of redraws that replaced the Oscar-winning filmmaker with characters from all sorts of media, and many of these versions quickly became the default in their respective fandoms. Let's hope that 2025 serves us more kino in all areas of human creativity so this reaction can see some more use.
8. Bro Visited His Friend (4.1% of Votes)
Comic artist Fallenchungus was responsible for not one, not two, but SEVEN format entries made on our site this year, and yet this one stands out as one of the most memorable two-panel formats of the year.
Exhibiting the art of the instant conversation-stopper, the Bro Visited His Friend meme started off slow with some recaptions but blew up after a Tumblr user came up with the phrase "Friendpilled Visitmaxxer," which was quickly followed with the most lobotomized yet hilarious versions users could think off.
From there, the format developed further, being adopted for pop culture references, but one thing remained unchanged: bro’s nonplussed expression, a reminder that at our very core, we all still yearn for Rage Comics.
7. Erm, What the Sigma? (4.6% of Votes)
https://www.tiktok.com/embed/v2/7342629875255168298
Representing the "phrases you hear in a specific way" category, we have the "Erm, What the Sigma?" remark, which can only legally be said aloud in Squidward's nasal voice.
An off-spin of iFunny's Erm… What the Deuce meme, itself based on Stewie Griffin's exclamation from Family Guy, What the Sigma has been one of the defining brainrot catchphrases of the year and has surely annoyed hundreds of teachers across the continental United States.
6. Imagine If Ninja Got a Low Taper Fade (5.1% of Votes)
https://www.tiktok.com/embed/v2/7323285519163526442
"Imagine what the world could be li-" old news, fella! Imagine if Ninja got a low taper fade instead. It's possible! It could be done!
Started by a viral freestyle by another Twitch streamer, the line implanted itself into people's heads like a Dune-sized earworm, spawning a shared dream for millions of TikTokers which, months later, is yet to come true. We got a Tfue high taper fade as a consolation prize though.
Eventually, people called Ninja out for dragging out the meme and calling it "still massive" months after its peak popularity. Look, we're not trying to hate, but it did get sixth place on this poll, so maybe Ninja was not in the wrong after all.
5. Galvanized Steel and Eco-Friendly Wood Veneers (6.3% of Votes)
Opening up our top five are the two harbingers of Unhinged Home Design memes — the Galvanized Steel and Eco-Friendly Wood Veneers.
The two components essential for a successful design of a tiny living space have been mentioned in nearly every Unhinged Home Design video, leading to the running gag soon leaking and spilling all over TikTok and getting referenced in videos far detached from anything related to home renovation.
https://www.tiktok.com/embed/v2/7358826361991089450
Now that the craze is over, we're wondering, "Have these memes actually led anyone to use eco-friendly wood veneer and galvanized square steel to improve their living conditions? Has anyone borrowed some screws from their aunt and to make more use of their home space?" We kind of hope so.
4. A Circle?? In the Triangle Factory?? (7.3% of Votes)
One of the best exploitable meme formats of the year, A Circle?? In the Triangle Factory?? has allowed so much variation that it's impossible to pinpoint a singular meme captioning the essence of the format.
What started as a two-panel meme about two workers (yes, they are actually supposed to be different guys) reacting to a blue circle popping out of a machine in a triangle factory has become an inspiration for endless memes about companies that produce more than one type of product, pop culture references and inevitable multi-layered meta memes.
A version based on Weird Al Yankovic's "Hardware Store" has been a definite fan favorite. Want to watch it again by any chance?
i guess we doin hardware stores now pic.twitter.com/SQjkYTWz6h
— Hours (@0600Hours) August 26, 2024
3. Hawk Tuah Girl (11.2% of Votes)
You knew it was gonna be here, we knew it was going to be here, the only question was how high would it end up on this list. In third place on our 2024 podium, we have Hawk Tuah, 2024's strongest infohazard that permanently rearranged the brain structure of seemingly everyone who saw or heard it.
It all started as a viral Instagram video in which one Haliey Welch of Nashville, Tennessee masterfully employed onomatopoeia to answer the question, "What's one move in bed that makes a man go crazy every time?" providing her now-iconic answer:
You got to hawk tuah and spit on that thing, you get me?
The wildest part of the story was not how far and how quickly the Hawk Tuah brainrot spread on social media, but how famous it made Haliey Welch herself. Within days of the meme going viral, Welch was slinging merch with the quote. Within weeks, she made guest appearances on shows and at concerts.
Two months of the entire Western internet hawk tuahing later, she launched her own Talk Tuah podcast, itself spawning a few memes and, just recently, her meme coin $HAWK caused a major scandal after investors got mercilessly rug pulled. Whether Hawk Tuah Girl's fame continues into 2025 or she fades slowly into obscurity, this meme gave us a rags-to-riches story we won't soon forget.
2. Brazilian Miku (11.9% of Votes)
In the second place this year, we have everyone's beloved Vocaloid, Hatsune Miku! But not it's not just your normal Miku this time, it's her alternative versions from every country on Earth and every fandom in existence.
This year's biggest fan art craze started with artist @ErinArtista posting artwork of Brazilian Miku tanned with visible tan lines, wearing sunglasses on her head, a crop top with the flag of Brazil on it and short denim shorts.
Two months later, another artist posted an artwork inspired by it, and the rest is meme history, as the design inspired hundreds of artists to share their versions of Brazilian Miku, which was followed by artists taking the idea further and creating versions of Miku from France, Poland, Mexico and other countries, and furthermore yet as Miku started traveling through fandoms.
Suffice it to say, we've got hundreds of amazing artworks for every Miku fan to enjoy and built an entire Mikuverse together in the process.
1. Chill Guy (17.6% of Votes)
You know him, you love him, but at the end of the day, he's "just a chill guy" who lowkey enjoys being in the spotlight and casually winning meme of the year awards.
Featured not once but twice on our "Meme of the Month" polls due to him chilling on TikTok for a couple of months before making it big everywhere else, its My New Character, also known as "Chill Guy," whom you have collectively crowned the top meme of 2024.
There are layers to the Chill Guy though. The character, made by artist and Twitter user @PhilippBankss just weeks after the suspiciously similar Kevin James Smirking meme went viral, screams being chill: comfy clothes and hands in pockets, laughing eyes, lips pressed in a nonchalant smirk.
In recent weeks amid the massive meme coin craze and the meme's second resurgence, the Chill Guy token, dubbed $CHILLGUY, also notably became one of the biggest around reaching a market cap of over $304 million.
Staying naturally chill and innocuous at all times also makes Chill Guy a character who is easy to relate to. Yeah, you can get mad about our interests and hyperfixations, and, yeah, they can get a little too much sometimes, but in the end, we are just normal guys who can get a little carried away — and there's no reason to get mad about it.
Looking for more of this year's best viral phenomena and memes? Be sure to check out our other 2024 meme roundups below:
- The Top 20 Memes Of 2024
- KYM Staff Picks Of 2024 — Coming soon…
- Top Slang Terms Of 2024
- Top Gaming Memes Of 2024
- Top Trolls, Rumors and Hoaxes Of 2024
- Wackiest Stories Of 2024
- Top Viral Videos Of 2024
-
Top Anime Memes Of 2024
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