2020 Will Be Better

About

2020 Will Be Better is a popular phrase used facetiously to describe the prediction that the year 2020 will bring more good fortune than 2019. The phrase came into common usage on Twitter in early 2020 following the escalation of tension between the United States and Iran, leading many to fear the outbreak of World War 3, but would soon include other events such as the outbreak of COVID-19 coronavirus, the death of Kobe Bryant and more.

Origin

The origin of the phrase likely predates its internet usage. However, there were a number of instances of variations of the meme being used in 2019. For example, on November 18th, 2019, the YouTube channel The Infographics Show published the video "Why 2020 Will Be a Horrible Year." The video received more than 1.4 million views in less than six months (shown below, left).

Less than a month later, on November 28th, Redditor ^[1] obesewan_canoli published a Putting on Clown Makeup meme that ends with the clown next to the phrase "2020 Will Be Better," indicating that the thought is foolish (shown below, right).

Spread

Shortly after the new year began, sarcastic "2020 will be better" jokes rose in popularity, particularly on January 3rd, 2020, when tensions between the U.S. and Iran escalated, raising the possibility of war between the nations (example below).

By the end of the month, the format became more common. As a number of major crises, disasters and tragedies, such as the Australian bushfires, the outbreak of COVID-19 coronavirus and Kobe Bryant's death, overtook the news cycle, people joked about their optimism for 2020. On January 26th, for example, Twitter^[2] user @c3rvantes17 shared a photograph of actor Anthony Anderson crying under the caption "2019 ends: '2020 will be better' 2020: Australia on fire, ww3 incoming, China has a virus and Kobe Bryant dies all within 26 days." The post received more than 285 likes and 100 retweets in less than two months (shown below, left).

Over the next two months, and as the threat of COVID-19 grew to become a global pandemic, the format became more common, reaching an inflection point on March 11th. That day, a number of popular tweets helped make the format spread at a massive rate. For example, that day, Twitter^[3] user @queersocialism retweeted a January 1 tweet the posted saying that they were optimistic about 2020 and added the comment "i should’ve just sat there and ate my food." The tweet received more than 200,000 likes and 41,000 retweets in less than two days (shown below, right).

That day, Twitter user @RandyEmillio posted a clip of mass hysteria and disaster from the American animated series SpongeBob SquarePants with the caption "Us: 2020 is gonna be our year *3 months later*." The post received more than 8.3 million views, 928,000 likes and 339,000 retweets in less than two days (shown below).

On March 11th, 2020, Mashable ^[4] published an article about the meme.

Us: 2020 is gonna be our year

3 months later pic.twitter.com/M73neen4bp

— Randy Emillio (@RandyEmillio) March 11, 2020

Various Examples

Me: "The depression has truly lifted. I'm ready to get back to life and people and everything the world has to offer. 2020 is going to be MY year!"

The coronavirus: pic.twitter.com/h3K7JxxLQB

— Jonathan Apollo (@IAmJonnyApollo) March 10, 2020

Search Interest

External References