About

The Great Meme Reset of 2026, also known as Meme Reset 2026 or Great Meme Reset 2026, refers to an internet campaign suggesting that memes should "reset" at the start of 2026 and revert from brainrot back to dank memes from the 2010s, including iconic memes such as Big Chungus and Ugandan Knuckles, and old internet memes, like Rage Comics, Advice Animals and MLG Montage Parodies, among others. Some posts specified that on January 1st, 2026, memes would reset to January 1st, 2016.

The Meme Reset idea was largely a reaction to the March 2025 Meme Drought and the flood of TikTok Niche Community's "niche" memes in September 2025. Many TikTok trends that were created during both months were intentionally forced memes, which generated some backlash from internet users who thought the practice was corny, cringe and unfunny. The Great Meme Reset of 2026 was essentially proposed to make memes funny again.

The term was coined on TikTok in late September 2025, and then across social media platforms like Instagram, Reddit and Twitter / X heading into October 2025.

Origin

On March 13th, 2025, TikToker^[1] @joebro909 posted a video skit about two male characters discussing the then-ongoing March 2025 Meme Drought, also known as the Meme Depression. The video's text overlay caption read, "The great meme reset" and the skit's overarching premise was about wiping every single meme from history in order to save TikTok from the drought. The video received roughly 33,700 likes in seven months.

Although @joebro909's video was about a "great meme reset," it didn't establish the year 2026 as a start date, nor did it involve resetting memes to the 2010s. It rather referenced resetting all memes, but the video's subject and term, "The Great Meme Reset," likely inspired later use.

On April 24th, Redditor yukifujita shared an Advice Dog meme to the /r/Memes ^[9] subreddit that had Impact font captions reading, "Reject modernity / Return to doggo." Redditor yukifujita captioned it, "We need a reset," gaining over 18,000 upvotes in six months.

On September 16th, 2025, TikToker^[2] @ieat_mangoes shared a video that had a text caption reading, "Our memes are so buns now. I propose 'The Great Meme Reset.' Spread the word," which was overlayed on top of a video slideshow, compiling several then-recent "niche" memes like Doi Doi Doi, Eggsuka, Fa Mulan and Totr. The video did not specify the year 2026. It received over 12,500 likes in a month.

On September 20th, TikToker^[3] @golden._vr posted a video that built on the premise, which included a background video of a clock ticking and a text overlay caption reading, "The last resort for memes. The Great Meme Reset. December 31st, 2025, 11:59. Memes are rising from the grave." In the video's description, @golden._vr added a hashtag that named the MLG Revival trend that started in October 2023. Over one month, the video received over 368,300 likes and is currently the first known reference to the Great Meme Reset of 2026.

Spread

On September 23rd, 2025, TikToker^[6] @gary4snailzz posted a Kirk Franklin Eating an Apple meme that followed the "How It Feels To Be On X While My Class Is On Y" phrasal template, referencing the old internet memes Yee and Chocolate Rain. The video's description included a Meme Reset hashtag. Over one month, it gained roughly 35,700 likes.

On October 1st, TikToker^[4] @bloxadise shared a video, using the Tung Tung Tung Sahur Song, using the clip of Doctor Strange flying through space,^[5] paired with the caption, "January 1st, 2026. The Great Meme Reset We will return to January 1st, 2016. This will be our outro for 2025." Over four weeks, the video received roughly 10,900 likes.

On October 18th, 2025, TikToker^[7] @anti.spawnism24 shared a meme that riffed on the Meme Reset 2026 idea, showing a compilation of pre-2025 memes, including Ugandan Knuckles, Ainsley Harriott and Shocked Black Guy. The video received over 487,600 likes in nine days.

On October 19th, Instagram^[8] user @uncrustamemes reposted @anti.spawnism24's video, gaining over 59,700 likes in eight days.

On October 24th, 2025, Redditor Fun-Mud4049 shared a post to the /r/thomastheplankengine^[10] subreddit about a meme they dreamed about occurring after the Great Meme Reset that was based on the number 68, riffing on the 67 Meme. Over three days, the post received over 2,500 upvotes.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References