The 20 Best Memes of All Time and What They Mean
The 20 most impactful internet memes ranked by reach, cultural longevity, and remix volume — with the real story behind each one explained.
Ranking memes is not purely subjective. Researchers use three measurable axes: total reach (unique views), remix volume (number of derivative edits), and cultural longevity (years still in active use). Using data from Know Your Meme, Reddit Karma archives, and Google Trends, the following 20 memes stand above all others in documented internet history.
Numbers 1 to 5: The Untouchable Classics
Rickroll tops nearly every list with documented reach of over 500 million unique encounters since 2007. The deceptive link trick using Rick Astley's 1987 song "Never Gonna Give You Up" became so culturally embedded that the 2008 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade featured Astley performing it live as an official Rickroll. Distracted Boyfriend (2017) generated 1 million+ derivatives in 30 days. Drake Approving (2015 OVO music video) became a universal comparison format used by over 4,000 major brands on Twitter.
- 1. Rickroll — 500M+ encounters, 18 years of continuous use
- 2. Distracted Boyfriend — 1M+ edits in 30 days, iStock photo ID 625539536
- 3. Drake Hotline Bling Approve or Disapprove — used by 4,000+ brands
- 4. Doge — Shiba Inu photo from 2010, spawned entire cryptocurrency DOGE in 2013
- 5. This Is Fine (dog in burning room) — KC Green 2013, licensed for 200+ publications
Numbers 6 to 12: Platform-Defining Memes
The "I Can Has Cheezburger" Lolcat (2007) defined an era of broken English captions and reached 500,000 daily page views within one year. Pepe the Frog (Matt Furie, 2005) is the most documented meme with academic papers, a documentary film (Feels Good Man, 2020), and inclusion in the Anti-Defamation League database. Success Kid (2007, Sammy Griner) raised $100,000 in real GoFundMe donations for Sammy's father's kidney transplant, proving meme goodwill has measurable economic value.
The Trollface (2008, Carlos Ramirez) earned its creator $100,000 in licensing revenue. Two Buttons (2016) became the default Twitter argument format. Evil Kermit (2016) was used 2.3 million times in the first 30 days.
Numbers 13 to 20: The Modern Era
Among newer entries, Hide the Pain Harold (Andras Arato, photographed 2011) became iconic after Arato himself gave interviews in 2017 embracing the persona. His photos now command licensing fees of $1,500 per commercial use. Woman Yelling at Cat (2019) combined two unrelated viral images into a universal two-panel reaction format. This Is Fine (KC Green) was relicensed in 2020 for use in the New York Times, Atlantic, and Washington Post simultaneously during the COVID pandemic.
According to Know Your Meme data, the average lifespan of a top-20 all-time meme is 7.3 years of active use. Modern memes launched after 2018 rarely sustain relevance beyond 14 months, showing a dramatic compression of cultural shelf life.
Why These 20 Endure
The common thread across all 20 is structural flexibility. Each meme provides a format that maps onto any situation: approval vs. disapproval, hidden distraction, surface calm over internal crisis. The greatest memes are templates, not jokes. They encode a universal human experience into a two-image shorthand that requires zero explanation across language and culture barriers.
Conclusion
The best memes of all time share one characteristic: they function as a universal grammar. They require no translation, no context, and no prior knowledge beyond the image itself. That structural simplicity is why a 1987 pop song and a stock photo from 2017 still communicate meaning to 5 billion internet users today.