Internet Memes, Ranked

Rick Astley's video passed 1 billion YouTube views in July 2021, and in 2008 he won the MTV Europe 'Best Act Ever' award after online voting turned the ceremony into a mass rickroll. A 2008 SurveyUSA poll estimated at least 18 million U.S. adults had been rickrolled.

The original Kabosu photo sold as an NFT for roughly $4 million (1,696.9 ETH) to PleasrDAO in June 2021 — the most expensive meme NFT at the time — and Doge inspired Dogecoin, the first meme-based cryptocurrency, which grew into a multi-billion-dollar asset.

The Cincinnati Zoo gorilla shot in 2016 became a cultural phenomenon far beyond a normal meme, spawning 'dicks out for Harambe' and dominating internet discourse for months. Its sheer saturation and staying power earn top tier.

After a 2012 Reddit debut, Grumpy Cat spawned over 1,000 licensed products, best-selling books, and a Lifetime movie; in January 2018 a California jury awarded Grumpy Cat Limited $710,000 in a copyright and trademark infringement case against a beverage maker.

The video ranked #5 on YouTube's most-viewed list for 2011 and won the 2012 Webby Award for Meme of the Year. An updated version sold as an NFT for 300 ether (about $590,000) in February 2021, an early landmark of the meme NFT economy.

Often called 'the father of memes,' Trollface earned creator Carlos Ramirez more than $100,000 in licensing fees after he registered the copyright in 2010, with peak merchandise revenue around $15,000 a month.

PSY's 2012 horse-dance video was the first to hit a billion YouTube views and defined meme culture that year with countless parodies. Global reach is undeniable; slightly dated now keeps it out of S.

This Shutterstock photo was named Meme of the Year at the 10th Shorty Awards in 2018 (for 2017) and topped multiple year-end best-meme lists in 2017, praised for its endless permutations.

Lolcats went mainstream via I Can Has Cheezburger in 2007 and appeared on Entertainment Weekly's end-of-decade best-of list; 'lolcat' was recognized in American Dialect Society Word of the Year voting for its creative wordplay.

The Obama White House used it in 2013 to promote immigration reform, and a 2015 GoFundMe using the meme raised over $100,000 for the child's father's kidney transplant.

An early LOLcat spinoff, the cat peering through a ceiling hole became internet-religion shorthand ('Ceiling Cat is watching you'). Foundational to meme history but overshadowed by the broader Lolcat wave.

Chef Nusret Gokce's 2017 flamboyant salt-sprinkling flourish became one of the most parodied GIFs of the decade and pulled him into genuine celebrity. Widely recognized, though more a reaction GIF than a deep cultural moment.

Zoë Roth sold the 2005 photo as an NFT for 180 ether (about $487,000) in April 2021, using the proceeds to pay off her student loans while retaining copyright and a 10% resale share.

Current TV ranked the clip #2 on its '50 Greatest Viral Videos,' it spawned hundreds of 'play him off' derivative videos, and it later ran in a Wonderful Pistachios Super Bowl ad.

The late-2017/2018 VRChat 'do you know de wey' Knuckles swarm was massively viral but burned out fast and aged into cringe due to its association with mocking accents. A real meme, but a middling one.

Popular after its 2012 Reddit debut and used in ad campaigns, it earned Kyle Craven roughly $20,000 over three years and later sold as an NFT for about $36,000 — but it never reached the top-tier ubiquity of the cat and dog memes.

Laina Morris's 2012 Justin Bieber parody went viral fast, and the image later sold as an NFT for 200 ether ($411,000) in April 2021 — but the meme faded relatively quickly and Morris stepped away from YouTube by 2019.

Originally an innocent Matt Furie comic character, Pepe was added to the Anti-Defamation League's hate-symbol database in 2016 after being co-opted by the alt-right — a turn documented in the 2020 film Feels Good Man — even as Hong Kong protesters later reclaimed it as a resistance symbol.