The best memes of 2021, from TikTok to YouTube

It was great fun to have a lot more fun online this year. This included exploring subcultures, very specific content and tons and tons memes. We’ve decided to share some of our favorites from the past year.

Our taste spans platforms and genres — everything from anime to funny pets to Twilight behind-the-scenes footage. These short videos are the bulk of this list because many of us were deeply involved in TikTok 2021. This list isn’t exhaustive, of course. It is impossible to find all of these gifts on the internet. These all share one thing in common: they made us smile, even though we were going through a tough year.

This list is for anyone who sent a friend a TikTok of a pet doing cursed things, or had to explain Gojo’s entire backstory on the internet. Here are Polygon’s favorite memes of 2021.

Look at the following:

Kid Cudi’s “Day ‘n’ Nite” was a hugely popular TikTok sound this year. Creators used the “now look at this” bit of the song, and made edits that highlighted something worth paying attention to — from cute animal footage, to absurd comedy.

One of our favorite versions involved Twilight fans sharing behind-the-scenes footage — like Taylor Lautner wearing a morph suit when shooting the scenes where he was CGI’d as a wolf. Kristen Stewart pet Lautner in behind-the scenes footage The morph suitWhile he was playing the role of his werewolf-sona. Also included is funny footage where Robert Pattinson can’t do basic summersaults in scenes when Edward and Bella appear to be vampires.

Though the Twilight series was thoroughly dragged when it first came out, it’s safe to say it’s now a stone cold classic. There are many parts that have had their shining moment in the sunshine.

Around the release Pokémon Brilliant Diamond Shining Pearl, users on Twitter participated in a trend where fans pretended to tweet and talk online as if Pokémon were real. Some of the jokes made reference to how bizarre it would have been for these monsters to do everyday tasks like eating lunch. It’s a fun joke format that later on was adapted to more games, like Bloodborne.

This is the BOYYY

Hear the intro melody of “Here comes the …” and you might have an idea of what follows: An adorable pet rounding the corner, basking in sunlight, or otherwise looking cute as hell. The remix of the song (which I like to think of as the “goblin version”) turns the audio into a semi-screamed absurd rendition, which TikTokers used to expose all the weird, chaotic things their pets do.

There isn’t a single version of this audio, when attached to a pet video, that isn’t pure perfection and that we won’t instantly watch. Then, rewatch and rewatch and rewatch.

UntertaleToby Fox’s creator decided to give fans a break after this year’s difficult times: He surprised everyone by releasing one chapter from his brand new game. Deltarune. Chapter 2 was more than just a collection of new chiptune songs and quirky characters. It also revived a long-term fandom.

One product of this included a new meme format where Suzie, an angry school bully, shouts at the other main character, “God FUCKING DAMMIT Kris where the FUCK are we.” The trend caught the attention of fans, and soon people photoshopped the two in a wide variety of games like Pokémon and Doki Doki Literature Club.

These movies feature Chris Pratt. Please, stop casting him in them

No movie, or TV show was safe after Chris Pratt had been cast as Garfield’s voice. What other roles could the actor be offered?

The question is what a whole new line of memes centers around. The images simply joked that Pratt had been cast in various films and projects that seemed like a longshot for the actor’s participation. Some joked that Pratt had been chosen for projects such as the animated adaptation of Critical Role. One producer even confirmed Pratt’s involvement in a new Netflix anime series.

Simlish pop songs

If you’ve played even just one Sims game, then you know Sims speak their own gibberish language, Simlish — and that pop artists have created Simlish version of their hits, which are featured as music in the game. TikTok allows talented musicians to create their own Simlish versions of popular songs. Their versions sound convincing.

You just got Gojo’d

Since the original anime was released, Jujutsu KaisenSatoru Gojo is a popular TikTok meme and trend. In the show, he’s a suave and all-powerful Jujutsu sorcerer. On TikTok, he’s the butt of nearly every joke under the sun. You can find one of the biggest trends nestled under a sound titled, “gojo horror film” where folks use an audio of him talking in Japanese along with a shitty AR filter that added him to the scenery. The single voiceline inspired others, such as the one picturing Makima in the manga. Chainsaw ManThe exact same thing.

Another trend included “You just got Gojo’d,” where TikTokers would Photoshop Gojo’s ice-blue eyes and outfit onto photos. They include bizarre subjects like Shrek and the Eiffel tower. There is another version of this trend as well, where people would pull a mask over their friends’ eyes to “Gojo” them, since he regularly wears a blindfold. As for this prank, the Gojo version is not the only version of this trend — TikTokers would also use phrases like “You just got Coconut Malled” which is a reference to the Coconut Mall track in Mario Kart Wii(), Rickrolling people using the Mario game.

Denis Villeneuve’s DuneIn an explosion of Melanges, still-suit water recycled and boxes full of pain, came out in this year. Mr. Dune attracted a lot this year. (I am sure his name is Paul Atreides. Please just follow along.) The film adaptation of the first part of an important work in science fiction was well received.

Duncan Idaho was the charismatic and charismatic swordmaster that first featured in the 1965 novel. This moniker is what stole the show. In a world of futuristic inventions and namesakes, “Duncan Idaho” stood out as particularly comical, and became the subject of a number of Twitter jokes.

Dio pose

Jojo’s Bizarre AdventureThe title is not as unusual as it seems. The anime series — which got a new season on Netflix this year — features fabulously flamboyant characters with a sharp sense of style that looks straight off of a runway for an experimental fashion show.

Based on Hirohiko Araki’s manga, Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure skews towards the absurd — early in the first season a vampire fuses with Jojo’s dead grandpa. It’s only fitting then that the characters and rock-inspired soundtrack inspired a TikTok trend. In it, TikTokers see how far back they can lean back (as if in an extreme form of limbo), to the track, “Giorno’s Theme.” The trend is a fun ode to the ridiculous and contorted poses struck by the anime’s characters.

Mordetwi

Many unexpected twists, turns were expected in 2021. One of them being: the revival of B.o.B.’s and Hayley Williams’ 2010 hit, “Airplanes.” What brought it back, you ask? Oh that’s simple! It was Mordecai fanart. Regular Show and My Little Pony’s own Twilight Sparkle. The inter-franchise “ship” — a term for when fans pair characters romantically — was depicted via a crude digital drawing, which included lyrics from the popular song. The two became so popular that TikTok had a lot of variants.

It smells like a baka

“You kind of smell… like a baka… Eren Yeager.”

This year, these words, spoken by a mouse-like, screeky voice, were reverberated throughout our minds. The sound is a love letter to the more cringe parts of anime fandom — “Baka” is the Japanese phrase for idiot and Eren Yeager is a character from the popular anime Attack on Titan. The sound is connected to other anime related trends — like shouting Eren Yeager at the movie theater and manga fans going to hang out in the Barnes & Noble. This sound, like many other anime sounds, became mainstream. It eventually included a variety of online pet videos.

Pop songs for big mouths

Do you remember those wall mounted animatronic bass that sing “Take Me to the River” — complete with a tail tapping to the rhythm? People have found a way to use the Big Mouth Billy Bass for other songs. You can see the mouth moving along with the lyrics. A wall-mounted fish performing “Down with the Sickness” by the Disturbed, looks pretty out of place, but in the best way possible.

Castaways / Into the Thick Of It

If you listened to songs from the children’s show, BackyardigansTikTokers may be to blame for this year’s success. Songs from Nickelodeon’s show were pushed to the top by users on this platform. Tracks like “Into The Thick Of It” and “Castaways” were being spun into content from top creators and bonafide celebrities like pop artist Lizzo. This bizarre craze saw the songs even made it onto YouTube top of music charts on Spotify. Every song is unique, and people dance to its playful beats. It also spawned satirical covers with lyrics like, “I’m fucking sick of it.”

Dwayne Croc Johnson

This one is pretty self-explanatory — it’s right there in the name. But here’s a little context: Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has built such a strong action hero career, over the years, (including a recent turn in Fortnite as The Foundation) that he’s also become a kind of meme figure. One TikToker used a 3D printer in order to remember a particular meme.

Dwayne “The Croc” Johnson looks just like a regular Croc except for one key distinction: the bust of Dwayne Johnson bursting out of the top. My opinion: Perfect for all occasions. Let’s goooooo.

Henry Cavill is a big fan of Warhammer

Henry Cavill has made it very clear that he loves Warhammer — he has apparently played Total War: Warhammer 2 six times, according to PC Gamer — and that he’s spent a significant portion of the pandemic painting his miniatures. The character of the Warhammer 2DLC was even inspired by him. That said, every time the news comes up again, it’s a pure delight. And this year, during a WitcherCon interview (to chat about his role as Geralt in the Netflix series) he once again mentioned his abiding love for the game — such is the depth of his passion, that it has emerged on press tours for various other projects.

NSFW Ankha and Camel-by Camel

Ankha, my beloved, I am so sorry that you didn’t do anything to merit the love and attention that was coming your way. A pornographic animated of an Animal Crossing villager, created by Zone (a popular digital animator), went viral on TikTok earlier this year. The clips became so big that the trend also coincidentally popularized the song in the video, the 1985 track by Sandy Marton “Camel by Camel.” Zone released the video in early 2021, but it found new life on the platform last fall. It was one of 2021’s biggest trends — and we only hope that the poor villager finds peace.

Dungeons & Dragons archery styles

There is a thriving Dungeons & Dragons TikTok scene with tons of subcommunities and memes, from short-form videos of people’s play sessions, to dice makers showing off their process, to alignment chart memes. And some of these revolve around what a certain character class would do with a specific weapon — like this TikTok of various archery styles across D&D character classes like rangers, monks, bards, rogues, and barbarians.

Bella! You are a scumbag!

Twihards is also being re-visited this year New Moon’s wonderfully ridiculous plot. Edward flees town in the hope that Bella will forget about him and allow her to live her normal life. Instead, she seeks out near-death experiences — like driving a motorcycle off a cliff — which allow her to hallucinate him. Jacob, Jacob’s sexy wewolf friend, is the only one who can save her. In this iconic scene of their reunion, Jacob greets her with the famous, completely unwarranted line “Bella! Where the hell have you been loca.” In 2021, TikTokers, YouTubers, and Twitter users rediscovered this line and launched it into the stratosphere — which led to it taking up a life of its own on shirts and cakes, and other merch.

It’s a great feeling to wake up and think about many things.

TikTok’s 2014 soundtrack was this music. It allowed users to upload their worst childhood memories or embarrassing drunk moments. Celebrities even got involved in the movement. It is an audio clip from an episode The Real Housewives of New JerseyThe original broadcast of this song aired on September 11, 2011. A 10-year-old Gia Giudice sings this song at her sister’s birthday party. It was the rest.