The Best Memes of the Decade
Memes Are Love, Memes Are Life
Memes are art.
Memes are High Art. For nearly a century, memes have been a source of joy and humour for all and have been so for all 21 years of my existence. Meme templates have served as both lighthearted comic distractions as well as veritable weapons of mass destruction—and everything in between.
The 2010s have given birth to absolute gems of comedy and will set the standard for memes of any kind. Did we know how big memes were going to get? Absolutely not.
Memes have been with you every step of the way and always will be. From your earliest memories of scrolling through 9Gag and iFunny up until today—where memes control every aspect of your life and you cannot properly function or interact with other people without them.
We figured it would be only right to showcase some of the most creative, colourful, and long-lasting memes to ever distract you from your schoolwork. So, without further ado, please enjoy our countdown of the best memes of the decade.
Kermit Memes
So fresh, so versatile, so iconic. There’s no aspect of life that Kermit memes don’t poke fun at in some way, shape, or form. Its universality and the simplicity of the format made it so that Kermit memes really was fun for the whole family. V Wholesome.
They Did Surgery on a Grape
ThEy DiD sUrGeRy On A gRaPe. A wonderful example of shitposting, They Did Surgery on a Grape memes are so wonderfully idiotic that you can’t help but laugh at how inventive some people get.
don’t let the fights tonight distract you from the fact that they did surgery on a grape pic.twitter.com/clL37h3B3S
— cotydankh (@dankhcoty) March 23, 2019
After having a recent rebirth, it was a fun reminder of just how odd and creative the parodies of the original video can get:
two doctors collapse after a 32 hour surgery on a grape pic.twitter.com/tyvWWcQr7b
— alexa (@playnikes) November 14, 2019
Historical Memes
This is more an ode to old war memes than anything else. World War II has more than its fair share of material to work with. It works so well because of how perfectly it inspires crossovers with other meme formats. Every other meme in this list has dipped its toe in the realm of historical memery and has been a mainstay in the world of visual tomfoolery.
Deep-Fried Memes
They’re just so dumb. They’re the meme equivalent of “Why did the chicken cross the road?” They are the anti-meme. Shitposting in its purest form, deep-fried memes have kept us laughing for as long as you could over-saturate a picture and throw in some WordArt.
Spider-man
Spoder-Man, Two Spider-Men pointing at each other, “Me and the Boys,” Spider-Man just chillin’ behind a desk, and literally just Tobey Maguire’s face, to name a few. Spider-Man is another one of those memes that will always both hold relevance and find an infinite amount of ways to entertain. And given Sony’s borderline obsessive need to reboot the character every couple of years, I see no end in sight for the meme that is your friendly neighbourhood Spider-man.
Jealous GF
Simple, effective, timeless. No matter the situation, it’s one of the most versatile meme formats of the decade and will be relevant and effective long after we leave the 2010s behind.
Area 51
Never in history has a meme taken over every aspect of pop culture so quickly. After the Facebook event was created, it only took a couple of weeks before it had almost four million people responding to the event. What followed was a flood of memes the likes of which I had never seen before.
They covered every corner of the internet and left a permanent mark on pop culture in 2019 as a whole. Not to mention the quality of the memes. Such a wide variety of humour joined forces under the banner of Area 51 and the meme community is definitely better off for it.
It was all just…
chef’s kiss
He’s training to free the aliens at Area 51… pic.twitter.com/5oz1Q5rUZ6
— Guy (@apiecebyguy) July 15, 2019
Doge
much dog. such meme. wow.
The OGs
There’s isn’t much to dive in here. These are the originals. These are your first love. They are in large part what got you into memes and they’re also the reason I had over 10,000 pictures on my iPod in eighth grade. Everyone from Bad Luck Brian to Philosoraptor holds a special place in everyone’s heart and should be immortalized.
SpongeBob
How does one begin to talk about the absolute genius in the art of memery that is SpongeBob SquarePants? When taking memes into account, two factors rise above all: quality and longevity. Not only has SpongeBob managed to inspire countless memes—SpOnGeBoB sQuArEpAnTs, SpongeGar, Winded SpongeBob, Mister Krabs, Patrick on the ceiling, Muscular SpongeBob, and the most recent “imma head out” to only name a few—but he’s also one of the most important musical artists of the decade.
“Sweet Victory”? Iconic.
“This Grill is Not a Home”? Heart wrenching.
“Best Day Ever”? A bop.
“Goofy Goober”? The original headbanger.
“The Campfire Song”? Nothing but straight BARS.
“Ripped Pants”? Could put Bob Dylan to shame.
“The F.U.N. Song”? Undisputed classic.
I CANT BREATHE THIS IS THE SUPERIOR SPONGEBOB MEME pic.twitter.com/Vx4nSB2XvZ
— Rachel Paguia ☃️ (@rachelpaguia) June 3, 2019
SpongeBob has done something no other meme has come even remotely close to doing: he’s been around all decade. SpongeBob has ingrained himself in our culture in such a way that he’s seen both as the ultimate comic relief, and a warm, comforting, and familiar presence. Isn’t that what memes are all about?
Much like Smitty WerbenJagerManJensen, SpongeBob was—and always will be—Number One.
