Peak Internet Humor: 86 Memes That Became Instant Classics

It’s hard to say which meme format is the most popular of all time. Usually, they’re susceptible to trends and pop culture. During the 2020 U.S. presidential election, Bernie Sanders’ “I am once again asking for your support” was one of the most memed formats. When Drake’s Hotline Bling came out in 2015, you couldn’t escape the “A vs B” memes with a frame from the video.

Some memes come and go, but others have stood the test of time and are still widely used today. One of the most versatile formats is image macros. They’re quite easy to make: you just slap some funny text on an image, and it doesn’t require any prior knowledge of references or popular culture. According to Know Your Meme, it’s one of the most prevalent forms of internet memes.

Know Your Meme regularly chooses memes of the month. In July, the top contender for the spot seems to be the Dictator Mbappe. The meme originated in 2024, when Mbappe sued French influencer Mohamed Henni for using his name to describe a menu item in his kebab shop with “baker round bread, as round as Mbappé's skull.” When responding to the lawsuit, Henni claimed that Mbappe is “turning his name into a dictatorship.”

It didn’t take long for folks online to grab that notion and work their AI and Photoshop skills into turning Mbappe into all sorts of dictators. The first documented instance was Mbappe as Mao, but later netizens used generative AI tools to make Mbappe into all kinds of other fictional dictators. There is a rumor that the soccer star was displeased about the meme, yet there is no hard evidence that could corroborate the claim.

In June, the most popular meme, according to Know Your Meme, was the Du Bist Gut Genug. You might not know what we’re talking about, but if you were on Reels or TikTok, you’ve definitely heard it.

The German song “Gut Genug” by Blumengarten, Kitschkrieg, and rapper Shirin David made the rounds on social media platforms thanks to everyone using the soundbite of Blumengarten’s Rayan singing “Du Bist Gut Genug” in a high-pitched voice. The sound was featured in thousands of videos, and spread into the brainrot part of TikTok, Instagram, and Shorts.

Other honorable contenders for the sport of the top meme of July 2026 were the “Kane Parsons is 20” meme and the drooling cats. The former pokes fun at media consistently mentioning that the director of the hit horror film Backrooms, Kane Parsons, is only 20 years old. The drooling cats were first a reaction image, but people started putting dozens of them together in one image, putting their faces on top of sushi rolls, and even on the moon next to Neil Armstrong.

If we were to check other current lists of the most popular meme formats, old-school ones would still probably prevail. On Pinterest, for example, Tuxedo Winnie the Pooh, Epic Handshake, and Woman Yelling at Cat are the top hits. The top meme templates of all time on imggflip, on the other hand, include the Drake Hotline Bling meme, the Distracted Boyfriend, Batman slapping Robin, the “Change My Mind” meme, and many more.

Which of these old memes was your favorite, Pandas? Let us know your thoughts in the comments! And if you’d like to pass the time being entertained by more memes, check out our previous publications like these relatable memes, silly cat memes from “Stuff With Cats,” and these autism memes that should come with a warning label!

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