50 of the Best Memes of All Time That Are Icons of Internet Culture

What Makes Up Great Memes?

Content creator, comedian, and broadcaster Trev Lewis was kind enough to share his thoughts on memes, comedy, and relatability with Bored Panda. “The two most common types of content that go viral are animals and food. This is what the data shows. No matter how many times algorithms get tweaked, or which platform we’re discussing, people remain fixated on nourishment and other creatures. We are quite animalistic in that way,” he explained to us.

That’s why pretty much anything relating to doggos, Grumpy cat, birbs, and other wacky animals became peak internet fodder. If you want to put his theory to the test, why don’t you check out these hilarious animal memes? If that doesn’t fill your belly, try these spot-on food memes.

He also stated that humor isn't necessary for viral content, but it helps. “Relatability is a more crucial component because this is the factor that often inspires people to share the content with others. Sharing is the highest form of engagement and the one true path to viral content. All the other forms of engagement will follow it,” he told Bored Panda. That’s precisely why awesome internet memes can make people have a good laugh and inspire them to share it ahead.

According to content creator Trev, our sense of humor online grows more sophisticated with time. That means even the best memes and their creators must constantly adapt to the times.

“When I curate content for The Best and Worst Of Twitter group, I often search for viral Tweets from the platform's earliest days. Some of that content still holds up, but much of it does not,” Trev said.

What Is the Most Popular Animal in Memes?

“The earliest memes were things like the ‘I Can Haz Cheeseburger’ cat. Cats have remained a constant, proving my earlier point a bit. They are the Internet’s favorite animal, and it’s not even close. But the simple act of editing some text onto an image of a cat has lost its novelty.” Just like Trev stated, cat memes have evolved a lot since the early days of the Internet and have provided us with some of the most popular memes of all time.

Trev put it simply: amusing folks these days takes far more effort. “I suspect we will only get more creative as time marches on. There’s also an interesting theory that humor is primarily a coping mechanism or even a trauma response,” he said. That’s also why some people tend to prefer weird and unhinged memes. Regardless of people’s tastes, we can all agree that some of the best funny memes are universal, like the Internet’s favorite ‘Rick Roll.’

Let’s face it: we have all cringed when hearing the lines:

‘Never gonna give you up,

Never gonna let you down,

Never gonna run around and desert you.’

Trev also stated, “As the conditions of the outside world continue to degrade, I suspect humor will be the first response from the Internet. I hope my forecast brightened everyone’s day,” he quipped. As he states, when you’re looking for the funniest memes ever, you’re probably not looking for lovely or kind memes. But funny and polite memes are the best examples of humor that can bring a smile to your face without hurting anyone else.

Calling the ‘Meme’ project a powerhouse would be an understatement. It is massive, with a jaw-dropping 10.3 million followers on Instagram and a further 66.3k fans on Twitter. We feel that the page’s success comes down to the style of content shared. Who here doesn’t enjoy having a good laugh, after all? When you combine the funniest memes with relatability, you get a winning combination: viral pics that spread all over the net.

Why Are Funny Internet Memes Good for You?

Love them or loathe them, great memes are here to stay. At their very core, they are viral ideas that can take pretty much any format. And as long as human beings exist, so will memes.

Our sense of humor might change a bit over the years, decades, and centuries to come, but our need to laugh and poke fun at the world and current events will never go out of style. People also find memes hilarious and relatable. It is a way to laugh at yourself and take your life a little less seriously. That’s why people love funny memes and can’t stop making them.

Pop culture, entertainment, and lifestyle expert Mike Sington recently shared his thoughts about viral social media content and Internet trends with Bored Panda. According to him, some trends will look weird in the future. Funny content, however, will always find an audience.

“Funny thoughts, anecdotes, and memes are popular now and will have staying power on the internet. People often go online for escapism, and humor has always provided that. I don’t foresee that changing,” media expert Mike said.