Most Popular Memes Trending on Social Right Now (Updated April)
While it’s important to share product releases, sale reminders and more, memes are an incredibly effective way to gain engagement on platforms like Instagram, TikTok and Twitter.
Not only do they provide fun and fast entertainment for your audience, but they also help develop your brand’s voice, identity and infuse personality into your social profiles. Memes can be an impactful way to engage your community — when done right.
In this blog, we discuss:
- April 2024 trending memes.
- What are memes?
- How to find trending memes.
- Should brands share memes?
- Monthly trending memes.
Trending Memes: Updated April 12, 2024
Curious which memes are trending memes this April? Here’s what’s trending across social media this month.
Solar Eclipse
The solar eclipse happened on April 8, 2024 — with that, comes memes, published both before and after the eclipse. This meme pokes fun at people who stared directly at the eclipse, who predicted major events and more.
Social Media is Fake
This trend involves using either a carousel or a video, and sharing a selfie with a text overlay that says ‘social media is fake, so here are some things I’m ashamed to admit.’ Next, share a few different frames (in either a video or carousel) with things you’d like to admit — these can be personal, relatable, or even humorous. Some users choose to get vulnerable, while others like to poke fun with an obsession or other quirk they have. This trend is happening across TikTok and Instagram, so feel free to play around with both earnest and comedy content.
Which One Reminds You Of…
This meme has been making the rounds for awhile now, but is really taking off this month. For this meme, simply upload a chart, carousel or video montage of various animals, characters or even inanimate objects, with a title card that says ‘Which one reminds you of your friend, girlfriend, boyfriend, etc.?’
Trending Memes: Updated March 5,2024
What memes are making users laugh this March? We’ve rounded up a few of the most popular memes making the rounds.
Silly Goose
This meme involves using a TikTok or Instagram carousel post to share an image of you and a friend or another duo, and a pair of geese on the next slide that represent the duo. On the first, write ‘you better not act like a silly goose tonight’ to drive the point home.
World’s Best
This meme can be done by nearly anyone, and involves talking about a competition to be the best at something you or your brand does well, but a specific person or even stereotype you believe does it better. In the example below, a nurse pokes fun at her belief that other nurses who wear clogs, baggy scrubs and have pixie cuts are often the best nurses around by saying “me arriving to the world’s best nurse competition but my opponent has on baggy scrubs, a pixie cut, and is wearing clogs.”
Small Mouse, Smaller Violin
This meme is quite similar to the ‘I’m just a girl’ trend — rather than vocalize this, this meme requires you to share a situation posed as a question that you don’t want to do. On the first slide, include a statement or question — the example below says ‘Your car will need an oil change’. On the next slide, include a photo of this big-eyes mouse with a bow and a few images that misinterpret the question or statement on the first slide. In this example, a variety of lip oils and hair oil are included to illustrate the ‘oil’ you’re most familiar with.
All That Work
To do this meme, simply use text to describe something that you spent a lot of time or work on, that wasn’t necessarily ‘worth it’. Use the ‘all that work and what did it get me’ audio to drive the point home.
Trending Memes: Updated January 12, 2024
These memes are trending as we enter 2024.
Trending Memes: February 2024
Do memes and jokes connect with your audience? Here are the memes trending this February.
Rat Hole
A rat-shaped hole — yes, a rat-shaped hole — appeared in Chicago, taking the internet by storm. From 3D printing their own version to even proposing by the hole, the hole has attracted thousands of visitors. Users from Chicago and beyond are delighting in this unique sidewalk fixture. Despite being there for about 20-30 years, its recent virality caused someone to fill the hole with plaster — yet the rat hole meme lives on.
Taylor Swift ft. The Chiefs
Despite previously featuring Taylor in this list, it’s undeniable that she continues to trend — and be extremely ‘memeable.’ While there’s not one specific joke or punchline, nearly any image of Taylor Swift in the Chief’s box can make an incredible meme if you find the right joke. Don’t overthink it, and use something that resonates with your brand or audience — Betches, for example, used multiple photos of Taylor whispering to make a simple joke about gossiping with friends.
All Things Pookie
With Valentine’s Day nearly upon us, the Pookie trend will no doubt continue — while using the TikTok audio to lipsynch and act out Jett and Bennet’s speaking lines is a great way to use this trend, creators have been incorporating the ‘pookie’ trend into carousel posts and more, using their own jokes to make an impact. One creative way users are doing this trend is to film themselves or share texts asking or convincing their partners to call them ‘Pookie.’
Trending Memes: January 2024
These memes are trending as we enter 2024.
Golden Globes Memes
With the Golden Globes kicking off the 2024 awards season, celebrity red carpet-moments and reactions from the audience are making their way to our For You Pages, Explore Pages and Twitter feeds. Use images and video from the awards show make relatable jokes and puns, or react to moments from awards shows themselves with a funny quip or GIF.
I’m Your Uber Driver
This audio is a great example of a potentially dark moment being transformed into something funny. This trend — where a man forcefully tries to tell someone who hasn’t ordered an Uber that their driver is here — has made its way to TikTok and Instagram, with the original video being used to describe a situation or users reenacting the scenario.
Again!
This trend is present on Instagram and TikTok, and is very simple to replicate. Simply use the trending ‘again’ audio, and lip synch, act out or describe a situation or thing you just can’t stop doing.
Trending Memes: Updated December 1, 2023
While the holidays are all over our FYP and Explore pages, these are the memes making us laugh as we enter the holiday season.
Gail Retires
Yes, even retirement announcements have the potential to go viral on TikTok and Instagram. Gail Lewis, a 10-year associate of Walmart, recently retired and announced her departure over the store’s loud-speakers. After the footage was uploaded to the internet, accounts from bouldering memes to the NFL began affectionately referring to her speech.
Apple and Spotify Wrapped
T’is the season…for Spotify Wrapped — and other apps, like Apple and YouTube Music, that have started to share content about users’ end-of-year listening habits. People are sharing jokes and memes about their wrapped playlist, using the wrapped format to make other jokes and even poking fun at other brands jumping on the ‘wrapped’ trend.
Josh Hutcherson
This meme proves that a nine-year-old trend still has viral potential — partly inspired by last month’s release of the new Hunger Games movie, The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes. This meme involves using ‘The Whistle Song’ and an image of Josh Hutcherson. Many adopters of this meme film unrelated footage and surprise their audience with the song and Hutcherson’s face — think Rick Rolling for Gen Z.
Trending Memes: Updated November 15, 2023
As Halloween ends and Thanksgiving begins, here are the memes cropping up on TikTok, Instagram, Twitter and more.
Toxic Trait
This month, share a Reel or image that pokes fun at a toxic trait — whether it’s yours or someone else’s that really gets you.
Bratz
A new Bratz single dropped back in September, and since then, we’ve seen Bratz taking over our feeds. For this trending meme, feel free to use any Bratz image with a humorous caption.
Vince McMahon
This is a newer meme that’s taking off on TikTok and Instagram — simply use a text overlay over this video of Vince McMahon getting emotional during an interview to poke fun at a situation or time in your life you miss.
Trending Memes: Updated October 6, 2023
As we move into October, these are the trending memes finding popularity on TikTok, Instagram and Twitter.
Hands In Your Pockets
This month, expect to see a King of Queens-era Kevin James photo surface with a slight smile, hands in his pockets and an earnest, sheepish look. This meme involves describing a wide range of scenarios with either a Twitter, TikTok or Instagram caption or a text overlay.
Kylie and Timothee
All things and updates Kylie and Timothee are expected to carry into October — especially as they continue to make their relationship public. Use text overlay to describe a variety of situations using Kylie and Timothee as reference.
Girl Math
Despite this trend taking off in late August, girl math is still among us. Cost per wear? Girl math. Hair tool that saves you money on blowouts and your friends will want to use? Use ‘girl math’ to explain any sort of numbers game primarily understood by women.
Trending Memes: Updated August 18, 2023
Here are some popular memes that are trending across a variety of social accounts this month.
Whether you want to incorporate these into your brand strategy or simply learn what’s new and popular, here are popular memes trending in August.
'Barbenheimer' Meme
Barbie and Oppenheimer are two movies taking the box office — and the internet by storm. So many plays on ‘Barbenheimer’ have reached our social feeds, from imagined posters combining visuals from the two films to memes pointing out the contrast between the two films.
Eras and Reputation Tour
Along with Barbie, another topical subject that’s perfect for memes is anything that comments on the success of Taylor Swift or Beyonce's recent tours — bonus points for commentary on how their combined tours have stimulated the economy.
Dinner at Jimmy Kimmels'
Who knew a dinner party could go viral like this? This slew of celebrities at Jimmy Kimmel’s house has resulted in memes poking fun at the sheer number of celebrities in a casual environment, among other jokes.
Brain Scan
There have been many variations of ‘brain’ memes that have trended, from galaxy brain trend to this. This trend is easy to customize for nearly any brand — simply speak to something that figuratively, makes your brain ‘light up’.
What Are Memes?
So, what are memes, exactly? Memes are often funny copy, images, videos or other online content that usually spread rapidly and are reproduced by other users in the form of jokes or incorporating the original joke or visual in online content.
Why Are They Called Memes, and What Makes a Meme?
Memes earned their name from Richard Dawkins, who used the term in his book 'The Selfish Gene'. The word ‘meme’ is derived from the Greek word ‘mimema’, which means ‘imitated’ — this name fits memes perfectly, as they transcend a joke when they become duplicated, edited and widely shared.
If a meme is something used and widely spread, is a GIF a meme? Not necessarily — GIFs could be derived from a popular meme, but since users can’t edit GIFs for reproduction in the same way they can text and video, GIFs aren’t the exact same as memes.
How To Find Trending Memes
Luckily for social marketers, there are many ways to find trending memes — sharing outdated memes (even by 1-2 months) can make your brand or social team appear out of touch or out of the loop. To prevent this, your social media marketing strategy should leave room for agility so your team doesn’t rely on pre-scheduled memes that could become irrelevant quickly.
To find trending memes, social marketers should:
- Follow a variety of meme accounts. Popular accounts include @daquan and @epicfunnypage. Some of the most popular aggregate meme accounts contain profane names, so take a peek around Instagram and follow a few accounts that share a variety of funny content.
- Bookmark blogs like this that are regularly updated with round-ups of the latest memes.
- Utilize Reddit for marketing — Reddit is a trove of funny, humorous content and trending memes that are often shared there before anywhere else.
Should Brands Share Memes?
Overall, depending on your industry and audience, entertaining content like memes can help drive conversions and engagement — but this isn’t always the case. One way to discover if memes would resonate with your audience include creating buyer personas. Buyer personas involve diving into existing and target audience demographics, researching their likes, dislikes, online habits and more to help inform your content marketing strategy. For example, if you plan to target Gen Z, including memes is likely beneficial for your content mix. Insider Intelligence reports Gen Z is more likely to stay on platforms that embrace memes, illustrated by just 2.4% of Gen Z planning to leave Twitter (or X), compared to 9% of users from other generations.
Leverage Engagement With Memes — And Dash Hudson
Dash Hudson helps your visual content strategy from scheduling to measurement. The Scheduler tool lets you share content to a variety of social channels that your entire team can review — Vision is an AI-powered tool that informs you which visual content has the best chance to perform well. This is a powerful tool to share the best memes that will engage your audience.
FAQs
Why are memes so popular?
Memes are so popular because they’re a form of social entertainment that’s quick and easy to read and digest. Entertaining audiences is paramount to attracting them and engaging on social media, and memes are one of the most common ways to do this, that also let social marketers express their brand’s humor and personality.
How to make a meme popular?
It can be challenging to make an original meme popular, as the nature of memes are quite organic.
However, there are some tips you can use to increase your chances of creating popular content:
- Dive into competitive insights and use custom reporting to discover what memes competitors share and set benchmarks for your own meme performance.
- Revisit your buyer personas biannually or annually in case the content your target demographic engages with has changed.
- Take time weekly to explore what memes are taking over TikTok and Instagram — even if you don’t incorporate these into your content schedule, it’s helpful to know what type of humor and jokes resonate with a wide range of users.
What is the most popular meme ever?
When it comes to determining the most popular meme, this is a little tricky as the platforms and type of memes commonly shared have changed over time.
Some of the most popular memes of all time include:
