The Week's Best Memes, Ranked
Here at Digg, we try our best to cover the most important and confounding memes that come across the timeline. But the web is littered with tons of great memes that never quite hit the mainstream, instead bouncing around the weird corners of Twitter or Reddit.
Enter: our recurring feature,Β Memes, Ranked. For the week ofΒ December 30th, we have a few varieties of 2020 memes, the Pope's slap, and Adam Sandler winning.
4. Beginning of decade / End of decade
The meme: The ending of 2019 was an emotional one, as it was not only the end of the year, but the end of the decade. A lot has changed in the past 10 years, and none is more demonstrable than the "Beginning of the decade vs. End of the decade" meme, which reflects the dramatic changes we've gone through from 2010 to 2019, regardless of whether it's pop culture or personal glow-ups and changes.
Examples:
Verdict: It's easy to forget how much has changed in a decade and this meme really puts into perspective things that we have forgotten, such as the fact that we have spent around ten years with "Game of Thrones" and Marvel movies and how we've witnessed the changes and transformations of celebrities. It's been a helluva decade and we're glad that we have this meme to encapsulate that.
Pang-Chieh Ho
3. The Pope Slap
The meme: A woman in St. Peter's Square on New Year's Eve grabbed at Pope Francis as he walked by, leading the pope to slap her on the wrist:
The internet, shocked and bemused, dealt with it as the internet does: by making jokes.
The examples:
The verdict: "The Pope slaps now" is a funny phrase, but also a fittingly jarring beginning to a new decade (to remind us that it probably won't be better than last decade). We aren't expecting this meme to stick around, but for this week, it slaps.
2. 2020 ASCII Memes
The Meme: The start of the new year sparked a 2020 personal affirmation meme tucked inside blocky ASCII art. Twitter user Oaksupreme_ got the ball rolling by tweeting "Secure the π°and spoil your mum." Dozens soon followed with their own declarations for 2020. Presidential candidates even joined in on the fun.Β
The examples:
Some memers deconstructed the ASCII premise of the form:
The verdict:Β While amusing for some excited to shout their proclamations for 2020 inside a string of garbled characters, disability advocates cried foul on the meme for being unreadable for screen readers.Β
In 2020, let's not blow up our blind friend's Twitter feeds with memes they can't decipher.
James Crugnale
1. This Is How I Win
The meme: Following the release of the Adam Sandler thriller "Uncut Gems," a particular image of Sandler's character circulated Twitter with its accompanying caption: "This is how I win."
Something about this struck a chord, and people have been transplanting the grandiose statement into much more mundane and specific — i.e., relatable — situations.
Examples:
The best ones, though, are the versions that edit the caption, rendering the caption and its context irrelevant, but maintaining the humor of Sandler's character's whole vibe:
Verdict: This is a good meme. Almost every iteration has made me laugh, or otherwise wince, in recognition. Plus, the ones with edited captions are usually so pointlessly convoluted as to be especially funny. Honestly, ten out of ten stars for this meme, and I haven't even seen "Uncut Gems" yet.
Molly Bradley
The 2020 Meme Power Ranking
Click each entry on the ranking to see when it debuted.
- Baby Yoda
- This Is How I Win
- As A Treat
- 'Marriage Story' memes
- OK Boomer
- In The Right Headspace
- Vibes
- Wholesome Buff Guys
- The Girl Drinking Kombucha Reaction GIF
- 2020 ASCII
In 2020, keep your Baby Yoda forums kind: