The greatest internet memes of all time
The top 3 according to 155 votes from people: Rickroll · Success Kid · Doge. (Updated Nov 21, 2025.)
The classics that show up in every 'greatest memes ever' ranking, from the dancing baby of the 90s to the cat yelled at by a Real Housewife, with where each one came from.
Top 20
-
1
Rickroll
Tricking someone into opening Rick Astley's 'Never Gonna Give You Up' (1987); born on 4chan in 2007.
-
2
Success Kid
Baby Sammy Griner clenching a fistful of sand on the beach in 2007.
-
3
Doge
Kabosu, a Shiba Inu photographed by Japanese teacher Atsuko Sato in 2010, with Comic Sans thoughts: 'such wow'.
-
4
Distracted Boyfriend
A 2015 stock photo by Spanish photographer Antonio Guillem that went viral in 2017.
-
5
Nyan Cat
A pixel-art cat with a Pop-Tart body leaving a rainbow trail, from 2011.
-
6
This Is Fine
The dog drinking coffee in a burning room, from KC Green's 2013 webcomic 'On Fire'.
-
7
Woman Yelling at a Cat
A scene from The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills next to Smudge the cat at a dinner table (2019).
-
8
Leeroy Jenkins
A 2005 World of Warcraft video in which one player charges in yelling his own name and ruins the plan.
-
9
Is This a Pigeon?
A scene from the 1990s anime The Brave Fighter of Sun Fighbird: a man mistaking a butterfly for a pigeon.
-
10
Gangnam Style
PSY's 2012 horse dance; the first YouTube video to reach a billion views.
-
11
Hide the Pain Harold
Hungarian engineer András Arató, whose forced smile in stock photos became legendary.
-
12
Pepe the Frog
Matt Furie's frog from the comic Boy's Club (2005): 'feels good man'.
-
13
Drakeposting
Two stills of Drake from the 2015 'Hotline Bling' video: rejecting one thing, approving another.
-
14
Keyboard Cat
Fatso the cat 'playing' an electric keyboard, filmed by Charlie Schmidt in 1984 and revived in 2007.
-
15
Stonks
A faceless 3D businessman in front of a stock chart, a deliberately misspelled 'stocks'.
-
16
Grumpy Cat
Tardar Sauce, a cat with a permanently grumpy face, famous from 2012.
-
17
Dancing Baby
The 3D baby dancing the cha-cha in 1996, one of the first viral videos, later seen in Ally McBeal.
-
18
All Your Base Are Belong to Us
A broken English translation from the 1989 game Zero Wing, a meme around 2000-2001.
-
19
Trollface
Drawn by Carlos Ramirez in MS Paint in 2008, the face of internet trolling.
-
20
Ice Bucket Challenge
Pouring a bucket of ice water over your head to raise money for ALS research in 2014.
Candidates
They don't make it into the top 20… yet. Vote for them to move them up.
-
21
Harlem Shake
The 2013 craze of 30-second videos where one person dances alone and then everyone goes wild.
-
22
Bad Luck Brian
A school photo of Kyle Craven with braces and a vest, the face of misfortune since 2012.
How is this ranking ordered? By people's votes: each ▲ adds a point and each ▼ takes one away. Anyone can vote and add what is missing.
Is something missing?
Comments (2)
This Is Fine is the meme of the decade honestly 🔥☕
Never gonna give you up at #1, I've been rickrolled more times than I can count.