The 15 Best Memes of 2024

15.

Dune: Part Two Popcorn Bucket

“Would you like some popcorn with your tentacle Fleshlight?”

Anyone who worked at a cinema probably had this question running through their minds as Dune: Part Two fans piled into theatres last March, sex toys in tow. Wait. That’s not a Fleshlight…that’s a...popcorn bucket?!

Dune: Part Two stunned the world when the limited edition buckets were unveiled in January, much to the internet's disbelief. Inspired by the film’s ginormous Sandworms, the bucket’s orifice has hundreds of silicone tentacles, designed to suck up your hand (or genitals) as you reach inside.

Naturally, the Internet did what it does best: acting out of pocket. Esquire branded it a “Duneussy,” Polygon likened it to an “anus with a case of internal hemorrhoids,” while some simply asked: “Babe, are you ok? You’ve barely f*cked your Dune: Part Two promotional popcorn bucket.”

As it turns out, the popcorn bucket was pretty terrible at storing and retrieving snacks. However, some traumatized X/Twitter users have unfortunately discovered its, um, successes as a sex toy. We’ll be double-checking the butter in our Dune: Part Two buckets from now on. — Alex Rigotti

14.

“You Have An Unnatural Allegiance To Losers”

​If the quote alone felt like a personal attack, then you would very well understand why this is one of our picks for the best memes of 2024.

Comedian Katt Williams said this iconic line in his infamous interview with Shannon Sharpe in January of this year. The quote reads, "You having an unnatural allegiance to losers is not like you." The interview went viral right after airing, becoming a go-to sound on TikTok skits and lip dubs.

When Williams criticized actor Faizon Love, Sharpe was quick to defend him, which made Williams come up with this snarky quip. The Sicarah Show uploaded the clip to YouTube on January 7, amassing hundreds of thousands of views in a short amount of time.

The clip soon spread on TikTok, becoming a meme with the first known use from user @theluxediary2.0, who captioned their video with, "Pov: me asking GOD why he keep removing people I care about from my life." This gained over 1.9 million views, solidifying the sound as a bona fide meme.

People have made some hilarious posts with these sounds, and the quote itself resonates with all of us and the various questionable life choices we have made. Whether it includes getting back with a red flag ex or not knowing how to say no to demanding relationships, Williams' voice will always reverberate in our minds as he judges our actions.

Williams, in general, has a legendary sense of humor, and this is perhaps one of his best quotes out there! — Debadrita Sur

13.

Kamala Harris’ Coconut Tree

“You think you just fell out of a coconut tree? You exist in the context of all in which you live and what came before you.” — Kamala Harris (2023)

Talk about ridiculous juxtaposition. I mean, the quote just sounds like something a college student would submit to a Canvas discussion post—utilizing a tried-and-true formula combining peak brain rot with philosophical therapy-speak to score full participation credit.

Coconut and palm tree emojis became a visual hallmark of the Harris presidential campaign, and soon, sound bites of the quote were remixed into songs. But what did Harris actually mean by saying the phrase?

In May 2023, Harris made her "coconut tree" comments at the White House while swearing in the President’s Advisory Commission on Advancing Educational Equity, Excellence, and Economic Opportunity for Hispanics. She addressed the importance of equity in education, emphasizing that not all students have the same opportunities to succeed, depending on their financial resources and the environments they grow up in.

Near the end of her speech, she shared a personal story: “My mother used to give us a hard time sometimes, and she would say to us, ‘I don’t know what’s wrong with you young people. You think you just fell out of a coconut tree?’” Harris laughed and continued, “You exist in the context of all in which you live and what came before you.”

As silly as the phrase sounds, she kind of cooked when you really think about it. Nothing just falls out of nowhere; everything coexists. — Noah Cortez

12.

JD Vance And His Couch

The 2024 Presidential election was rife with memes and political gags, which often exposed the frailty of social media platforms like X/Twitter to slow the spread of misinformation.

In July 2024, X/Twitter user @rickrudescalves posted a now-archived tweet claiming that Republican U.S. Sen. JD Vance of Ohio revealed in his 2016 memoir Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis that he had intercourse with “an inside-out latex glove shoved between two cushions.”

The post emerged the same day that Vance was announced as the 2024 Vice Presidential running mate of President-elect Donald Trump.

The post said, “can’t say for sure but he might be the first vp pick to have admitted in a ny times bestseller to f*cking an inside-out latex glove shoved between two couch cushions (vance, hillbilly elegy, pp 179-181).”

While the claims were false, they spread like wildfire with people posting edited pictures of Vance on a couch and an altered title to his bestselling book. Despite the original author clarifying that the joke was not real, people seemed to run with it; it reached the height of popularity in Philadelphia when Democratic Vice Presidential nominee Tim Walz referred to the meme.

The day Presidential nominee Kamala Harris named the Minnesota governor as her running mate, Walz addressed an arena full of supporters, saying, “I got to tell you, I can’t wait to debate the guy [Vance]. That is if he’s willing to get off the couch and show up.”

Vance’s memoir contained no such passage and the false claim reached such a peak that even The Associated Press and Snopes had to release a fact check on the meme. The AP article was later removed for editorial reasons, but it proved how widespread the impact of this meme was.

Rick, the X/Twitter user who started the joke, confirmed to Business Insider that while he identifies with the political left, he does not work in politics. His hatred for Vance prompted him to make up the joke he thought was “funny.” However, he was also concerned about being seen as someone spreading election misinformation. That had not been his original intent.

“I have really enjoyed thinking about his team and all of the idiots associated with him having to grapple with this,” Rick told Insider.

On Google Trends, the search for "JD Vance Couch" far surpassed the search for "Trump shooting."

This meme is definitely one of the best in 2024 as it reflects the time we live in and how quickly misinformation can become gospel truth. It was fun while it lasted, and among all the insane things Vance has said or posted, ranging from dolphins violating women to racist Mountain Dew, this seems to be the least crazy one. — Debadrita Sur

11.

Olympic Pistol Shooters

When someone asks you to explain what “having aura” means, show them the Olympic pistol shooters.

South Korea’s Kim Yeji and Turkey’s Yusuf Dikeç captured the essence of “aura”—from Yeji’s slick outfit and calm demeanor to the understated yet undeniably badass energy from Dikeç, both of which were giving assassin.

The duo caught the internet’s attention for different reasons, but both have that certain je ne sais quoi that makes you say, “Well, damn!”

Kim Yeji brought the main character energy: her cool composure paired with her little glasses exuded an air of confidence that screamed “I’m her.”Dikeç, on the other hand, rolled up to his event with minimal gear, looking like someone from the crowd. Dude really just pulled up, one hand in his pocket, and did his thing. (He also ended up winning silver.)

So while you can certainly Google what Gen Alpha and Gen Z mean when they say someone has “aura,” all you really need to do is look at photos of the Olympic pistol shooters. It’s better for us visual learners, anyway. — Noah Cortez

10.

Rachael Gunn

If there were a gold medal for memes at the Paris Olympics, Rachael “Raygun” Gunn would’ve been atop the podium. The 36-year-old Australian competitor began breaking when she was 20 and went on to gain her PhD in Cultural Studies with a focus on gender politics and performances within the breakdancing culture. Sounds legit, right? Well...

When Raygun took to the world’s biggest stage this summer, she immediately captured the attention of the internet, inspiring oft-bewildered conversation, NFL touchdown dances, and even a Change.org petition. Her unusual breakdancing style included dragging herself across the floor and hopping like a kangaroo. From there, the meme was born.

Likened to "What my nephew does after telling all of us to ‘watch this,’” and the hip-hop dancer from Bob’s Burgers, the internet couldn’t get enough. And because we can’t have nice things, this ultimately turned from lighthearted trolling into mean-spirited abuse—which is very much not in the spirit of this list.

While you might not see Raygun at elite competitions going forward, her legacy will forever live on the only stage that matters: the internet. And honestly, can you name another meme that’s inspired a (now-cancelled) musical? That's impact. — Brighid Tully

9.

Dwyane Wade Statue

Have you ever had a statue made of you? It's a pretty big moment I can imagine…unless the statue looks nothing like you.

On October 27, the Miami Heat unveiled the Dwayne Wade statue outside Kaseya Center in Miami, Florida. It would be easy to say that Dwayne’s reaction to this statue made it popular. I mean, who's that guy?

But let's be honest, when everyone is expecting a statue of you but gets a statue of a guy that looks nothing like you, you can bet they're going to be stuck trying to figure out who this guy is. We still don't know who he is.

It could be anyone, right? Like, maybe the Night King? That's a far stretch but you know what's closer, Antoine Walker. It really does look like him. However, it gets better. Think Star Wars. Yep, we're so back.

Why is this meme on this list? It's because this meme isn't just about the statue but about the shared joy of the internet culture where everyone from various fandoms gets to join in on the fun. A meme that everyone gets to share? That's internet brilliance at its finest. — Precious Akpevba

8.

Brother, Ew! What’s That?

“Ew! Brother, ew! What’s that? What’s that, brother?” (often referred to as the "Brother, Ugh!" meme) went viral in 2024. It shows a Muslim man expressing disgust towards “his brother."

The sound clip has been taken from an hour-long December 2019 YouTube video from the channel Lectures From Mohamed Hoblos. Hoblos is seen lecturing the crowd in a video titled “Are You a Man?! Very Powerful Speech!” This particular segment appears toward the end of the video, but sometimes, it just takes a few seconds for virality to happen.

While the original video has over 2.1 million views, the sound did not go viral until 2024 and has been mainly used by people to show their disgust or disdain towards particularly humorous things.

The first known use of the video was in January 2024 by a user known as @AviTheDirector, who referenced Indianapolis Colts player Anthony Richardson. But it seems the sound went viral weeks later in two separate instances: with one posting the quote “Marrying a girl from TWITTER?" and the other joking about gay men seeing female genitalia that garnered thousands of likes.

The sound has now had over 56,000 posts on TikTok while a remix version of the sound with Belinda Carlisle’s “Heaven is a Place on Earth” has over 390,000 videos.

While Hoblos is a controversial figure in Australia, with his views being criticized by scholars and civilians alike, the sound minus the context can be pretty funny, especially when you see the creativity that shines through. The sound is especially funny in instances where people introduce their pets to new family members (other pets, babies, etc.), and the animal in question either makes a disgruntled face or simply walks away. It adds an auditory element to a proper cocktail of aversion and shock that many of us experience when we encounter things that are revolting (like pineapple on pizza!). (Editor's note: pineapple belongs on pizza!) — Debadrita Sur

7.

Just A Chill Guy

Are we all just chill guys who lowkey don’t give a f*ck?

Artist philb wants you to believe that this character is just that. Created in October 2023, the drawing was just something philb conjured in their mind and shared on X/Twitter at the time. “My new character,” philb captioned the anthropomorphized dog in a grey sweater, blue jeans, and red sneakers. “His whole deal is he’s a chill guy that lowkey doesn’t give a f*ck.” Who knew that being a chill guy would blow up? Because the character did, even if it took about a year for it to happen.

In the final leg of 2024, the Chill Guy meme was everywhere, particularly because of his demeanor and the way the character’s disposition hilariously juxtaposed the distraught situations he was placed in. Maybe school sucks and classes are whooping your ass, but you’re just a chill guy who doesn’t give a f*ck. Maybe your ex cheated and you feel lost without her, but you’re just a chill guy who doesn’t give a f*ck. Maybe you’re hella broke and have amassed thousands in debut, but you’re just a chill guy who doesn’t give a f*ck. It really doesn’t matter what’s happening because, at the end of the day, you’re just a chill guy who doesn’t give a f*ck. He’s giving Kevin James in The King of Queens. You know the meme: he’s smirking, all shy-like, with his hands in his pockets and his head tilted. Instead of a human, though, it’s a dog. Different animals, same vibe.

If you were to ask me why it’s so popular, I think it speaks to the human condition and existential dread. Sounds wild, but hear me out. Things are burning down around us, the economy continues to fail the working class, politics has left folks more divided than ever before, education is collapsing, we’re more lonely than ever before—so much is going wrong and yet, we tuck our hands into our pockets, put a silly little smirk on our face, and brave the next day. Because we’re all chill guys and girls and gays who don’t give a f*ck. — Levi Winslow

6.

“MUSSTAAAARRRRRRDDDDD!”

You ever just wanna scream sometimes? Maybe shout out someone’s name in throated abandon, like you’re on the top of a cliff calling out to the God you pray to or whatever? Kendrick Lamar has, and he did.

On his sixth studio record GNX, the Compton-based rapper belted out LA producer Dijon “DJ Mustard” McFarlane’s tag for roughly five full seconds on the seventh track, “tv off.” About halfway through the song, after the beat switches and Dot does his quirky vocal inflections, Kenny just straight-up screams “MUSSTAAAARRRRRRDDDDD” like Mustard stole something from him. It’s jarring because it comes out of nowhere, and if you aren’t prepared for it, your speakers—whether that’s the ones in your ears, in your house, or in your car—will suffer.

That’s what makes this meme so great: it’s unexpected, and because it’s just Kenny screaming so long and so loud that you can feel the veins popping out of his neck, it fits with just about anyone screaming.

Dragon Ball Z characters powering up to transform “MUSSTAAAARRRRRRDDDDD!”

Cosmo yelling at Timmy Turner in The Fairly OddParents “MUSSTAAAARRRRRRDDDDD!”

Charlie Brown getting mad after Lucy van Pelt snatches the football away in every Peanuts episode? “MUSSTAAAARRRRRRDDDDD!”

Anyone getting in a fight in some trashy reality TV “MUSSTAAAARRRRRRDDDDD!”

The Minions literally all the time? “MUSSTAAAARRRRRRDDDDD!”

I could go on forever, but you get it.It’s a universal meme, one that can slot into any screeching format. And the best part is you don’t have to always say Mustard’s name. This meme is more about the evocation of the emotion behind its popularity rather than merely regurgitating it. If you replaced “MUSSTAAAARRRRRRDDDDD” with anyone else’s name and shouted it just like Kendrick Lamar did on “tv off,” it still works.

That, to me, makes a “best” meme. — Levi Winslow

5.

Grampa Simpson Telling Stories

There is no meme from 2024 that I related to more than this one of Abe Simpson, as I too often feel as though I am regaling today’s youth (read: anyone born after 1996) with stories of the years yonder (see: Walkman, Doritos 3D, and “no really guys, they dyed the ketchup GREEN!”).

Grampa Simpson Telling Stories comes from a scene in a Season Six episode of The Simpsons ("The Lemon Tree"), where Abe excitedly tells a group of children a long-winded story about the history of Springfield's lemon tree. The meme takes this moment and applies it to things millennials remember clearly but are reluctant to admit because they feel it ages them, like old TV shows, outdated tech, or trends of the early aughts.

It’s a meme, but it’s also a reality. Millennials have a lot of nostalgia for the cultural moments we remember very clearly, but Gen Z simply can’t imagine or don’t care about. Therein lies the self-deprecation that makes the meme so successful and relatable. “Hey kid, let me tell you all about how we used to print paper maps anytime we wanted to go somewhere new! We used to join chat rooms with random strangers who asked us our A/S/L! When you heard ‘DAT PIFF DOT COM WORLD PREMIERE,’ you knew it was going to be a fire mixtape!”

Long live nostalgia, millennial angst, and the Grampa Simpson meme. — Brighid Tully

4.

Moo Deng

Oh, Moo Deng, what would the internet do without you?

Hippopotamus-lover I am not, but when I first found out about Moo Deng in September (and wrote about her), I became the world’s biggest pygmy hippo fan. Moo Deng, a name meaning “bouncy pig” in Thai, is a baby pygmy hippo that took the internet by storm just a few months after she was born thanks to her feisty antics and perpetually moist, plump appearance.

While she’s cute, Moo Deng loves to raise hell.

From biting anyone and anything in her vicinity to her aversion to bathing (despite somehow always being wet) to her general clumsiness when going about her day, Moo Deng became the people’s queen, embodying an energy we all relate to from time to time.

She fell off for a minute before returning to the cultural forefront by dabbling in U.S. politics, when she was presented with two cakes—one with Donald Trump’s name and one with Kamala Harris’—and ate the one with Trump’s name, accurately "predicting" the outcome of the presidential election. Et tu, Moo Deng?

2024 was a year of many viral animals, but Moo Deng is undoubtedly number one. Her erratic behavior and unpredictable energy just encapsulate how the year went a little too well not to be. — Noah Cortez

3.

Hawk Tuah

Man-on-the-street TikTok interviews have been putting in work this year, and arguably the most famous of 2024 is none other than the one with Hawk Tuah Girl.

For those of you who don’t know Hawk Tuah Girl’s actual name, meet Haliey Welch. In a video from creators Tim & Dee TV, Welch is asked, “What’s one move in bed that makes a man go crazy every time?”

“You gotta give ’em that ‘hawk tuah’ and spit on that thang,” Welch responds. “You get me?”

It was the phrase that broke the internet. Group chats blew up, memes exploded on social media, and merch drops with the fellatio-forward quote plastered on all kinds of clothing proliferated everywhere. Now, Hawk Tuah Girl even has her own podcast with over 200k subscribers called “Talk Tuah.”

It’s all a bit absurd when you think about it. The phrase is the manifestation of middle school sex humor spewed into the ether, except it’s sticking and grown-ass adults are laughing about it (and monetizing off of it). Maybe that twinge of nostalgia is what drove Hawk Tuah into the zeitgeist.

Love it or hate it, Hawk Tuah has been woven into the fabric of our society. It’s why it's deserving of a top ranking on this list.

Let’s face it: sex sells.— Noah Cortez

2.

DDG’s Son

Help, the babies are speaking!

I mean, they're not necessarily speaking, but they're screaming out their feelings with their faces, and this is exactly what makes this meme unique.

It's a regular day, and DDG is having a father-and-son moment on record. Nothing crazy. Then, there goes his son Halo, making the most hilarious expression while riding the train. Next thing we know, he's a meme and people are using him to express the look on their faces when something crazy happens.

This meme captures how I feel when someone sits next to me at the movies and not in the hundreds of other empty seats. Like, hello? Why?

It fits with any crazy moment anyone is experiencing.

“When they’re beating up the dad and they say get his son too.” Hold up!

"Me when I turn around thinking my friend was there but I’m talking to a stranger." Now that’s crazy.

There’s so much that this meme can express. It’s that meme that everyone can relate to, and that’s what makes a meme one of the best. — Precious Akpevba

1.

BBL Drizzy

With just two words, Metro Boomin revolutionized the history of disses by creating the first diss beat. Kendrick Lamar vs. Drake was by far the biggest battle fought in recent rap history, with Lamar accusing Drake of pedophilia and Drake alleging Lamar was a wife-beater. Words might be double-edged swords in war, but as it turns out, diss beats are cannonballs.

Shortly after Lamar dropped the one-two uppercut of "Meet The Grahams" and the six-times platinum hit "Not Like Us," Metro Boomin waded in with "BBL Drizzy." Taking the lyrics from an AI-generated track made by comedian King Willonius, the track references a now-deleted tweet rapper Rick Ross unleashed upon X/Twitter in April accusing the Canadian of plastic surgery.

As if that wasn’t devious enough, Metro announced that whoever uploaded the best verse over the beat would get a free beat from the esteemed producer himself—a giant bargain, considering those beats can set you back over $100,000. Within hours, thousands of aspiring rappers—as well as guitarists, vocalists, and everyone in between—clawed for Metro’s attention with bars upon devastating bars.

The beat even reached aspiring rappers in Japan, and it turns out words weren’t even needed to insult Aubrey. Polyphia’s Tim Henson chose to diss Drake through the power of guitar, another user took to the sax, while another kid simply danced to the beat (via Dance Dance Revolution).

We probably should have suspected Metro was never going to announce a winner, but the damage has been done nonetheless. The internet already loved to bully Drake, but as we discovered, there’s nothing more unifying than dissing an alleged pedo. Sucks to suck. — Alex Rigotti