Many people have called 2016 the year that should be left out of history books and never spoken of again. With a crazy election year, the release of the iPhone 7, the 10th anniversary of the PSL, and many, many memes, we cannot just slide this year under the rug. To discourage the chances of avoiding a reflection on this past year, here's a list of 30 memes and trends that made 2016 tolerable.
(Please note: this is solely for pop culture purposes.)
1. Spongegar
Originating from a 1999 episode of Spongebob, Spongegar was seen photoshopped everywhere, including the grocery story, school settings, and even movie scenes.
2. Arthur's Fist
A true sign of a frustrating or infuriating circumstance.
3. Harambe
Once a gorilla at the Cincinnati Zoo just living his life, the death of this gorilla sparked a major Internet eruption this year over parenting styles. After a young boy fell into the gorilla's exhibit, the animal was shot and killed. Harambe's unjust death has been honored by millions through song parodies, shirts, and, of course, memes.
4. Dabbing
A dance move that has a million haters and followers, dabbing can be done numerous ways, all of which include using your arms as demonstrated above.
5. Dat Boi Meme
This iconic meme features a cartoon frog riding a unicycle, and features the caption "here come dat boi!!!!!!"
6. Hiddleswift
Are we surprised that T.Swift couldn't compose a breakup song about Tom Hiddleston?
7. The Bee Movie
Good ole' Barry the Bee.
8. Apple AirPods
That moment when Apple announced that the iPhone 7 would be headphone-jackless was the day the Internet did one big ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ .
9. Damn Daniel
"Back at it again with the white vans!" The mindless vine compilation went viral early in 2016, causing millennials to react to anything with the catchy phrase. Later this year, Daniel donated his white vans to charity.
10. Pokemon GO
The question that divided friendships in 2016: Are you Team Mystic, Valor, Instinct?
11. Obama-Biden Memes
As we prepared to say farewell to this dynamic duo, the Internet decided to pay homage to the President and Vice President by poking fun at their unwillingness to leave the White House in January.
12. #TheMannequinChallenge
This challenge has brought offices, family reunions, audiences, and entire student bodies together to test people's strength of posing as mannequins (aka, standing completely still) until the beat drops in Rae Sremmurd's Black Beatles feat. Gucci Mane.
13. Mannequin Head Dancing
Speaking of mannequins, what better way to make people laugh than by using a hoodie to cover the head of a giraffe-necked mannequin while dancing around with it on your head?
14. Evil Kermit
This meme began as a tweet from Twitter user @aaannnnyyyyaaaa and gained over 31,800 likes and 22,500 retweets in 10 days.
15. "A Little Something To Take The Edge Off"
Deeming 2016 as the year everyone needed a little extra relief, the Internet exploded with this meme, which featured everything from pretzel sticks to noise makers, to bottles of bleach and Jack Daniels.
16. Pepe
Just an ugly, creepy frog that happens to be the meme of dreams.
17. Gavin
As Simone Biles once said: "There is a Gavin meme for everything".
18. The Michael Phelps Face
While waiting to swim in an event at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio, Phelps' rival began to do warmups in front of him, causing him to make the most iconic face of the Summer.
19. Bottle Flipping
Another mindless sensation that proves absolutely nothing except for the laws of physics.
20. The Pawn Stars Intro
"I'm Rick Harrison and this is my pawn shop" has never been so iconic.
21. Lush Bath Bombs
Theoretically, anything you throw into the bathtub becomes a "bath bomb." Through the power of Vine and Picstitch, videos and pictures alike highlighted the smart alecs of the Internet who dropped anything that wasn't a bath bomb into a bathtub and deemed it their newest Lush Bath Bomb.
22. The Running Man Challenge
Set to Ghost Town DJ's "My Boo", this challenge was performed by athletes and teams all over the country.
23. This Or That?
Chihuahua or blueberry muffin? Puppy or bagel? Legs or hot dogs? Baby arm or baguette?
24. Leonardo DiCaprio
HE FINALLY WON AN OSCAR. WOW. After all this time, countless nominations, and numerous letdowns, Leo final won his Oscar.
25. Get You A Man/Woman That Can Do Both
This meme began as a serious reference to an athlete who cleans up nicely and can also pull off street clothes and turned into something more. Everything from a well-dressed farm boy to a girl who is pretty and loves all things geek have been pictured side to side in this meme.
26. History Of Japan
A nine-minute, humorous-but-accurate rundown of the history of Japan by Bill Wurtz that was favored by Tumblr users.
27. Confused Mr. Krabs
This picture of Mr. Krabs from Spongebob was one of the earliest memes of 2016, applicable to any situation that leaves you feeling a little lost.
28. That Election Though
Bernie and Hillary and Trump and some guy named Gary were the names to know this year. Throughout all the hype of the 2016 election, Internet noobs everywhere were sure to implode their presidential views the way they know best: through memes.
29. Describe Yourself In Three Characters
Proving that we all have a little bit of Tina Belcher in us since September 2016.
30. I Haven't Heard That Name In Years
After taking a picture of an old train, someone captioned the photo as shown above, paying tribute to the classic train, Thomas the Tank Engine.
