The Best Memes of 2021 That Helped Us Laugh Through the Pain

The Best Memes of 2021 That Helped Us Continue to Laugh Through These Unprecedented Times

Dec. 30 2021, Published 11:Forty six a.m. ET

All proper, let’s be actual: 2021 wasn’t the maximum superb 12 months. It was the second 12 months in a row of living in unheard of occasions. The sophomore yr of COVID-19. Dare we are saying ... the spin-off of 2020.

But it used to be also a year of iconic popular culture moments.

Like, consider President Joe Biden's inauguration? Hilariously, a photograph taken of very chilly Bernie Sanders donning oversized mittens (and taking a look as if he’d reasonably be anywhere else!) broke the web.

For a couple of weeks, social media users could no longer get enough of the Bernie Sanders sitting memes. They stored us preoccupied. They distracted us. And they briefly made us fail to remember that we have been residing in a time and position where the world was once being completely ravaged through a handful of deadly variants.

Bottom line: Memes take the pain away. Silly images, every now and then accompanied by way of textual content, are the best option to overlook that the entirety is trash.

But it wasn't simply snaps of Bernie Sanders that had us cracking up this yr. Keep scrolling to try some of 2021's best memes.

The Weeknd Superbowl Meme

Remember when The Weeknd carried out at the Superbowl? The Internet hilariously teased screenshots from his performance the place he was seen speeding through a swirling vortex of warm-colored bulbs. The stills where his face were blurred made for some nice jokes.

The Winking Woman Meme

This year, we was obsessed with a photo of Agnes Harkness (played via Kathryn Hahn) blinking right through an episode of WandaVision. What started as an within comic story among the WandaVision fandom, briefly unfold into the mainstream meme global as many people discovered the picture relatable. The meme sheds a gentle on how we regularly say issues/overpromise issues to others that we all know are absolutely now not true/going to occur. Wink wink.

Squid Game Memes

One of the largest displays on Netflix this year was the Korean Drama Squid Games. A handful of memes stemmed from this show, however this one, which shows a side-by-side comparability of Oh Il-Nam in two very other moods, briefly saturated social media following the title's release.

Happy vs. Sad Bus Passenger Meme

While most memes are inspired by current events, others blossom from old content material. The Happy vs. Sad Bus Passenger meme grew out of a 2013 caricature that used to be intended to inspire others to “Choose the Happy Side of Life," per Know Your Meme.

Suez Canal Stuck Meme

As you may recall, the Ever Given, a 220,000-ton container ship, got stuck in Egypt’s Suez Canal, which is one of the busiest waterways in the world. Six days after being stuck, it was finally freed. But not before the Internet spun some memes from this chaos.

Oprah Winfrey No/Yes Meme

Oprah's tell-all interview with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle had the Internet buzzing for weeks. Not just about the tea they spilled, but also the memes that resulted after the special aired. This side-by-side photo comparison of Oprah's different reactions (the left side screams "no," but the right side screams "hmm") during the interview definitely gave the Internet a chuckle.

Fall Plans vs. Delta Variant Meme

Remember when the Delta Variant was the worst of our concerns? When the virus peaked during the summer, some funny folks took to Twitter to predict through photos how Delta would upend fall plans.

Kendall Jenner and Kim Kardashian Met Gala Meme

During the 2021 Met Gala, Kendall Jenner and Kim Kardashian arrived in very different outfits. Let's just say the Internet couldn't help themselves but poke fun.

Jeff Bezos Rocket Meme

This past July, Amazon CEO and billionaire Jeff Bezos blasted off to space in a rocketship with a rather unique, somewhat phallic, shape. The Internet used this photo of his rocket New Shepard to crack some good 'ol d--k jokes.

But it wasn't just the rocket ship that became the butt of the joke. Twitter user @rjdralle also made this photo of a bathroom line go viral after teasing that Amazon employees were finally able to use the bathroom now that Jeff had left the planet.

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7pbXSramam6Ses7p6wqikaKhfl7K0wIymnKado2J%2FcX6Q