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2024 was packed with new memes across many social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram. These memes took the country by storm, spreading like wildfire when they were first released. With an infinitely expanding run on social media, here are the top 14 memes of 2024.

14. Vexbolts Mass Unfollowing

The “Vexbolts Mass Unfollowing” formed due to the hate on Vexbolts at the time for dragging his “Let him Cook” meme and making unfunny videos on TikTok. Users had the idea to gather everyone they knew so that they could follow Vexbolts’ TikTok account and unfollow it soon after on New Year’s Eve. This created the mass unfollowing of Vexbolts, leading him to lose over 5 million followers in one day.

13. Locked in Alien/What is the next step of the operation

Created by breachextract on TikTok, this meme features an AI-generated alien and other creatures saying the phrase, “What is the next step of the operation.” The video was meant to mimic an uncanny environment involving AI-generated aliens, and it quickly went viral in December. It was eventually remixed into “Locked in Ninja,” where the main alien in the video was replaced with a heavily edited version of popular streamer Ninja along with a song change. It also mixed the vocals with the lyrics of ericdoa’s “Low Taper Fade.”

12. Troll Face Edits

The troll face part of these videos symbolized a level of cool/style, as the videos associated with these troll face pictures were ranked by how cool the stunts were The more distorted and somewhat creepy the troll face is, the more cool the stunt in the video is supposed to be. The videos are heavily edited with these troll faces plastered on top of the person performing the cool stunts.

11. Balkan Rage + noradrenaline + German stare + those who know + mango phonk

Each phrase in this long string of words leads to a different meme, but they all combine to make a single type of video, which is typically a heavily edited video with one of these phrases in the caption. These videos feature phonk music, a type of genre that features a dark atmosphere, and samples from other genres like funk. It uses this type of music as the background audio, but the most popular song of this genre is Mangos, by LDRR!, and it is commonly called “mango phonk.” Most of the time, these phrases don’t actually mean anything to the video so it is just a regular heavy edit-style video with these words in the caption.

10. That feeling when knee surgery is tomorrow

Created by bluegrinchy on Instagram, this meme features a single image of a blue-tinted version of the Grinch with the caption “That feeling when knee surgery is tomorrow.”

9. Jonkler

“Jonkler” is a misspelling of Joker, the main villain in the Batman franchise. It stems from many sources, but the one that went most viral was when a picture of Joker merged with a video titled “If The Joker Could Beatbox.” This video features an AI-deepfake — using AI to make an image mimicking features such as talking — of the Joker beatboxing and the video was linked with the Jonkler misspelling to make the final meme.

8. Lunchly

“Lunchly” is a snack box created by Youtube influencers MrBeast, KSI, and Logan Paul. The box featured a choice from three options, “The Pizza,” “Fiesta Nachos” and “Turkey Stack ‘Ems.” The box also came with a Feastables chocolate bar from MrBeast and a Prime drink from KSI and Logan Paul. The first memes that originated were from a YouTube short explaining how their cheese was authentic and non-processed. In the video, Logan Paul says the phrase “I like my cheese drippy bruh,” and it was a very popular phrase used around the time of the release of the video. The second meme that originated was also due to the cheese, but this time, it was because of allegations that the cheese often came moldy in the box. This was proven true by many users on a variety of social media platforms. Many people who tried Lunchly posted pictures of the moldy cheese, but unfortunately for those people, no changes to the cheese-making process have been publicly announced.

7. Two Steps Ahead

Created by YouTuber Nikocado Avocado, the original meme starts from a video he made, titled “Two Steps Ahead.” The video is a joke that he made where he calls his viewers “ants,” saying that they are easily convinced that everything he does is real. In his videos, he eats obscene amounts of food and is often criticized for being overweight, which he addressed in his now-viral video.

6. TikTok Rizz Party

The “TikTok Rizz Party” originated on March 17, at a sweet 16 birthday party. The video features a group of boys dancing to “Carnival” by Kanye West and Ty Dolla Sign. The video became viral after people gave names to the people in the video and it became very popular on TikTok.

5. Costco Guys

The “Costco Guys” are a father-son influencer duo who often went to Costco to say how much they enjoyed the store. One video they made about Costco’s double-chunk chocolate cookie went extremely viral, and they became popular enough to the point where they were even featured on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.”

4. Thick of It

“Thick of It” is a song created by popular YouTube star KSI on Oct. 3. The song went viral after many other popular streamers and influencers on the platform gave it negative feedback due to the lyrics being generic and not well put together. KSI is well known for taking these claims personally in aims to defend his song, and these actions he has taken have gone extremely viral. “Thick of It” was commonly played around its release time as a joke, and many people would recite verses from the song such as, “From the screen to the ring from the pen to the king” and the opening verse.

3. Chill Guy/My New Character

Created by Phillipbanks on X, the drawing of a dog wearing a hoodie with a calm and collective face quickly gained popularity on TikTok and other social media platforms. “Chill Guy” symbolizes a calm demeanor and the act of being carefree during stressful times.

2. Let Him Cook

Created by popular TikTok influencer Vexbolts, the “Let Him Cook” meme originated on Jan. 5, 2023. However, Vexbolts began dragging it, leading the meme to be relevant throughout the whole year. This new relevancy made it popular through 2024 and has even influenced modern vocabulary. Many teachers and students have started using the phrases “let him cook” and “cooked.” The phrase “let him cook” describes the action of letting someone continue what they are doing in hopes of a great outcome, and “cooked” means being in a state of defeat.

1. Low Taper Fade

The “low taper fade” meme originated when two musical artists, Tetro and ericdoa, made a song featuring the lyrics, “Imagine if Ninja got a low taper fade,” relating to a popular Fortnite streamer with the alias Ninja. Ninja later discovered the meme and continuously spoke about it even after the meme had lost relevance. Ninja dragging the meme made the meme relevant throughout all of 2024. This meme also reappeared in December over the “locked in alien” meme, featuring an AI-generated alien created by TikToker breachextract. Ninja replaced the alien in this meme and the original background song was replaced with a “low taper fade” themed one.