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| Property | Value |
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| URL | https://www.digitaltrends.com/social-media/most-popular-memes/ |
| Last Crawled | 2026-01-20 11:18:09 (2 months ago) |
| First Indexed | 2017-05-15 02:29:07 (8 years ago) |
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| Meta Title | These are the most popular memes of all time (and their stories) - Digital Trends |
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| Boilerpipe Text | The humble meme has come a long way since its days of confused pronunciation, unclear definition, and just general misunderstandings. Since being added to the
Merriam-Webster Dictionary last year
, it would appear that the meme has taken on a life of its own — seriously, at this point, whatÂ
haven’tÂ
we turned into a meme?
And while these images have attained notoriety by way of ubiquity, there are still a few classics — the originals, shall we say — that have proven the most popular over time. Now, thanks to the folks over at
Funny Status
, we know what the 10 most Internet-famous images of all time are. So here are just a few of the Masters of Memes and their associated stories.
Recommended Videos
One of the most popular, unsurprisingly, is The Most Interesting Man in the World. His real name is Jonathan Goldsmith, and this man catapulted into stardom and meme hall of fame-ry with a 2006 Dos Equis beer ad campaign. Now his is the face that has spawned a million memes, but in real life, “interesting” takes on a much more subdued meaning. He resides in Vermont alongside his wife and dogs, and says he enjoys “nature, solitude, [and] quiet.”
Then there’s Bad Luck Brian, the awkward looking kid with the awful sweater vest who has become the poster child for … well, failure. The teen behind the meme is Kyle Craven, who wanted to create a ridiculous yearbook photo for his junior year. He bought a sweater vest at a thrift store and madeÂ
thatÂ
face, and got his big break when a friend posted the image online in 2012. Since then, his image has appeared just about everywhere, and Craven says he’s earned between $15,000 and $20,000.
And for a totally different look at masculinity, there’s the ever-popular Scumbag Steve, whose real name is Blake Boston. Back in 2006, Boston was just 16, and hisÂ
motherÂ
took the now infamous photo of him standing in the doorway. Though Boston says he was initially infuriated and embarrassed by the Internet’s abuse of this image, he later found a way to laugh at and even enjoy his infamy. He’s since started a rap career that embraces the Scumbag Steve persona and is an
avid tweeter
(and Hillary supporter).
But what is actually the most popular meme of all time? Its simplicity may surprise you — the number one spot is none other than the I’ve-seen-it-on-Reddit meme Y U No, from which over 2.2 million unique memes have been created. The Most Interesting Man takes third place with over 1.2 million memes, and my personal favorite, First World Problems, has seen over 727,000 memes created.
Check out the full list and see if your own favorite made the top 10 below … and keep meme-ing away.
http://funnystatus.com/master-of-memes/
Image used with permission by copyright holder |
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# These are the most popular memes of all time (and their stories)
By [Lulu Chang](https://www.digitaltrends.com/users/lchang/)
Published March 27, 2016
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Save
The humble meme has come a long way since its days of confused pronunciation, unclear definition, and just general misunderstandings. Since being added to the [Merriam-Webster Dictionary last year](https://www.digitaltrends.com/web/merriam-webster-dictionary-embraces-meme-emoji-other-tech-words/), it would appear that the meme has taken on a life of its own — seriously, at this point, what *haven’t* we turned into a meme?
And while these images have attained notoriety by way of ubiquity, there are still a few classics — the originals, shall we say — that have proven the most popular over time. Now, thanks to the folks over at [Funny Status](https://funnystatus.com/master-of-memes/), we know what the 10 most Internet-famous images of all time are. So here are just a few of the Masters of Memes and their associated stories.
Recommended Videos
One of the most popular, unsurprisingly, is The Most Interesting Man in the World. His real name is Jonathan Goldsmith, and this man catapulted into stardom and meme hall of fame-ry with a 2006 Dos Equis beer ad campaign. Now his is the face that has spawned a million memes, but in real life, “interesting” takes on a much more subdued meaning. He resides in Vermont alongside his wife and dogs, and says he enjoys “nature, solitude, \[and\] quiet.”
Then there’s Bad Luck Brian, the awkward looking kid with the awful sweater vest who has become the poster child for … well, failure. The teen behind the meme is Kyle Craven, who wanted to create a ridiculous yearbook photo for his junior year. He bought a sweater vest at a thrift store and made *that* face, and got his big break when a friend posted the image online in 2012. Since then, his image has appeared just about everywhere, and Craven says he’s earned between \$15,000 and \$20,000.
And for a totally different look at masculinity, there’s the ever-popular Scumbag Steve, whose real name is Blake Boston. Back in 2006, Boston was just 16, and his *mother* took the now infamous photo of him standing in the doorway. Though Boston says he was initially infuriated and embarrassed by the Internet’s abuse of this image, he later found a way to laugh at and even enjoy his infamy. He’s since started a rap career that embraces the Scumbag Steve persona and is an [avid tweeter](https://twitter.com/BlakeBoston617?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor) (and Hillary supporter).
But what is actually the most popular meme of all time? Its simplicity may surprise you — the number one spot is none other than the I’ve-seen-it-on-Reddit meme Y U No, from which over 2.2 million unique memes have been created. The Most Interesting Man takes third place with over 1.2 million memes, and my personal favorite, First World Problems, has seen over 727,000 memes created.
Check out the full list and see if your own favorite made the top 10 below … and keep meme-ing away.

http://funnystatus.com/master-of-memes/ Image used with permission by copyright holder

[Lulu Chang](https://www.digitaltrends.com/users/lchang/)
Former Contributor
[facebook](https://www.facebook.com/luluchang79) [twitter](https://twitter.com/luchanglu)
Fascinated by the effects of technology on human interaction, Lulu believes that if her parents can use your new app…
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New UK under-5 screen time guidance targets passive time, what it changes for you
The UK plans to publish its first under-fives screen advice in April, with tips to keep screens from taking over family time.

The UK government is preparing its first under-5 screen time guidance for parents of young children, due in April, after raising concerns that heavy daily screen use can blunt toddlers’ language development as reported by The Guardian.
The push is rooted in government-commissioned research that links the highest screen use in two-year-olds, around five hours a day, with weaker vocabulary than peers closer to 44 minutes a day. Screens are already close to universal at age two, so the guidance is being framed as help you can actually use, not a ban.
[Read more](https://www.digitaltrends.com/social-media/new-under-5-screen-time-guidance-targets-passive-time-what-it-changes-for-you/)
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Instagram says it fixed the issue behind shady password reset emails
Days after numerous users reported suspicious password reset emails, Instagram says it has fixed the issue.

Over the past few days, numerous Instagram users received an email regarding a password reset request. Around the same time, it was reported that cybercriminals had scraped the personal data of over 17 million users and that recent password reset phishing emails were linked to it. Well, Instagram says it has fixed the issue, while denying any data breach.
What happened?
[Read more](https://www.digitaltrends.com/social-media/instagram-says-you-can-ignore-shady-password-reset-emails-after-breach-report/)
- [Social Media](https://www.digitaltrends.com/social-media/)
Instagram data of 17.5 million users resurfaces online after 2024 incident
Instagram’s 2024 data leak just made an unwanted comeback tour

A massive treasure trove of Instagram user data has just bubbled back up to the surface, and it’s putting millions of accounts back in the crosshairs more than a year after the original leak was thought to be dead and buried.
Roughly 17.5 million accounts are caught up in this latest wave after the data started making the rounds on a notorious hacking forum in early January 2026. According to a security alert from Malwarebytes, a hacker going by the handle “Solonik” is the one behind the leak. While this might feel like a brand-new security breach, experts say the data actually stems from a 2024 misstep - a misconfigured Instagram API that allowed bad actors to scrape massive amounts of profile info before Meta could plug the hole.
[Read more](https://www.digitaltrends.com/social-media/instagram-data-of-17-5-million-users-resurfaces-online-after-2024-incident/)
## More Social Media News

### [New UK under-5 screen time guidance targets passive time, what it changes for you](https://www.digitaltrends.com/social-media/new-under-5-screen-time-guidance-targets-passive-time-what-it-changes-for-you/)

### [Instagram says it fixed the issue behind shady password reset emails](https://www.digitaltrends.com/social-media/instagram-says-you-can-ignore-shady-password-reset-emails-after-breach-report/)

### [Instagram data of 17.5 million users resurfaces online after 2024 incident](https://www.digitaltrends.com/social-media/instagram-data-of-17-5-million-users-resurfaces-online-after-2024-incident/)

### [You might soon be able to play mini games inside Threads DMs](https://www.digitaltrends.com/social-media/you-might-soon-be-able-to-play-mini-games-inside-threads-dms/)

### [New York to start treating social media like cigarettes with warning labels](https://www.digitaltrends.com/social-media/new-york-to-start-treating-social-media-like-cigarettes-with-warning-labels/)

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