The Very Best Memes of 2021 (So Far)

It’s been a long and often difficult year, marked by vaccine joy, vaccine envy, vaccine anxiety, and pretty much everything else vaccine related. One of the few constant sources of joy have been the year’s standout memes; in an uncertain world, thank God for the internet for always, always delivering. Below, take a look at the best memes of 2021 (so far):

Shocked Oprah

The master interviewer’s appalled reactions to Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s struggles with the royal family became applicable to all of us commoners.

The retro luxury of House of Gucci

The first glimpse at Adam Driver and Lady Gaga in their ’80s-snow-bunny best reminded too many children of the ’80s of their own parents’ après ski pics.

Kim Kardashian at the Met gala

One of the world’s most visible women occupying negative space was the most memed look at an always meme-able event.

The Weeknd’s Super Bowl maze

During his halftime set, The Weeknd capably captured what it’s like to frantically search for someone/something/anything.

Harry Styles’s Dazed shoot

Styles’s latest spread sparked the endless imagination of his fans.

Leonardo DiCaprio’s close encounter with Jeff Bezos

In which Bezos’s girlfriend seemed rather taken with Jack Dawson, much to the Internet’s amusement.

Putting the COVID-19 vaccine in context

In response to initial vaccine hesitancy, Twitter users helpfully pointed out the decidedly mysterious ingredients people have willingly consumed.

Check on Jake Gyllenhaal

The release of Red (Taylor’s Version) led to widespread faux concern for Gyllenhaal, who inspired sweet-revenge songs like “All Too Well.”

For the better, right?

This meme, based on a conversation between Anakin Skywalker and Padmé Amidala in Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones, has been turned into a joke format in which the first person says something, the second person gives a hopeful answer, the first person gazes in meaningful silence, and then the second person nervously follows up. Instant comedy!

Noodle the pug’s no-bones days

This meme was sparked by a TikTok of a 13-year-old pug named Noodle, who either wakes up on a “bone” day (when he can stand up and live his life accordingly) or a “no-bones” days (when he just flops around and does nothing). Who can relate?

The stuck Suez Canal boat

In March, a cargo ship called the Ever Given got stuck in the Suez Canal, preventing other ships from getting by...and creating endless memes in the process. Why did we identify so much with an enormous, unmoving boat? Who can say?

Sea-shanty TikTok

To condense this explanation as much as I can, basically people started singing 1800s-era sea shanties on TikTok. Some loved it, some prayed for it to end, but good luck ultimately getting any of those shanties out of your head, where they’re likely to have taken up permanent residence.

Bernie Sanders’s mittens

In January, a photo of the U.S. senator and onetime presidential candidate all bundled up in a coat, mask, and mittens at President Joe Biden’s inauguration went inexplicably viral. The mittens he wore had been made for him by a Vermont teacher, and proved that you can still be meme-able well into your 80s.

The French Dispatch cast at Cannes

Wes Anderson’s latest film, The French Dispatch, recently hit theaters, but it was preceded by a photograph of Anderson and his cast—which includes Timothée Chalamet, Tilda Swinton, and Bill Murray—at Cannes, onto which enterprising social-media users projected various entities. Chalamet is totally TikTok, right?

Bean dad

Buckle up, because this one has my vote for weirdest meme of the year. In January, podcaster John Roderick posted a long Twitter thread about refusing to let his young daughter eat beans unless she could figure out how to open the can herself, which...instantly became a meme? Parents, help your kids open their bean cans, please. Not everything needs to be a teachable moment.