The concept of a meme describes a unit of cultural information that mutates and evolves as it is passed along and interacts with other memes.
This process mirrors the way genetic evolution takes place, and just like genes, it can be hard to really define the boundaries of any particular meme. Technically Christianity could be defined as a meme — though the folks over at r/dankchristianmemes might disagree.
Colloquially, the term is used to describe certain forms of image macros, as well as blocks of text that are repeatedly copied and pasted — "copypastas" and endless variations on these themes. It's an increasingly broad category that can be used to describe all sorts of internet phenomena, but as an extremely online white man who has done the bare minimum of research — i.e. an expert — I can say with certainty that the following 10 meme formats (not the specific images themselves) are the best that the past decade has produced.
Of course, everyone has their own preferences in matters of taste like this, so feel free to leave your incorrect opinions in the comments.
10 Guy
10 Guy is the face of joyful and oblivious confusion. He doesn't know he's confused, and he doesn't particularly care. While the intended function of this meme was to capture the kind of thoughts that occur when a person is as high as it's possible to be — a 10 out of 10 — it's equally appropriate for capturing the everyday neural misfires that result in putting your phone in the fridge and saying "you too" when the waitress tells you to enjoy your meal.
10 Guy is not as well known as many of the items on this list, but it's such an effective and funny packaging for a relatable experience that it has stuck around since 2011 and still gets some use to this day.
Starter Packs
Reddit user u/NotBrigitte
Starter Packs originated in 2014 and have grown to be one of the most recognizable and versatile meme formats today. They can be used to highlight unusual situations and find solidarity in common experiences, but more often than not they are used to attack others.
We all like to judge people who are different than us, and starter packs are among the best ways to do it online. Define a group of people you don't like with a handful of accessories, phrases, and personal defects, and you can turn a vague assemblage of distasteful traits into a monolithic Other.
Starter Packs are often amusing in their incisive exposure of the regimented and superficial personas that people choose to project, but they too often function as an outlet for the unfortunate human instinct to dehumanize and invent divisions in order to elevate ourselves.
Virgin vs. Chad
Reddit user u/zamoon
Virgin vs. Chad memes share a lot in common with starter packs, but they establish a binary in-group — the Chads — to juxtapose with the detested Other — the virgins. This format adopts the slang of toxic communities of men online — and the "virgin" artwork was originally a sincere artifact of that culture.
The absurd image of the Chad, however, was created as a direct response, mocking the perspective of the original artist and lends an inherent tone of self-deprecation that makes Virgin vs. Chad memes better suited for ironic or exaggerated dichotomies than sincere attacks on an out-group—though the format is often used by people who don't seem to understand that...
Galaxy Brain
The Daily Dot
Galaxy Brain is similarly a meme that can be used sincerely — as a step-wise progression from a conventional opinion on an issue all the way up to a god-like enlightenment — but is more appropriately used with an ironic bent. The ironic usage has come to predominate to such an extent that, since the meme first appeared in 2017, the terms "galaxy brain" and "galaxy brained" have become synonymous with people and opinions that are smugly oblivious to their own stupidity. There are multiple versions of the format with variations that make it flexible enough to accommodate any issue on which there are a variety of opinions.
Epic Handshake
The Epic Handshake meme represents the other side of the Galaxy Brain hierarchy of opinions. In this meme, there is only one correct opinion, and two usually distinct groups are brought into an unlikely alliance by their agreement.
Adapted from a scene out of 1987's Predator— depicting a hyper-manly meeting between Arnold Schwartzenegger and Carl Weathers — the handshake had already been fodder for viral videos and fan art for nearly a decade when, in 2018, a Twitter user started labeling each bicep with a different group and the clasped hands with the idea that has unified them. It's a symbol of unity for our divided times.
Corn Cob
Originating in a 2011 tweet from @dril, the concept of corn cobbing — and of visually representing a person as transforming into a corncob — refers to the phenomenon of a person actively denying their humiliation when they have been made to look foolish.
It's unclear why a corncob was chosen as the symbol of denial, but the concept of visibly transforming while vehemently denying that anything has happened is a potent image of a common mentality online — particularly when it comes to political debates.
The term gained an added level of comedy when its cryptic strangeness was misinterpreted by centrist political pundits as being in some way homophobic or related to sexual violence. Their indignant misunderstanding was taken as proof of their self-righteous tendencies, and the term Corn Cob has thus taken on a second meaning, synonymous with out-of-touch political centrists.
Hotline Bling Drake
When Drake released the music video for his 2015 single "Hotline Bling," it immediately became the object of mockery for his odd, minimalist dance moves — which largely amounted to hand gestures and facial expressions. Soon two of those hand gestures and facial expressions were screenshotted and juxtaposed in a meme format that allows the user to express distaste for one concept and approval for a related term.
While the "In My Feelings" Challenge ghost-riding trend was briefly a much broader phenomenon, the simplicity of this meme, with its recognizable gestures and expressions, makes it extremely flexible and enduring, with endless photoshopped variations, the most notable of which are the Cat Drakes.
Hide Your Pain Harold
Zodab
In 2011, citizens of the internet discovered a stock photo model unlike any other. He was not the standard generic semi-handsome type you usually see in these images, wearing a vacant smile and glazed eyes. Harold, whose real name is András Arató, had a face that held thinly veiled depths of pain, the likes of which are rarely reached by mortal men. The slant of his brow above his eyes, and the way his forced smile failed to turn up at the corners made him look like the cameraman was holding a gun on him — and had already disposed of his family.
His prolific modeling work made him perfect material for any number of memes about hiding pain, but the best part about Harold is that, once Arató found out he'd become a meme, he got in on the fun.
Distracted Boyfriend
Another pearl plucked from the stock image oyster, the Distracted Boyfriend meme took off in 2017 when people started adding culturally relevant labels to a stock image titled "Disloyal Man with His Girlfriend, Looking at Another Girl." Suddenly, any news event that was getting more attention than a bigger news event could be succinctly captured in the form of an out-of-frame butt. Are you easily distracted? Do you procrastinate? Do you have patterns of stupid or irresponsible behavior that you can't seem to break? Then you to can be memeified by Distracted Boyfriend.
Epstein Didn't Kill Himself
Instagram user @seventeenpages
The phrase "Epstein Didn't Kill Himself" is not really like other internet memes, in that it's kind of just an obvious fact — namely, that contrary to the official story, famed human trafficking billionaire Jeffrey Epstein didn't kill himself in August of 2019 — that's been codified into a four-word statement.
But seeing as it should be stated as often and as widely as possible, it deserves a spot on this list. It has been written on gallery walls, painted on boulders, and printed on beer cans, but in its most memeable form, the phrase is inserted into an unrelated list of instructions or information. For instance, there are three types of naturally occurring rock: Igneous rocks are formed when liquid magma solidifies, sedimentary rocks are formed when layers of deposited sand or clay are compressed into stone, metamorphic rocks are formed when either of the other two are altered under intense pressure/heat, and Jeffrey Epstein didn't kill himself.