50 Best Memes : What Defined That Year

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man and woman is holding a meme board

Did you sleep most of 2017 away too? That's all right; we've got you covered. What better way to catch up on your pop culture than reviewing the best memes of 2017? The Best Memes of 2017 have been organized and ranked according to their relevancy and humor here. We hope you take this as seriously as we do. Just kidding.

2017 Year in Review

From Donald Trump's first year in the White House to Beyoncé's very interesting menu, the internet trolled it all. There's not a more comprehensive list of the events in 2017 than this best memes of 2017 list.

The Memes Most Googled

The best memes of 2017 line up with the memes most Googled in 2017. At the top of Google's list was Cash Me Ousside, Elf on the Shelf, Pennywise and the Biden Obama memes. It's no secret that the best memes of 2017 are a clear depiction of pop culture for the year. Thanks, Google.

50 Best Memes of 2017: What Defined That Year

50. Joe Biden Meme


If there's one Joe Biden meme that rules them all...well, there's not because they're all pretty hilarious. In 2017 we mostly bore witness to the image of Biden with his arm around Obama and the internet imagined their conversations. Our favorite is:

Biden: Ok here's the plan: have you seen Home Alone
Obama: Joe, no
Biden: Just one booby trap
Obama: Joe

With the Obama administration exiting as the Trump administration began, that booby trap sure would have been an entertaining one.

49. The Great American Eclipse


If there's something lasting the solar eclipse on August 21st brought us, it's great memes. Especially of dark colored animals passing in front of light colored animals being passed in front of each other. Kittens, pugs, chiuauas: bring them on.

48. The Floor Is...


We all know the last resort, bored-out-of-your mind childhood game ‘The Floor is Lava'. Somehow this grainy image of an elderly lady clutching the iron bars of a gate far off the floor revived the game in a more entertaining way than it was when you and your sibling were grounded at the same time. Fill in the blank with whatever you like. The internet gave us some new classics like ‘The floor is commitment,' ‘The floor is real and important news,' and ‘The floor is sexual relations with that woman,' featuring Bill Clinton as the elderly lady.

47. What in Tarnation


In reference to a character from My Little Pony mixed with an image of a Shiba Inu wearing a cowboy hat started off the year with enough ammo for a meme rage giving us a little bit of comedic relief around the inauguration.

46. Elf on the Shelf


The best meme prompt ever. Find something that rhymes the same way Elf on a Shelf: Shrek on a deck; Cat on a mat; Seinfeld in a field.

45. "First of all..."


Mostly popular because it's a sassy way to let the person who offended you know they have way more insults coming at them, the ‘first of all' meme has been completed with some witty comebacks alongside some sassy responses to overly eager men.

44. Expanding Brain


We love this meme because it's a great progression of a brain expanding into consciousness and can be used to show actual progression of intelligence or mildly funny content. Try:

‘Eleven'
‘Ten and one'
‘One one'
‘Onety-one'

43. United Airlines


We've all seen the videos and hear the recounts of the flight from hell. An overbooked United Airlines flight where crew members violently dragged a passenger off when he refused to give up his seat. United Airlines responded acting like everything was just find. Being called ‘passenger re-accommodation' and defending the crew's reaction lead to some re-accommodation of twitter's reactions to their statement.

42. Brother, May I Have Some Oats


Being a fan of memes, you probably know that some (or most) make no sense. This is one of them. This image features two pigs grazing. One seems to be asking the other one “Brother, may I have some oats?”

That's it. Posting this meme is now called
oatposting.

41. Side-Eyeing Michelle Obama


After being handed a gift from Melania Trump, Michelle Obama turns around with the best and most appropriate side eye she could summon.

40. Tiny Trump


Possibly a play on the ‘tiny hands' tweets: enter the Tiny Trump memes. Trump is pictured as a tiny human and other larger humans are depicted kneeling down to greet him, or our favorite - Vladimir Putin pictured walking him on a retractable leash.

39. Salt Bae


After a well known chef uses what looks like the sharpest knives to cut through a steak, he sprinkles salt on the piece of meat like it's fairy dust, seemingly ‘making it rain' on his creation. Stills of the chef mid-sprinkle soon went viral.

38. Rick and Morty Fans


After a longer than necessary wait, Rick and Morty Fans got their season three. This lead to a lot of pent up meme aggression, for better or for worse.

37. Monkey Haircut


In the beginning of 2017, a video of a monkey getting a haircut went viral. This wasn't just any normal monkey. It was a macaque completely relaxed, confident, and looking absolutely stylish. You wish you looked this good.

36. Cash Me Ousside, Howbow Dah?


It was a cringe-worthy episode of Dr. Phil: the doctor himself talking to a 13-year-old girl about her verbally and physically relationship with her mother and the girl's penchant for the street life, all of which included stealing cars and starting fights. After the girl made a remark at a laughing audience, she challenges them to “Cash me outsside, howbow
dah?”

After Dr. Phil asks for some clarification on her East coast accented phrase and her mother explains that “Catch her outside means she'll go outside and do what she has to do.” The internet exploded with memes and videos of people all over reenacting the newly infamous slang.

35. Asahd Khaled


DJ Khaled's infant son in diapers scored an executive producer credit, a Ferrari and a ton of ridiculous memes that were not any more ridiculous to his early lease on fame.

34. I GOT SOME LOUD


Internet personality and rapper Young King Dave went viral with his confusing weather reports and letting us know that he's loud. That's it. Sometimes it's the simplest things.

33. It


Stephen King's IT was a best selling horror novel and arguably the best novel he ever wrote. In 2017, the feature film was remade with an even more realistic Pennywise the Clown played by Bill Skarsgård. Along with the debut of the remake came along several memes from notably the most memorable and frightening scene.

Georgie, the innocent younger brother of the show's main character Bill, is playing outside in the middle of a rainstorm with a paper boat that his brother made for him. He sets the boat down in a stream that carries it into a storm drain. Georgie kneels down to see if he can spot the boat, and Pennywise the Clown rears his head, enticing Georgie into the storm drain and inevitably, to his death.

Although this scene may stick with many as another reason to steer clear of storm drains even on the sunniest days, the memes that followed are the perfect sarcastic twist on the original scene. Captions like ‘I have tacos down here' and ‘I'll let you use my Netflix account' put anything you can consider a vice into a playful, relatable image.

32. Beyoncé's Order


The iconic Beyoncé - who hit the charts yet again in 2017 - is seen in this meme ordering at a restaurant. She's leaning back pointing out what she'd like to the server that is eagerly leaning closer. Our favorite captions involve Beyoncé saying ‘I actually invented Lemonade, so it should be free,' alluding to her solo album released the previous year and ‘I'll have the vegan ice water.'

31. Porgs


The Last Jedi introduced the cutest creatures on the official Star Wars website, unleashing a slew of cute puffin like memes on the world. Another gift from the Star Wars legacy.

30. The Mooch


In 2017, Anthony Scaramucci served as the White House Director of Communications for all of 10 days. This spawned tons of great memes, from Futurama comparisons to jokes about his name - rightfully earning him the nickname ‘The Mooch.'

29. Spotify Playlists


While Spotify is nothing new to it's users, it has gained a second wind by allowing users to share their playlists - or as we like to see it, a window into their soul. Several internet celebrities and musicians alike have made it part of their repertoire to carefully craft lists of songs that they love to groove to.

Notably, in 2017 the Canadian singer, songwriter and (slightly strange) visual artist Grimes compiled a playlist titled ‘the faé list', a collection of music created by independent female artists she likes to support. Featuring groups like DRAMA, previously known as DRAMA DUO, the soft, sweet pitched and morose lyrics of Nicole Dollaganger, and Aristophanes, who Grimes has collaborated with before, Grimes highlights several artists that she knows personally.

28. Living in 3017


With the internet we now have a window into the creative minds that surround us around the globe - and some of the cultural differences that make our current methods of completing tasks seem highly outdated. Enter the Living in 3017 memes. While some of the memes seem like a silly way of making fun of a different way of doing things - i.e. someone using a literal fish tank at 711 during Free Slurpee Day - there are some truly useful memes that have been generated under this theme, like a company that printed the colors of an avocado on its produce sticker so you can tell how ripe the fruit is.

27. I Have Never Been to Prague in My Life


In 2017, Buzzfeed published an article claiming that Michael Cohen had met with Kremlin officials in Prauge. Cohen responds via Twitter with a picture of the front of a passport and the caption ‘I have never been to Prauge in my life. #fakenews'. This unleashed a slew of memes with equally unrelated images featuring the same capture. Our favorite is the picture of an MTA Metro Card.

26. Obamacare vs. GOP Replacement


Sometimes the internet is the best way to get our our frustrations. This was especially true for many with the debate of our healthcare system.

25. RompHim


Halfway through our list of the best memes of 2017, we show that halfway through 2017 we saw some unfortunate products hit the market, like male rompers. That's right, basically adult sized onesies that are designed to be worn in public. Que the endless memes making fun of this tragic product.

24. The Return of the Palpatine


Yet another gift from the Star Wars legacy.

23. The Babadook


The Babadook film terrified viewers in 2014. In 2015, the film lived in Netflix's LGBT section. In 2017, the title character of the film is a queer icon. Unleash the memes!

22. Bad Statues


In 2017 protesters in downtown Durham tore town a racist Confederate soldier statue. Actor James Woods was not thrilled, tweeting a pic of the Marine Corps War Memorial and writing, "Before the #liberals find a reason to deface, destroy or degrade this one, I thought some of you might like to see it one more time…" He clearly missed the point, and soon became the butt of all the memes.

21. Donald Trump's Paper Towel Shot


After the devastating Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico, Trump's visit was laden with disappointing moments, including the inappropriate paper towel-throw. He's seen tossing paper towels into a crowd of hurricane victims - a gesture that shook the internet to creating even more demoralizing memes than the photo itself. Samantha Bee captioned it best: “Republicans: Kneeling for the National Anthem is offensive. Trump: What if I throw paper towels at hurricane survivors?”

20. Nothing but Respect for My President


In the summer of 2017, a Trump supporter visited Donald Trump's star at the Hollywood Walk of Fame and cleaned the defaced star, posting an image of it online. He wrapped it up with the nice little passive aggressive caption, “Nothing but respect for MY President. #RaisedRight”. After the post, several trolled the supporter with images of them cleaning the stars of more appropriate heroes and idols, including Meryl Streep, Shrek, Britney Spears, and Donald Duck.

19. Bad Volume Sliders


After a Reddit user posted the challenge “Who can make the best volume slider?” the internet trolls answered with responses, like:

“Prepare yourselves for a week of volume sliders”
“Weak volume sliders. Check.”
“Weak volume slider week.”
“Week of weak volume sliders.”
“Week of sliders of weak volume.”
“Sliders of week . volume weak”
“Week of the volume's weak sliders.”

These comments and trolls were instrumental in a slew of volume sliders, some that worked and many that did not. Good job, internet.

18. "I Love This Woman and Her Curvy Body"


When writer Robbie Tripp posted a photo of him and his wife enjoying a beach stroll with a comment of him professing his love for his wife and her “curvy body” on Instagram, he wasn't prepared for the myriad of reactions from the internet. On one side of the spectrum were people upset at how much traction a post written by a man about his approval of his wife was getting while “curvy” women are shamed daily (especially on Instagram) for having love for their curves.

On the other side of the spectrum were people posting “I'm not crying, you're crying” in reaction to a moving love letter posted publicly. And sprinkled on the way from one side to the other are photos of plump cats and Patrick the starfish with the same caption.

Thanks for showcasing the broadest stretch of emotions, internet. You've done it once again.

17. Right in Front of My Salad


The line "Are you serious?! Right in front of my salad?" came from a porno extra, quickly bloomed into one of 2017's most memorable quotes, partly mainly because of its versatility.

16. Retire Bitch


This meme's origin began in 2013 when Danny DeVito tweeted the four lonely words “ Antonin Scalia retire bitch” unexplained. In 2017's political and internet meme landscape, it was used to call out politicians and the like for their actions, and sometimes lack thereof.

15. Trump's First Order of Business


High up on our best memes of 2017 is Trump's iconic signing of executive orders.  Who says laughter isn't the best medicine?

14. Sly Duck


There's nothing like a good side eye meme, and this sly duck did it best in 2017. Some of our favorite captions are “When you grab the McDonalds and eat a little bit out of everybody's fries then take the one you didn't touch,” and “When you have finals to work on but you spend your time drawing bird memes instead."

13. Trump Orb


In May of 2017, the Egyptian President and King of Saudi Arabia were photographed with Donald Trump with their hands outstretched, touching a glowing orb. Yeah, you read that right. The mystery begins and the internet takes off with their memes and witty twitter responses.

 12. This Is the Future That Liberals Want


When a far right Twitter user posted a photo of a drag queen next to a Muslim woman riding a New York subway car and captioned it “the future that liberals want,” liberals quickly retorted with the caption underneath photos of dogs, superheroes, and a real life Shrek role played wedding.

11. One Thicc Bih


With the rise of the Ditty app that will sing anything you tell it to (why internet, why?) came an onslaught of memes modeled after the sung phrase “One thicc
bih”, featuring Pooh bear, Mr. Krab, and Squidward to name a few.

10. The Snapchat Hot Dog


As Snapchat continues to amaze, entertain, and confuse us it releases a break dancing hot dog with dual personalities. His dance moves will make you smile, but let the dancing hot dog fool you not. He will kick babies.

9. He Protec But He Also Attac


The classic meme “He protects, but he also attacks” was revived in 2017 when the internet introduced clearly inferior spelling and a third panel. Thus, “he protec, he attac, but most importantly he ressurec” is born.

8. "Man's Not Hot" / "The Ting Goes"


In a fun "Fire in the Booth" session, the host freestyle parodied a U.K. gangster stereotype and gave birth two great memes: the "man's not hot" as well as “the ting goes.”

7. Shooting Stars


The song “Shooting Star” by The Bag Raiders became a memorial to someone important - whoever that my be to you - launching them flying into space. Do yourself a favor and Google “Shooting Stars Compilation.” You'll see why it made number 7 on our best memes of 2017 list.

6. Cracking Open a Cold One with the Boys


This phrase has been well known for a while, but the memes go on and on with great metaphors.

5. Meryl Streep Singing


The 2015 SAG Awards saw Meryl Streep enthusiastically echoing lyrics to almost every song played. In 2017 the internet rebirthed this meme with some real gems, including Bohemian Rhapsody and Bill Nye inspired ones.

4. Mocking SpongeBob


No, the SpongeBob memes will never stop. In one famous episode he responded to everything said like a chicken. This is plenty enough fuel to spark a meme fire never before seen until 2017.

3. Roll Safe


There was a screenshot taken of a 2016 coded oral sex quip that became Roll Safe, one of the best-worst memes of 2017.

2. Distracted Boyfriend


Runner up to the best meme of 2017 is the distracted boyfriend. Carrying us far into 2018 and beyond are the regularly used ‘distracted boyfriend' memes. From using them as a way to explain astrological downfalls to becoming an inception of explanation of an oversaturation of memes, this versatile image can fill any void in the trolling world.


1. White Guy Blinking

Our favorite and the top of the best memes of 2017 is a closeup image of a man blinking in disbelief. Used by trollers to show their blind sightedness by others ignorance as well as being purely baffled by simple math, this GIF was most used in 2017. Thanks for helping us find an appropriate reaction to literally everything that happened in 2017, blinking white guy.

Conclusion

memes

gif via giphy

The best memes of 2017 brought us laughter, anger and a way to manage and express just about any emotion in between. We hope the best memes of 2017 list has served as a way for you to reflect on the year and come away with some great saved .GIFs and .jpegs in your arsenal of internet trollery.