Just in case you blocked out the past two years, we are in fact in the year 2022. And nothing is a better reminder of that than these funny 2022 memes.
It didn’t take long for iconic memes to pop up and claim their home in the Meme Hall of Fame. They’re so perfectly “2022” that you can’t even imagine explaining to your past self the tension that exists between Elmo and a pet rock. Or how Adam Levine texts like a teenager.
Or how Queen Elizabeth…well, we don’t want to spoil anything for ourselves from a year ago. So, here are the best 2022 memes. Buckle up kids. The ride is a wild one.
The Best 2022 Memes (So Far)
1. Elmo vs. Rocco Memes
The year 2022 woke up and chose violence. The Internet decided to resurrect a rivalry between Elmo –the beloved red puppet from Sesame Street – and Rocco – the pet rock belonging to Elmo’s friend Zoe.
At first we thought that the rivalry was just made up by people on Twitter with nothing better to do, but the footage is there. Elmo hates this inanimate chunk of stone, and we completely fell in love with the disdain bursting from its seams. Someone get him new stuffing!
2. Wordle Memes
If 2022 is season three of COVID, then Wordle is the sourdough bread phase of quarantine. The free online word puzzle captured the hearts of English nerds everywhere, giving them the validation that their $100,000 bachelor’s degree was worth it.
But the online dwellers don’t care if you can write sonnets or correctly guess a five-letter word in six tries. They’re more of visual communicators. And thus, dear reader, the Wordle meme was born when people started to share the results on social media.
3. Not Wordle Memes
Since you can only play Wordle once a day, there was plenty of time for people to come up with multiple angles on this 2022 meme. There was plenty of content to work with, what with all the colorful boxes, and the “not Wordle” memes turned a word game into a work of art.
And confirmation that we should really spend less time on Twitter.
4. Deltacron Memes
Just one week into 2022, a potential new COVID variant stepped into the scene, high heels, blowout at all. Thankfully, the Deltacron variant was actually just sample lab contamination as opposed to an actual merging of the Delta and Omicron variants.
But that didn’t stop the Deltacron memes from spreading. Come on, Twitter, wash your hands!
5. Green M&M Memes
And the award for misguided activism by a random company goes to: M&Ms! We didn’t know we needed the Green M&M to tone down her sexuality, but after the company replaced her high heeled boots with a pair of sensible sneakers, we can sleep so much better knowing that it’s impossible to be both sexy and smart.
The company may have missed the boat, jumped the shark, or gone on some other nautical adventure. But we loved the memes that came from it either way.
6. Euphoria High School Memes
The second season of HBO’s spicy high school drama Euphoria hit the small screen on January 9th, and it didn’t take long for the memes to pop up. The show features more parties, drugs, and fishnets than all of our wildest Halloweens combined, giving the Internet plenty of meme fodder.
The Euphoria High jokes even made it to TikTok, creating the “why aren’t you in uniform” trend. Which made us wonder: should we also own a pair of cut-out leggings and see through crop tops?
7. Stock Market Drop Memes
Despite the world being in a pandemic – a literal panini – over the past two years, the stock market saw huge gains. But on January 24th, it dropped faster than an athlete from a brand deal who got those gains from being on the juice. (No, apple is fine.)
But even though we lost some money, we gained these stock market memes. And that’s fine! Because laughter can make you just as rich as cash. Just don’t verify that with any stand-up comedian.
8. Work Event Memes
So, we really thought that Boris Johnson was a meme just on his own.
But the real gold appeared when he attended a “party” on Downing Street that he claimed was a work event. So he gets booze and dancing, and we get anxiety from Slack notifications? Boy, did we choose wrong.
After getting caught violating COVID protocols, Boris issued a statement trying to proclaim his ignorance. That didn’t get him off the hook, but it did give us all these memes.
9. Molly-Mae Memes
Love Island star Molly-Mae Hague got into some hot water after making the comment that “we all have the same 24 hours in a day,” so there’s no excuse for not reaching greatness. And sure. We know enough math to understand that’s technically correct.
But time moves a bit differently when you’re on a private jet vs. five rows deep in the TSA line. Thankfully, time moves just as slowly for everyone who’s holding a plank. And that, M&Ms, is equality.
me: *clocking out at work*
Molly Mae: pic.twitter.com/ZnJqXhXHLA
— richard (@RichardSmiiith) January 6, 2022
10. Gas Prices Memes
Russia’s Vlady Daddy decided to invade Ukraine, and US responded with…sky high gas prices. Like, higher than Snoop Dog prices. Thankfully, we learned from the stock market plummet that laughing at your financial misfortune truly is the best medicine.
So while everyone stayed at home instead of spending $100 on filling up their gas tank, they created these wonderfully hilarious gas price memes.
Well, except for Steve with his Tesla. Did you know he had a Tesla? Because he’d love to tell you about it for the fifth time.
11. Will Smith-Chris Rock Oscars Memes
As one would assume, the 2022 Oscars was filled with famous people wearing fancy dresses, suits more expensive that your monthly rent, and Will Smith slapping the life out of Chris Rock on stage. Oh, was that not on your bingo card?
This came about after Rock made a joke about Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, being in G.I. Jane 2. Although it garnered some chuckles at first, it set Smith off, as Pinkett Smith is losing her hair due to alopecia. Big yikes.
Cue a range of reactions, questions about who was in the right, and…you guessed it, the memes. We’ll let them take it from here.
Will smiths publicist to the entire world. pic.twitter.com/ixRVyEvZWb
— Chance (@ChanceIt215) March 28, 2022
12. Elon Musk Twitter Memes
Elon Musk, the illionaire and CEO of both Tesla and SpaceX, added a new line to his resume when he acquired Twitter in April 2022. Because who cares about electric cars and going to Mars when you can control how people write random thoughts on the Internet?
The $44 billion dollar sale sparked a range of reactions, most of which were shared on Twitter itself. Thankfully, Musk hasn’t banned any negative tweets about him yet. Or, turned the entire site into a chat room for sci-fi fan theories and math nerds. Oh right, that’s Reddit.
13. Kendall Jenner Cutting a Cucumber Memes
Although Keeping Up With The Kardashians may have ended, fans still get to ride along with America’s (least) favorite family in the new Hulu show that’s simply titled The Kardashians. It has the same general premise and follows the same Kar-Jen family, be we get to learn new things about them. Like how Kendall can’t cut a cucumber.
A short, but memorable scene, shows the second youngest sister nearly maiming herself as she tries to chop this elusive green vegetable. Is she scared of it? Is it a secret family technique? Are her fingers ok? Whatever the reason, it brought us memes aplenty.
The way Kendall Jenner cut that cucumber will haunt me pic.twitter.com/K0mBmvkzHu
— ♔b (@badtasticb) May 12, 2022
14. Johnny Depp vs. Amber Heard Memes
Whether or not you care about entertainment, court rooms, or pirates, you heard about this trial. It was messy and drawn out, and a ton of people created memes and TikTok videos about it. But no matter who’s side you were on, this trial was about domestic abuse. And making light of that topic really didn’t sit right with a lot of people. Not just because they took advantage of the Taco Bell subscription.
So while there’s plenty of content surrounded this 2022 meme, do yourself a favor and enjoy…literally anything else. We’ve heard that books are pretty cool?
15. American Girl Doll Memes
Trends from the ’90s are making a resurgence in 2022, so of course we got some of that in meme form. In the middle of the year we got an update of the American Girl dolls.
Instead of wannabe reporter Kit and post-World War II Molly, we got the iced coffee-obsessed doll and the content calendar queens. We got the self-care girls who are putting in the work. We’re still waiting for these dolls to actually come into existence…but for now, their memes live on.
16. Girl Explaining Memes
Memes are a love language. Or for some people, just a language. And in the case of the “girl explaining” meme, we’re not really sure what the emotion is.
Featuring a photo of a girl yelling into a guy’s ear in the middle of a concert, the best of these memes include rants about astrology, TV shows, conspiracy theories, and more. Essentially, if something has made a pop culture impact in the past 25 years, it’s been used in this format. Except for Furbies. we’re still trying to forget those.
17. Chris Pine “Don’t Worry Darling” Premiere Memes
Olivia Wilde’s Don’t Worry Darling became one of the most talked about movies of the year…before it even was released. There was so much drama surrounding it, between Shia LaBeouf getting fired, Florence Pugh getting paid less than Harry Styles, and the romance between Styles and Wilde.
Chris Pine, who also stars in the film, managed to stay out of the madness, until the Venice Film Festival press tour. He rolled his eyes into the depths of his soul. He remained stoic as Styles rambled on about “movies.” And…oh yeah, Harry Styles spit on Chris Pine?! No, not actually. But after that press tour, Pine did solidify his place in our hearts and in the annals of Twitter. *giggles*
18. Queen Elizabeth Memes
After 70 years reigning as the Queen of England, Elizabeth II passed away on September 8, 2022. It brought an end to an era, and Twitter wasted no time in commenting on it.
The Internet erupted with memes about the Queen Elizabeth’s legacy, life, and death. And also those about Diana to the fate of her corgis. Were the all in good taste? No. Were some incredibly chuckle-inducing? For better or worse…yes.
19. Adam Levine’s Text Memes
Who knew that Adam Levine texted like a horny teenager? Well, we didn’t want to know, but know we do! In early fall, model Sumner Stroh claimed that she had an affair with Levine – who’s married and has children with Behati Prinsloo (also a model). And, she came with receipts.
Stroh shared some incredibly cringy DM’s that Levine had reportedly sent her. And, despite this being a big bummer of a situation, the memes that came out of it were pretty entertaining. Unlike most of Maroon 5’s recent songs. Yeah, we said it.
20. House of the Dragon Memes
Game of Thrones fans finally got some redemption after that mess of a final season with the prequel, House of the Dragon. The 10-episode first season came in dragons blazing with bloody violence, inceset, and…well, dragons.
People thirsted over Daemon Targaryen, laughed at the wigs, and really had to come to terms with an uncle-niece relationship. But that’s a conversation for another time.
21. Negroni Sbagliato With Prosecco Memes
Speaking of House of the Dragon, we got even more memes thanks to Emma D’Arcy, who plays the older version of Rhaenyra Targaryen. In a video with D’Arcy and Olivia Cooke (Queen Alicent), Cooke asks D’Arcy what their favorite drink is. They respond, “A negroni.” Pause. “Sbagliato.” More pause. “With Prosecco in it.”
The Internet collectively lost their mind with this dramatic answer. It became a rallying cry for the queer community. Bartenders everywhere hated their lives for about two weekends, as this became the hottest drink to order.
The owners of Campari, however, loved it. Just, stunning.
22. World War III Memes
In between Twitter almost crashing after Elon Musk took it over and Ticketmaster actually crashing after it couldn’t handle the demand for Taylor Swift Eras Tour tickets, we almost found ourselves in World War III.
On November 15th, one of Russia’s missiles crossed into Poland, killing two citizens. This initially sparked fear that it would escalate the Russian and Ukrainian conflict into a global battle. Thankfully, those concerns were eventually calmed. Still, we got these dark humor memes out of a very stressful few hours.
When not sitting behind a computer writing and editing, she’s an avid runner and yogi with an RYT 200 certification. Follow her on Instagram @hannah_rex and LinkedIn.
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