KYM Review: The Top 20 Memes Of 2023

Well, 2023 is nearly behind us, as time slips through our fingers and pushes the moment when it all changed further away into the past, the present makes an important demand of us: to take a careful look at 2023 and remember what kept us laughing and smiling this year.

In other words, it's time to find out which memes you thought were best of the best, worthy of being immortalized in the halls of meme history.

Whether you made your choice and cast your vote or decided to sit this one out on the bench and let others decide, the time has come. Here's our definitive list of the "top memes of 2023," which you, our users, selected as the funniest, most creative, viral, worthy of sharing and simply the best.

Don’t forget to check out our other 2023 meme and internet roundups under the Meme Review section for more of 2023’s best internet happenings, as well as the KYM staff’s favorite memes of the year.

Honorable Mentions

Before we dive into our top 20 for 2023, we'd like to remember some amazing memes that placed just a little bit short of our list but were important this year anyhow. Miles Morales got perfectly redrawn as the "Shocked Guy" meme. The Hydrogen Bomb faced off Coughing Baby and Plap Plap Get Pregnant copypasta has reached seemingly every corner of the internet.

We saw a long head sticking out of a toilet bowl and singing "Skibidi" on repeat, and it's no wonder they thought we were crazy and they locked us in a room with rats. What a year!

Now, let's get onto the top 20! The vote percentages below are based on the top 20 vote totals only.

20. Kevin James Smirking (1.9% of Votes)

Look at him standing around, hands in his pockets, smirking as if he's innocent. We all know what you've been up to around late September, Smirking Kevin James, you sly meme format.

19. TMFINR / Tiffany Gomes (2.2% of Votes)

While that MF was not real after all, the moments we all shared amazed by Tiffany Gomez's public freakout on that American Airlines flight were. ❤️

18. Dagoth Ur (2.2% of Votes)

Morrowind final boss Dagoth Ur has breached its Elder Scrolls fandom containment, and hearing his AI-fuelled voice rant about everything and anything was a grand and intoxicating pleasure.

17. IShowMeat (2.2% of Votes)

It was there one moment and gone in a flash of flesh the next, but we all saw IShowSpeed's true and honest reaction to Chica in Five Nights at Freddy's and, apparently, it was a sentiment many online could agree with.

16. One Must Imagine Sisyphus Happy (2.6% of Votes)

We must also admit that 2023 was likely the year when the mythical character Sisyphus was talked about more than ever since the times of Ancient Greece. Nothing but respect for keeping up that grind for 2,000 years and counting, big guy.

15. Dracula Flow (2.6% of Votes)

Move over, Drake, Kendrick and Eminem, there's a new king of rap in the (vampire) castle. Freestyle rap known as Dracula Flow has been a gold mine for the most outlandish quotes, and, honestly, just give it a listen if you still haven't.

14. Rizz / Rizz God (2.9% of Votes)

Rizzle me this, which word is short for "charisma," was popularized by Kai Cenat and was chosen by Oxford Dictionary as its "2023 Word of The Year?" Rizz?! You gyatt to be rizzing us.

13. Napoleon's "There's Nothing We Can Do" (2.9% of Votes)

A truly defeatist meme, Napoleon's 'There Is Nothing We Can Do' is most appropriate for times when it's more over than ever.

12. Pizza Tower (3.5% of Votes)

Starring depressed and mentally unstable chef Peppino, indie platformer Pizza Tower has been an endless inspiration for fan art, animations and all sorts of memes this year, ending up getting so popular that it ended up as a part of a slang overload format in 2023.

11. Japanese Family McDonald's Ad (3.8% of Votes)

Who could have imagined that a simple ad for McDonald's could produce such a strong response in an audience it wasn't even meant for in the first place?

10. The Amazing Digital Circus / Pomni (4.2% of Votes)

There's little surprise that we're opening our top 10 for 2023 with The Amazing Digital Circus. If anything, it wouldn't be surprising if we saw it even higher. The pilot episode for the dark comedy animated series dropped in September and took the internet by storm. The quirky, neurotic protagonist Pomni appealed to the creative communities of Twitter and Tumblr, who didn't hesitate to mass-produce memes, fan art and all sorts of content that filled social feeds for weeks following the show's release, drawing in more and more viewers.

Remember how successful the pilot for Hazbin Hotel was back in 2019? Yeah, the pilot for The Amazing Digital Circus already has twice the amount of views on YouTube, and it's been less than three months since its premiere.

It looks like the show has everything going for it: a relatable clown jester girl protagonist, a local Tumblr sexyman by the name of Jax and humor that doesn't rely on pop culture references. We'll be watching Gooseworx's career with great interest and can't wait for Pomni and the gang to return in the near future.

9. I Am a Surgeon, Dr. Han! (4.2% of Votes)

The winner of May's Meme of the Month poll, the I Am a Surgeon, Dr. Han! scene from ABC's drama TV series The Good Doctor has been a treasure trove of reaction images and caption memes this year. The format originally became a meme on Chinese social media in 2021 but only unlocked its true potential after the scene went viral on TikTok in April this year due to how hilarious the juxtaposition of Dr. Shaun Murphy desperately screaming "I am a surgeon" and Dr. Han doing the perfect Moai emoji with his face was.

From TikTok, the duo quickly spread to Twitter, becoming this year's version of the Virgin vs. Chad format. The fact that both the Surgeon and Dr. Han became so recognizable that they could be used on their own without their counterpart only confirms how omnipresent the format managed to become.

8. Moushley (6.4% of Votes)

Who has been kidnapped by Los Illuminados, needs Leon to do everything and is always cheesed to meet you? That's right, the mouse version of Ashley Graham from Resident Evil 4 and its 2023 remake, Moushley! If you're somehow hearing about this meme for the first time and think, "Well, this is stupid," you're absolutely right, and this utter stupidity is exactly why this meme has been so beloved.

There is no good reason for Ashley to be a mouse – maybe except for her somewhat mousey vibes – but here we are, imagining the President's daughter craving for cheese, getting her tail pinched by mousetraps and being carried around in Leon Kennedy's pocket. Sometimes it simply feels good to collectively enjoy a meme that is so perfectly disconnected from reality there's literally no chance anyone would get offended by its childlike innocence. And hey, if there's an opportunity to make a million cheese puns, we're taking it.

7. Offensive AI Pixar (7.1% of Votes)

Our October MotM champion, Offensive AI Pixar embodies one of the Internet's favorite pastimes: making companies look like they're doing extremely offensive things. This AI-powered format involved generating images that almost perfectly copied the style of Pixar and Disney animated films but were based on shock sites, historic tragedies, famous controversies, unhinged viral videos and simply on popular memes such as Big Chungus.

The images, of course, were additionally styled with a name fitting a Pixar movie, and often inconspicuously posted on social media so someone could fall for the bait. While bait attempts proved largely unsuccessful, it didn't really matter for the meme's success, as simply observing clever ways in which people managed to reference the most unhinged stuff so it would still look like a kid's cartoon proved to be endlessly entertaining.

6. Shadow Wizard Money Gang (7.1% of Votes)

Originally a nonsensical producer tag heard in “Gout” by modern rap’s lord and savior Joeyy, Shadow Wizard Money Gang is more than just a great thing to say when your dinner date has an awkward pause. The imaginative tag paints a vivid picture of a group of shadow wizards who focus on chasing the bag and won’t shy away from using dark magic to fill their coffers, and it’s no wonder that Shadow Wizard Money Gang became such an inspiration for Twitter artists worldwide.

The simple yet memorable design of the hooded, bling-wearing wizards in bright-colored robes became a perfect match for the bombastic tag, and enjoying a new batch of Shadow Wizard Money Gang every day was a pleasure we can only wish lasted longer than it did.

This sixth place was sponsored by: the shadow government.

5-4. Boykisser (7.4% of Votes)

Last year, neurodivergent people had their fun with TBH Creature being in our 2022 top 10 list, now it's the LGBTQ+ community's turn as Boykisser lands firmly in the fifth spot on our list.

Following the footsteps of provocative formats such as I'm a Boy Liker and I Know What You Are, Boykisser GIF captions have offered a cheeky way of teasing others, in a "send this to your bro and see how they react" kind of way. Throughout 2023, Boykisser imperceptibly turned into a kind of mascot for young gay people, with the character also becoming the protagonist of formats such as Chipi Chipi Chapa Chapa.

5-4. Smurf Cat (7.4% of Votes)

Sharing the exact number of votes with Boykisser we have another feline creature: Smurf Cat. Originally known as Shailushai and first gaining popularity in Russia, Smurf Cat is a blue-skinned elf-like guy with a mushroom hat and the head of a cat. Combine the image with "The Spectre" by Alan Walker, and you get the meme that was everywhere on TikTok and beyond and ultimately became our September Meme of the Month.

There's no real good reason to explain why Smurf Cat got as popular as it did except that it's a perfect non-sequitur post that requires zero context and is perfectly fine both on its own and when mixed together with one of the many copycat formats that followed it. We live, we love, we meme.

3. Josh Hutcherson "Whistle" Fancam (8.7% of Votes)

Ever dream this man?

The very Tumbleresque, very early 2010s 'Whistle' fancam of Josh Hutcherson was made during the time when the actor first became a Tumblr heartthrob after starring as Peeta Mellark in The Hunger Games movies. The same fancam became a meme almost a decade later after Hutcherson starred in the Five Nights at Freddy's film, and it's difficult to imagine a more ironic way that such a thirsty edit could become a meme.

Somewhat similar to It Runs Doom, the only thing a good "Whistle" meme needs of you is playing it in some unusual way, such as putting it on a smart fridge, hooking it up to all TVs in a TV shop or, we don't know, forcing Josh Hutcherson himself do that humorous face of his. Be creative, don't be uncreative, and keep on baiting people into seeing Josh Hutcherson when they expect it the least.

2. Barbenheimer (9% of Votes)

More than just a meme, more than a spectacular fandom, more than two polar opposites attracting in the most explosive fashion and more than the must-see double-matinee of the summer, Barbenheimer was one of the most-talked about phenomena of the year that will likely go down into marketing and advertisement books and keep inspiring meek attempts to copy its success for years to come. The normie response to Doomguy and Isabelle, Barbenheimer owes its success to the coincidence of two films viewed as complete opposites releasing on the same day, and the initial competition between the two gradually developing into a "why can't we have both?" situation.

Even the pink color of Barbie and the black color of Oppenheimer being a classic match seemed to be a foreshadowing. Thousands of memes and over two billion dollars in combined box office don't lie: Barbenheimer's second place on this list is more than well-deserved.

1. Animan Studios / Axel in Harlem (11.8% of Votes)

Every year we see complaints about memes that are basically internet lewds. Despite this, every year we inevitably see a meme like Bowling Animations and Ankha Zone go ultra-viral. This year is no exception — moreover, this year the people have crowned it the "Meme of the Year." Ladies and gentlemen, Axel in Harlem is your Know Your Meme's "Meme of the Year" for 2023.

The now-famous clip from a movie produced by an adult cartoon studio features a man with an impressive booty walking down a street as other men stare at his oversized rear and start to follow him, unable to escape its magnetic pull. The song "Ballin" by Mustard and Roddy Rich, which at this point is probably better known by its lyric "I Put the New Forgis on the Jeep," became an essential part of the video, which has been all over TikTok and YouTube since February, while Twitter has been filled with endless redraws of all sorts of characters as Axel and his three nameless admirers.

Memes, redraws, re-animations and even live-action remakes — Axel in Harlem indeed had it all.

Looking for more of this year's best viral phenomena and memes? Be sure to check out our other 2023 meme roundups below:

• The Top 20 Memes Of 2023
• KYM Staff Picks Of 2023
• A Year On Twitter With Elon Musk
• Top Gaming Memes Of 2023
• Wackiest Stories Of 2023
• Top Trolls, Rumors and Hoaxes Of 2023
• Top Viral Videos Of 2023
• Top Slang Terms Of 2023
• Breakthrough Meme Formats Of 2023
• Most Impactful Fandoms Of 2023
• Top Anime Memes Of 2023
• Top Lewd Memes Of 2023