Ahhh, 2020, the year that kept on giving. And giving. And giving. In fact, it never stopped giving, and is still continuing to pull tricks out of the bag despite being over. My goodness, what a decade that year was. Thankfully, we had iconic memes every month that got us through the absolute hellscape of a time.
We’ve selected only the best memes of every month for the calendar, so you can remember just how many iconic memes we slammed through last year.
January – Dolly Parton Challenge
I know it feels like a lifetime away, but the #DollyPartonChallenge was a thing at the start of the year.
Albeit this was before all the chaos and confusion of 2020, so it’s a rather fun little meme.
It all started when Dolly Parton decided to post this image to Instagram, and for some reason, it took off from there.
A heap of celebs were clearly bored and jumped in on the challenge, which was fun, but Paddington Bear had the greatest entry.
I might not always be able to do everything but I try my best every time. #elevenses #dollypartonchallenge pic.twitter.com/A2W7pSNFMn
— Paddington (@paddingtonbear) January 27, 2020
February – I Am Once Again Asking For You
This video right here from absolute legend Bernie Sanders was released in December, but only really kicked off as a meme in late January/early February.
The truth is, we have an excellent chance to win the primary and beat Trump.
But the only way we can do that is if we have the sufficient financial resources.
So I am asking you today to contribute to our campaign before the FEC deadline: https://t.co/9y9BZMs0GM pic.twitter.com/wnYbUDBynW
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) December 30, 2019
And boy were the memes absolutely delicious. Like holy hell, this was a good time.
March – Nature Is Healing, We Are The Virus
God, this must be my favourite of any 2020 meme. This meme started off as a joke tweet, where people were saying that thanks to coronavirus, nature is healing because all the humans are inside.
It’s worth noting that while it looked serious, dolphins were not actually in the canals of Venice.
Venice hasn’t seen clear canal water in a very long time. Dolphins showing up too. Nature just hit the reset button on us pic.twitter.com/RzqOq8ftCj
— Luca (@lucadb) March 17, 2020
Then as all things go on the internet, people started to make fun of this post and create some hilarious content.
Wildlife finally returning to Thames. Nature is healing🌷 pic.twitter.com/d6uBxSaIAx
— ruby 🐊 (@roobeekeane) March 29, 2020
with everyone on lockdown, the lime scooters are finally returning to the river. nature is healing, we are the virus. pic.twitter.com/I0IbCfiMnj
— ronnie (@taladorei) March 26, 2020
Wildlife is finally returning to inhabit the planet. Nature is healing. We are the virus.☺️🌍🌿❤️ pic.twitter.com/TRMaSrExFk
— kaeya pussy indulgence (@cherrrycow) March 30, 2020
April – Gossip Girl
Gossip Girl memes were the gift that truly kept on giving, and although they were shortlived, they were masterpieces.
The meme started pretty much out of thin air, and just kept on getting bigger and bigger, with more and more variations. Thus is the way of the internet, I guess.
https://twitter.com/dbs_tweets/status/1249553252926001152?s=20
SKSKJSKSHSJSJSHSKSKSKSKS pic.twitter.com/PEbuECWiN6
— ryan streit (@ryanstreit) April 13, 2020
And then naturally the meme fell into chaos, as all memes eventually do, and went completely off-format.
— nicky b (@nickybrownson) April 13, 2020
May – X Æ A-12 Was Born
Upon the birth of Grimes and Elon Musk‘s wildly named child, the memes came rolling in like lightning.
Most people compared the child to a robot or alien deity, and it was pretty hilarious.
Omg I figured out how to pronounce X Æ A-12 pic.twitter.com/ppfE0x8Nfh
— Ben Yahr (@benyahr) May 5, 2020
Grimes: “the baby’s crying go feed him”
Elon: “I can’t hear anything are you sure?”
X Æ A-12:https://t.co/6Z7dFpp2me
— damo (@MFDAMO) May 5, 2020
Could be wrong but I’m pretty sure this is how you pronounce X AE A-12 pic.twitter.com/jxvfzSMRL6
— Paul Kelly (@Paulkelllly) May 5, 2020
June – Umm… June
June kind of became a meme of its own, being positioned at the halfway point of this hell year.
Many people joked that June was going to make things ten times worse, and that we were all doomed. Fun times!
July – Everything Is Cake
Yes, there was a time this year where we thought everything was cake.
That’s all the explaining one can do really, you just have to watch the videos to understand.
That rat cake looks *chef’s kiss* pic.twitter.com/v0azhwOJMJ
— First We Feast (@firstwefeast) July 12, 2020
* looks at LEGO collection* are you cake? pic.twitter.com/FrBCP8qNYv
— Nerdist (@nerdist) July 12, 2020
Me at home wondering if I’m also a cake pic.twitter.com/qYnGCAoOcC
— nathan (@868nathan) July 12, 2020
August – How The Email Found Me
A prime example of COVID-19 humour at its most refined. Everyone was working from home and being swamped with positive emails, and come on folks, read the room, this is not a positive time.
August Again – Mentally I’m Here
August was pretty ripe with isolation-related memes, because the feeling of absolute hopelessness was simply swimming through the air. Thus, the ‘mentally I’m here’ meme was born.
Suddenly people were posting about where they were mentally, because physically, they were all stuck at home. Think of it as a beautiful form of escapism.
mentally i’m here pic.twitter.com/kWiC7oawAt
— C- (@crisbernalfc) August 26, 2020
mentally i’m here pic.twitter.com/KlaRhLcVXO
— ✰ samantha ✰ (@milkygoddess) August 26, 2020
mentally i’m here pic.twitter.com/pdY0vu0Y1U
— The Notorious J.O.V. (@whotfisjovana) November 10, 2020
September – Da Vinky?
Words cannot express how incredible this single video is. Posted to TikTok, the Da Vinky Twins (Chris and Patrick Voros) rose to internet fame almost immediately with their iconic stupidity.
da vinky?? pic.twitter.com/ViaAxBHcDS
— sarah schauer 🦂 (@sarahschauer) September 16, 2020
There weren’t too many memes born from this video, because the video was so iconic by itself, but there were a few gems here and there.
da good, da bad, and da vinky
— chunky fila (@chunkyfila) September 24, 2020
https://twitter.com/allizay_/status/1309218391782293505?s=20
October – Kim’s Private Island
Once Kim Kardashian posted about her private island getaway for her 40th birthday, everything went to shit (for her).
Comments in the OG post like “I am humbly reminded of how privileged my life is” and “we could pretend things were normal” were just the tone-deaf icing on the cake.
Suddenly the memes started pouring in, copying the text that Kim used on her original post.
After 2 weeks of multiple health screens and asking everyone to quarantine, I surprised my closest inner circle with a trip to a private island where we could pretend things were normal just for a brief moment in time. pic.twitter.com/cIFP7Nv5bV
— Kim Kardashian West (@KimKardashian) October 27, 2020
Bask in the glory of these memes because they are brilliant.
After 2 weeks of multiple health screens and asking everyone to quarantine, I surprised my closest inner circle with a trip to a private island where we could pretend things were normal just for a brief moment in time. pic.twitter.com/GE9CE4ptfu
— rabia O’chaudry (@rabiasquared) October 27, 2020
After 2 weeks of multiple health screens and asking everyone to quarantine, I surprised my closest inner circle with a trip to a private island where we could pretend things were normal just for a brief moment in time. pic.twitter.com/HcNrQr6NYl
— Ken Klippenstein (@kenklippenstein) October 27, 2020
After 2 weeks of multiple health screens and asking everyone to quarantine, I surprised my closest inner circle with a trip to a private island where we could pretend things were normal just for a brief moment in time pic.twitter.com/aaUZKhmqFC
— Sophie Thompson (@sophxthompson) October 27, 2020
November – Election Memes
God, there were so many memes pouring in from the 2020 US presidential election. From folks waiting for Nevada to count their damn votes to Four Seasons Total Landscaping being a thing that happened, the internet truly won this November.
I work at Four Seasons Total Landscaping in PA pic.twitter.com/cX6bIMkag8
— Christine Nangle (@nanglish) November 8, 2020
https://twitter.com/annetdonahue/status/1325448301303488514?s=20
me driving to nevada to start counting these mf votes myself https://t.co/txjW6auah9
— abby (@darrencwiss) November 4, 2020
*the entire US waiting on Nevada*
Pennsylvania: pic.twitter.com/4sYlyrcAnY
— ✧ Eᴛʜᴇʀᴇᴀʟ Eɴᴇʀɢɪᴇs ✧ (@EtherealEnergie) November 7, 2020
@colbystired (thisisntflying on twtr) #bluesclues #election #nevada #biden2020 #trump2020
December – They Don’t Know
What started off as a simple meme format has decided to take off all through the month, gifting us with one last meme for the year of 2020.
This meme right here was the first of its kind, and really kicked off the trend.
And then, of course, more outrageous memes followed.