Over the years, TikTok and other social media platforms’ internet memes have become part of our everyday diction. The number of times I’ve heard memes going around, such as very popular ones like ‘67’, to some less popular ones like ‘A Barbershop Haircut’, has been overwhelming, funny on occasion and has become a way to connect with each other. I will be ranking the top five memes of 2025 that I hear around BVN and on the internet.
- Barber Shop Haircut
For the first meme on my list, I have decided to put the barber shop haircut meme. This one is funny, and it’s pretty niche. It isn’t projected everywhere like 67, or annoying like other popular memes. It made the top five because of how easy it is to recreate on Instagram, TikTok and any other short-form video platform.
- Rage Baiting
The second meme I chose is the rage-baiting trend. While this one isn’t much of a meme, it got popular on the internet. The term rage bait came from the internet as a more funny way to just say antagonize someone. This would be higher, but it does get annoying when people make rage baiting their whole personality. Rage bait can be funny to an extent. It gets to a point where it’s too boring.
- “Adrian, explain the friend group”
For my number three spot, I put, “Adrian, explain the friend group.” This meme consists of a girl asking her friends to explain the friend group, and they start saying cringey things like, “We are Ohio.” I picked this one because it goes around some activities I do. It got spun off to multiple different jokes, and I think it got pretty funny. Although if it keeps growing, it will get boring pretty quickly. While this one is pretty underground, it is still humorous to me, as in drumline, we have a vocal where we say “A-dri-an-step.” Telling us when to take our next step. It is easy to incorporate into daily life and still manages to be funny.
- 67
To start my top two, I have selected the 67 meme. While this is a controversial pick, it has become dry and overall boring. I was at a band competition, and a band scored a 67. The entire crowd started waving their arms like it was the last thing they would ever do. This was disappointing because it’s just not that funny anymore. However, in its prime, it would probably be a higher pick. Nevertheless, it is very popular and it had to go in my top two.
- Clanker
Finally, the moment everybody was waiting for, the number one spot. I chose the term made popular by the internet that I have personally heard is getting pretty popular right now. At my number one spot, I’ve decided to use the term Clanker. When I first heard this used, I hadn’t come across it on the internet and was surprised. The term was used in the 2005 Star Wars video game, “Star Wars: Republic Commando”, to insult droids. I have seen it everywhere now, from people calling Roombas clankers and people calling CPUs in video games Clankers. This made it in the one spot because it was funny and creative, and with how popular the use of AI is now, it is relevant.
While some people might disagree with these rankings, it has been apparent to me that the people who would disagree are usually the least funny people at school. My rankings were purely based on how funny and relevant it was. The memes this year have been pretty dry, and it doesn’t compare to the Vine era.
