Who Is The Most Memed Person Ever? Online Fame And Parasocial Love, By The Numbers

In today's world, memes have a significant impact on the cultural relevancy of any celebrity or influencer. As much of our lives increasingly take place online, memes are an important way for fans and audiences to connect about who they're watching, who they're listening to and who they're voting for.

But what benefit does a meme format offer a real-life famous person? When one's face is tied to a joke circulating online, should that be considered a sign of respect, or the opposite?

And who, out of all the people etched into the historical record of Know Your Meme, can be considered the "most memed?"

To answer this, we dug into our enormous database to see which figures were the most significant in internet culture. We added up 1) the total page views across all the entries for memes related to a given person and 2) the total number of individual memes they feature in, both small and large.

In order to focus on actual memes, rather than just viral events, we limited this to formats that involve more creative participation from internet users and go deeper than more typical social media discourse. This report leans heavily toward remixable media such as meme template images, video edits and other forms of creative posting.

Lastly, we’re breaking down some patterns in the data — are the most-viewed memes about a person negative or positive in tone? What kinds of structures and formats (Photoshop edits, TikTok lip-syncs, etc.) tend to recur in memes about famous people? And, in all of these memes, what is at stake?

We’re going to look into some of the most memed people across three categories that are particularly well-represented in the Know Your Meme archive: musicians, politicians and streamers.

Most Memed Musicians

Based on the total number of page views during our research into this article, the most memed musician (perhaps unsurprisingly) is none other than Kanye West (now known as Ye).

Drake is not too far behind Ye, with a count buoyed by the massive attention paid to a few standout memes, in particular Drakeposting. Billie Eilish, arguably the first Gen Z megacelebrity whose jokes and signature fashion sense inspired memetic attention across numerous platforms, comes in third.

As far as the total number of memes go, Kanye and Drake still top the list, but Taylor Swift comes in third, perhaps influenced by her very-online fandom known as "Swifties."

Kanye West's Notable Memes

The most viewed Kanye West meme, with over 700,000 page views, is an event that has gone down as one of the most iconic moments in internet history — his notorious interruption of Taylor Swift at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards.

Memes referencing this viral moment photoshopped Kanye's storming of the stage into a variety of different contexts that were just as inappropriate and bizarre as the actual event.

Like many memes about famous people, especially from the late 2000s and early 2010s, this Kanye meme involved photoshopping an iconic image of the rapper into countless situations.

Another Photoshop meme, with a somewhat different approach, also attracted attention in 2022, Kanye's Big Balenciaga Boots gave people a chance to poke fun at the rapper and designer's outlandish fashion sense.

Drake's Notable Memes

One could definitely say that "Drake The Type Of Guy" who would be at the center of a number of meme formats. Something about the Canadian-born rapper's public image (typically perceived as suave, sensitive and just the right amount of goofy) lends itself to memes.

In the eyes of many, he's an icon of a kind of masculinity that is cuddly, maybe even cringe, but at the same time always confident.

Many Drake memes play off this character invented around the musician, slotting it into new situations and adding to the lore that surrounds him.

Maybe the most canonical Drake meme is, of course, Drakeposting. Based on images taken from the music video for 2015's mega-hit "Hotline Bling," the meme format is used to compare two different things using Drake's gestures and expressions to label how the poster feels about them.

The use of this meme often has little to do with Drake himself, instead, his face is used to represent the way a poster feels — making it highly adaptable for a wide array of memes.

Justin Bieber's Notable Memes

Most of the memes about Justin Bieber are hateful or negative memes, either about the star himself or about his fans. In the early 2010s, at the peak of the Canadian idol's stardom, the backlash against him seemed nearly as strong as the support online.

Meme communities have often had a sort of adversarial relationship with mainstream culture. Some might argue that this is because meme makers have better taste than most people and aren't as easily fooled by cheap marketing tricks. Others might say meme makers are just edge lords.

In 2010, 4chan users mobilized to send Justin Bieber to North Korea by rigging an online poll that asked fans to help decide what his next tour destination should be. The prank rapidly spread beyond just 4chan, with outlets like BuzzFeed and MSNBC sharing instructions for participating in the prank.

North Korea ended up topping the list of countries for the next stop on Bieber's "My World" tour, but his representatives stated that he would not actually go to the isolated totalitarian country. The North Koreans themselves did not comment.

Another prominent Bieber meme incorporated the star into Rage Comics, bringing him into a four-panel alongside a trio of Derpinas.

While the format originated in 2013 (near the height of both Bieber's fame/infamy and Rage Comics) it came back in a big way in 2021 when it was re-edited and posted widely on Instagram and Reddit as part of a broader early-2010s meme revival. In this meme, Bieber is dumped by the Derpinas for a more interesting and attractive figure.

Most Memed Politicians

The top three slots (by page views) are each occupied by United States Presidents, which makes sense: American Presidents are a big deal, and people just love to make jokes about them.

Memes about politicians can say a lot about how they are perceived at a given moment in time. In the early 2010s, Obama was often depicted in memes as a positive figure used to express approval, such as "Upvoting Obama" and "Not Bad."

Conversely, memes about Jeb Bush have mocked his inability to secure a win in the 2016 Republican Presidential Primary, as seen in the widely popular "Jeb Flawless Victory" meme. Others, like Bernie Sanders, are depicted as adorably grumpy old men.

In terms of the sheer number of memes, Donald Trump has almost double the amount of memes as his rivals in the Democratic Party. However, a large number of these Trump memes were flashes in the pan that never cooked into something hearty and filling. Obama wins on total page views, with many memes about him taking an absurd or surreal turn (such as Obamium).

For the sake of representing the meme angle on these figures, we haven't included entries that catalog memes reacting to an event involving a politician (such as Trump's impeachment) choosing to focus instead on exploitable memes specifically centering on the image of the person involved.

Donald Trump's Notable Memes

Many of the memes about Donald Trump revolve around something he did or tweeted at some point, and these memes usually fall into a predictable pattern — backlash to (and mockery of) the former President's posting are followed by backlash to the backlash and then subsequently by a brief lull (often lasting no more than 48 hours) until Trump does something else to stir the memes and the media up again.

The most-viewed Trump-related meme entry, with over 180,000 views, is the entry for Sad! — referring to Trump’s often-imitated stylistic choice of adding the word “Sad!” to many of his posts to insult someone or something he doesn’t like.

Tied with the “Sad!” entry at 180,000 views is the entry for a certain photo of the former President, which speaks for itself. This photo started life as an obscure press picture from 2000 until Reddit got its hands on the photo and transformed it into a Photoshop battle gold mine.

Other Trump moments like his Paper Towel Toss and his Hurricane Dorian Map Sharpie Edit became signature memes of his time in office.

Bernie Sanders' Notable Memes

The two biggest Bernie Sanders memes feature the same duffel coat. In the first, socially distanced at the inauguration of Joe Biden, the Vermont Senator huddles against the cold and wears a pair of remarkable mittens (known as "Bernie Sanders Wearing Mittens Sitting in a Chair").

This Photoshop-centric meme placed Sanders and his now-iconic mittens into a variety of situations, artworks and other new contexts as it spread online back in early 2021.

The same coat notably reappears in the "I Am Once Again Asking For Your Financial Support" video turned into one of the most posted memes of 2020. Featuring Sanders in the same duffel coat as in the Mittens meme (but without the mittens) it was taken from a campaign fundraising video and rapidly adapted into countless memes over the last few years.

The straightforwardness of Bernie's demand mirrored the way many others felt about asking for money or any other kind of "support" from others. Many spoke through Bernie to say what they were trying to get across, and he turned into a kind of latter-day Advice Animal.

Joe Biden Dark Brandon's Notable Memes

When it comes to memes about politicians, it's hard to find more character-driven than Dark Brandon. The lore goes deep: Dark Brandon combines the DarkMAGA trend and the Let's Go Brandon catchphrase (two meme formats that originated on the political right) with images purportedly taken from Chinese propaganda.

These influences combined to create a meme that made a strange journey across both the United States political divide and the irony-sincerity spectrum. Memes picturing Obama as a surreal character – including Yobama – never got quite as far, but they also center around the elaboration of a bizarre alternate-reality version of the President.

Dark Brandon imagines a ruthless, ferociously effective and terrifying Biden, which is built off a public perception of the president as bumbling, incoherent and senile. However, seeing as Biden's 2024 campaign is now selling Dark Brandon-themed merchandise, it would appear as if the meme is, at least for those who wanted to use it against the President, so "Joever."

However, Dark Brandon isn't the first time Biden has been at the center of a character lore meme. A possible precursor to Dark Brandon might be "Biden Blast" — a meme that depicts the President busting out a special move like a Super Smash Bros. character.

A central 2010s Biden meme pictured the then-Vice President as a sort of misbehaving prankster was also notably embraced by Biden and became a central part of his appeal even though, like with Dark Brandon (who is a ruthless warlord) the meme character could be read negatively (as a mischievous prankster grandpa).

Curiously, the writer of The Onion articles that potentially helped start the "Biden as a bad boy" meme later expressed regret, stating that the meme was too useful to Biden politically and did not adequately address his policies and their consequences.

Most Memed Content Creators

The most memed content creator appears to be the ever-controversial and viral Belle Delphine. As the template for the contemporary e-girl, she has burrowed deep under the skin of online culture over the years.

Coming up in second place is PewDiePie, a streamer and influencer who has not only inspired many memes but also established himself (by 2023) as a sort of "elder statesman" of YouTube. Coming in third is iDubbbz, who combined gaming content with early 2010s humor, rounding out the list.

What may distinguish this category of memes about famous people is their "insiderness." Many of them revolve around a fan base and its codes, references and inside jokes. The memes are as much about the person in question as they are about the allegiances of those who like, share and subscribe to them.

Belle Delphine's Notable Memes

Though perhaps a strange comparison, Belle Delphine is to e-girls what James Madison is to the United States Constitution. Her work framing the aesthetic is as frequently imitated as it is criticized. Cultural critics and meme aficionados have gone so far as to theorize a Belle Delphine effect that has changed the direction of fashion, culture and sexuality in the 2020s.

Memes around Belle Delphine are a strange mix of negative and infatuated. She seems to stand in for everything in very-online culture that just feels incomprehensible to people who touch grass on a regular basis. Like with memes about Bieber, some Belle Delphine memes tend to be dark and can even be violent.

Underneath the cat ears and heavy makeup, however, she is a shrewd and canny businesswoman depending on your perception. Her plot to sell her bathwater (a great and relatively low-effort hustle if there ever was one) grossed many people out at the time but only made her even more famous (or infamous) online.

PewDiePie's Notable Memes

PewDiePie's most viewed entry recounts the tale of his 2018 Great Subscriber War with T Series, a conflict which was largely fought through memes.

Seeking to cement his place as the number one most-subscribed YouTube channel, PewDiePie and his fandom waged an ultimately fruitless battle against the Indian music channel and streaming giant. It was a David facing up against a Goliath, and David lost.

Other PewDiePie memes center around moments from streams in which he said something funny, unexpected or controversial. These moments seemed to often follow a similar route of transmission: They would begin to circulate on his fan subreddits as reaction images and then spread to the wider Reddit community.

For example, in 2019, It's Evolving, Just Backwards a PewDiePie reaction to a dinosaur drawing posted on his subreddit, complete with the subtitle added to the video, was taken and applied to many different situations.

Many of the other memes associated with streamers (such as iDubbz, JonTron and others) follow this same pattern. Sometimes a meme is made out of a characteristic catchphrase, but other times a meme is made from a remark that strikes a member of the audience and inspires them to screenshot and share.

Andrew Tate's Notable Memes

Andrew Tate is one of the more visible and divisive figures of the current online landscape. After his sudden rise to widespread fame in 2022, Tate has increasingly become the subject of numerous memes across the internet, typically of a mocking nature.

Tate seems to have cashed in on his odd reputation, embracing some of the weirder aspects. He notably went from telling men who watch anime that they will never get a girlfriend to posting pictures of himself with a variety of waifus.

One unflattering photograph of him taken from a 2021 video has entered into the bloodstream of meme culture, gotten "Wojakified," and since then become widely associated with the man. This has been centered around the backlash toward Tate, who has been accused of popularizing misogyny among today's youth.

Similarly, the Andrew Tate Shocked Face is a kind of attack from many meme makers who have chosen a photo that looks exactly like how Tate would never present himself to the public.

Final Thoughts

Some clear patterns emerge from a study of majorly memed famous people. First, many of the memes originate from content in other media forms: television broadcasts, livestreams and social media posts. These are then often reappropriated and exploited by fans.

A meme about a famous person gives an audience a chance to take control of an image, wreaking havoc with the carefully crafted personas and public presentations of the famous.

Many of the most popular memes are Photoshop edits or exploitables, which involve putting an image of a famous person (for example, Bernie with mittens) into new or unexpected situations. In this case, there's a kind of social game or competition that sort of becomes less about the person themselves and more about the creativity of the community that circulates the meme.

Many of the most popular memes are also memes where, in some way, the famous person speaks on behalf of the person posting the meme — whether it's Kanye West Holding A Notepad or Bernie Sanders Writing On A Whiteboard.

Controversy also seems like a surefire way to inspire meme attention, as Donald Trump, Kanye West and Belle Delphine all demonstrate. One of the great lessons of the internet era is that anger sells. If a person can generate negative attention (as well as some positive attention) that lends them visibility.

The lines between different kinds of celebrity status are blurred. In this day and age, musicians are politicians, politicians are content creators and content creators are musicians. Kanye ran for President, PewDiePie released the famous song B Lasagna, and Donald Trump posts like there's no tomorrow. Nowadays, almost everybody who is famous, no matter what they do, is first and foremost internet famous.

It's also true that people online often have more fun hating someone than liking them. People on 4chan who didn't like Justin Bieber in 2011 probably thought about him at least as much as people on Facebook who legitimately did like him.

Famous people, and our allegiances or antipathies for them, offer a way to make our own communities. If you're also in a parasocial relationship with Anthony Fantano or Mark Zuckerberg, then it's sort of like we have a friend in common who has introduced us to each other, even though neither of us actually know him. Memes are made about the way normal people use famous people in order to get to know each other.

So, the statistics about the most memed person might actually reveal more about online communities than about the people in memes. After all, a meme is never made by or for just one person — it's made in a community.