The Best Gifs On The Internet Ranked By Giphy

Meta-owned GIF discovery platform Giphy shared its top GIFs, Giphy Clips, partner channels and artist channels of 2021 Monday. Clips is a new video product from Giphy that enables creators to incorporate sound into short-form content. Giphy wrote in a blog post Monday, “Since the primary goal of this list is to highlight the cultural trends on Giphy unique to 2021, we took a bit of a different approach to our top content of the year. While still first and foremost metrics-driven, we put an extra emphasis on curating the list to showcase outliers from daily evergreen searches. This allowed us to focus on content that derived its popularity from cultural and emotional spikes, versus often-trending search terms (Giphy users’ demand for ‘happy birthday’ and ‘good morning’ GIFs knows no bounds). By doing this, we know we are providing insights that truly speak to the evolving mood of our users over the past year.” The channel for comedy classic The Office was the most viewed partner channel of 2021, joined by the show’s broadcast network, NBC. The list was also populated by advocacy groups driven by agency Taskforce (Into Action, Hello All, Creative Courage), sports leagues (National Football League, National Basketball Association, Major League Baseball), streaming services (Netflix, Disney+) and Kim Kardashian. Ai and Aiko by Peter Draw was the most-viewed artist channel of the year, followed by Muffin and Nuts, Nora Fiske, Britt Does Design, Katherine Kow, Jinzahn, Rupert Tellac, Studio Neuhaus, Megan Motown and Sarah the Palmer. The top GIFs of 2021, with commentary from Giphy’s blog post, were: “Bored Stanley,” by The Office: You don’t have to be familiar with the show or the character of Stanley to have felt a connection to this GIF in 2021. Many people are still spending days jumping from one Zoom meeting to the next, so the feeling of boredom or monotony is highly relatable. via GIPHY “Tired Tom,” by HBO Max: Between continued Covid-19 stress and work-from-home burnout, it makes sense that users may have felt particularly tired in 2021. via GIPHY “Oh No,” by The Great British Bake Off: Sometimes, a GIF can represent a spectrum of emotions, and this is one of them. This moment from Bake Off: The Professionals features fan favorite and former contestant turned host Liam Charles in a moment of shock and surprise that clearly resonated with users both inside and outside of The Great British Bakeoff’s fandom. via GIPHY “Sad Pikachu,” by Pokemon: Feelings of depression or isolation are pervasive during an event like the current global pandemic, so we see why users may have gravitated towards a bummed-out Pikachu. via GIPHY “Kathryn Hahn Winking,” by Disney+: This moment from WandaVision shows actress Kathryn Hahn giving a sarcastic, over-the-top wink, and “Agnes Winking” quickly became the Internet’s new favorite meme. via GIPHY “Peppa Pig ‘¡Feliz Cumple!’,” by Discovery LA: The popularity of Peppa Pig has grown exponentially in recent years, as has the demand for foreign language content on Giphy. via GIPHY “The Weeknd Halftime Performance,” by the NFL: The Weeknd’s performance at the Pepsi Super Bowl LV Halftime Show was a standout moment from this year. via GIPHY “Daphne Bridgerton Laughing,” by Netflix: This GIF is the perfect reaction for those situations where you know you shouldn’t be laughing, but you simply can’t help it. via GIPHY “Happy Dance,” by Foodieg: People turn to Giphy again and again to express happiness, and has there ever been a cuter representation of happiness than this GIF? via GIPHY “Happy Baby Yoda,” by Disney+: From the moment The Mandalorian premiered on Disney+, users began searching for “Baby Yoda’’ on Giphy. via GIPHY And 2021’s top Clips were: “Cake Jiggle,” by Drew Barrymore: Drew Barrymore jiggling a cake and making a silly facial expression is funny on its own, but the addition of actually hearing her making such a goofy sound on top of it is really the icing on the cake (pun completely intended). “It Is Your Birthday,” by The Office: Sometimes, users want to earnestly wish someone a happy birthday. However, sometimes, the intention can be a sarcastic birthday greeting, and nothing fits the bill better than the “It Is Your Birthday” scene from The Office. “Happy Pride,” by GLAAD: GLAAD created this Clip to celebrate Pride Month in June, and it immediately took off. “Kiss Kiss,” by Jason Clarke: It’s a sweet way of expressing romantic love, or even just love between friends. “Cheers!,” by Apex for Youth: People are always turning to Giphy to send congratulatory messages, and a Clip of a raised glass and the word, “Cheers!,” does just that. “Love!,” by Hello All: This beautiful Clip by Hello All is both simple—an animation depicting a woman in a hijab drawing a heart—and universal. “To E or Not to E,” by Plume: This Clip from our partner Plume, an organization that provides gender-affirming hormone replacement therapy for the transgender community, is a take on the decision trans folks face whether to begin “E” (estrogen/progesterone) or not. “So Much Love,” by Desus and Mero: This Clip is the perfect combination of the two and probably a favorite among group chats where friends and family might not have physically been able to be together, but wished to send messages of love. “Celebration!,” by FaZe Clan: Is there any sound more associated with celebrations than a party popper? “Sorry Bro … I Love You,” by Dorian Electra: Singer-songwriter Electra made some fantastic GIFs, stickers and Clips with Giphy Studios this year.

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Giphy Shares Its Best of 2021

'Bored Stanley,' by The Office, was the year’s top GIF

David Cohen

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David Cohen