--- title: Most Googled Memes of 2016 List description: These were the 10 terms that came to define the Internet's sense of human over the course of the past 12 months. canonical: https://time.com/4600125/memes-googled-2016/ author: Megan McCluskey article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-12-14T08:01:51.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:39:27.100Z og:title: These Are the Most ‘Googled’ Memes of 2016 og:description: From Harambe to Ken Bone og:url: https://time.com/4600125/memes-googled-2016/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: These Are the Most ‘Googled’ Memes of 2016 twitter:description: From Harambe to Ken Bone twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # These Are the Top 10 Most ‘Googled’ Memes of 2016 > Sponsored content. 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There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=62843d43-9c42-4854-88d1-b570adc84c6c&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1)  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Dec 14, 2016 8:01 AM UTC  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Dec 14, 2016 8:01 AM UTC From the [presidential election](http://time.com/4564608/election-2016-best-memes/) to the [Rio Olympics](http://time.com/4456849/rio-2016-best-olympics-memes/), 2016 was a meme factory, chock-full of [cultural events](http://time.com/4526816/ken-bone-presidential-debate-memes/) that produced some memorable, even [internet-breaking memes](http://time.com/4566823/top-10-things-the-internet-couldnt-stop-talking-about/). But while a countless number of these viral concepts flood social media networks every day, according to Google’s annual round-up of the year’s most popular searches, these were the 10 terms that came to define the Internet’s sense of humor over the course of the past 12 months. 1\. Harambe (the gorilla that was shot and killed after a child fell into his enclosure at the Cincinnati Zoo inspired a series of “Justice for Harambe” tributes) 2\. Damn Daniel (a catchphrase popularized by a Twitter video in which a teen compliments his friend’s outfits, taking specific note of his white Vans) 3\. Pokémon Go (the buzzy augmented reality mobile game that requires players to venture out into the real world to catch Pokémon characters) 4\. Dat Boi (images of an animated frog riding a unicycle) 5\. SpongeBob Caveman (a still frame of the SpongeBob Squarepants character Primate Sponge that is used to react to various stress-inducing situations) 6\. Michael Phelps (refers to the comically intense stare Phelps leveled at opponent Chad le Clos before the men’s 200-meter butterfly semifinal at the Rio Olympics) 7\. Donald Trump (jokes poking fun at President-elect Donald Trump) 8\. Making a Murderer (humorously expressing outrage over the events documented in the Netflix true crime docu-series of the same name) 9\. Ken Bone (the viral sensation surrounding the red sweater-wearing man who asked a question during the second U.S. presidential debate) 10\. Birdman (an image of Louisiana rapper Birdman during his April appearance on _The Breakfast Club_ radio show that is typically accompanied by some variation of the quote “Put some respeck on my name”) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4600125/memes-googled-2016/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4600125/memes-googled-2016/"},"headline":"These Are the Top 10 Most ‘Googled’ Memes of 2016","datePublished":"2016-12-14T08:01:51.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:39:27.100Z","description":"From Harambe to Ken Bone","url":"https://time.com/4600125/memes-googled-2016/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Internet","Pop Culture","memes"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Megan McCluskey","jobTitle":"Staff Writer","url":"https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4600125/memes-googled-2016/","name":"These Are the Top 10 Most ‘Googled’ Memes of 2016"}}]}] ```