Meme Of The Month Calendars

2016Image template / Photoshop formatsemi-active

Also known as: Meme of the Month · MOTM Calendar

Meme of the Month Calendars are photoshopped calendar images where each month is filled with the meme that dominated internet culture during that period. The format started as an informal documentation practice on Tumblr in 2014 but took its recognizable shape in June 2016, when Tumblr user ceruleanazura posted a calendar template that racked up over 116,000 notes and spread rapidly to Reddit's me_irl community2.

Overview

Meme of the Month Calendars take a standard 12-month calendar grid and fill each month's slot with an image representing that month's most popular meme. The calendars work as visual time capsules, compressing an entire year of internet trends into one shareable image. They also serve as community debate material, since picking just one meme per month is inherently subjective and different corners of the internet often disagree on the picks1.

The format appeals to the internet's impulse to categorize and rank its own output. Each calendar is part historical record, part opinion piece, and the arguments over which meme truly "won" any given month are half the point.

The practice of assigning memes to specific months started in 2014 on Tumblr1. At the end of that year, entertainment outlet Popbuzz published an article naming a meme for each month of the year, with the Selfie Olympics tagged as January's pick2.

The visual calendar template that defined the format didn't appear until June 9, 2016, when Tumblr user ceruleanazura posted a photoshopped calendar covering the first half of that year1. The post snowballed over the following nine months, collecting more than 116,000 notes and locking in the grid-based format as the standard layout for all future Meme of the Month Calendars.

Origin & Background

Platform
Tumblr (template creation), Reddit/me_irl (viral spread)
Key People
ceruleanazura
Date
2016

The practice of assigning memes to specific months started in 2014 on Tumblr1. At the end of that year, entertainment outlet Popbuzz published an article naming a meme for each month of the year, with the Selfie Olympics tagged as January's pick2.

The visual calendar template that defined the format didn't appear until June 9, 2016, when Tumblr user ceruleanazura posted a photoshopped calendar covering the first half of that year1. The post snowballed over the following nine months, collecting more than 116,000 notes and locking in the grid-based format as the standard layout for all future Meme of the Month Calendars.

How It Spread

Reddit's me_irl picked up the format within days. On June 14, 2016, me_irl user thoompa uploaded an image proposing that the Meme of the Month Calendar itself should be July 2016's meme, earning 5,400 upvotes1. The meta joke fit perfectly with the subreddit's self-referential humor.

ceruleanazura kept updating the original calendar as the year progressed, naming the Nut Button as July's meme and Arthur's Fist as August's1. By then, though, the format had outgrown its creator. Joke variations and competing picks started flooding me_irl and other communities.

The calendar format was especially popular on r/me_irl during a stretch users called the "Meme Renaissance," when the subreddit was burning through new memes at a pace that demanded daily tracking rather than monthly1. Some users responded by creating calendars that covered individual days instead of months.

By early 2017, the end-of-month and end-of-year calendar tradition was firmly established. Competing versions circulated for each new year, with the most widely shared early 2017 picks featuring SaltBae for January and Roll Safe for February1.

How to Use This Meme

Creating a Meme of the Month Calendar typically follows a few steps:

1

Start with a 12-month calendar grid template, or a partial-year version for mid-year posts

2

For each month, pick the meme that best defined that period's internet culture

3

Drop a representative image of each meme into its corresponding month slot

4

Share it with the community and prepare for disagreements about your choices

Fun Facts

The original Tumblr post took months to gain traction before eventually reaching 116,000+ notes1.

The Meme of the Month Calendar became a meme about itself within its first week of existence1.

Despite being created on Tumblr, the format saw its most active use on Reddit's me_irl subreddit1.

The calendars doubled as an informal measurement of meme culture's accelerating pace, showing how completely different the internet's obsessions can be from one month to the next.

Derivatives & Variations

Daily Meme Calendars:

During me_irl's rapid meme turnover period, users built calendars tracking memes by day rather than month to keep up with the subreddit's output[1].

Self-referential entries:

The calendar format was proposed as its own Meme of the Month just five days after its creation, with thoompa's meta Reddit post earning thousands of upvotes[1].

Community-specific calendars:

Different subreddits and platforms produced their own versions, swapping mainstream picks for memes specific to their communities[1].

Frequently Asked Questions

Meme Of The Month Calendars

2016Image template / Photoshop formatsemi-active

Also known as: Meme of the Month · MOTM Calendar

Meme of the Month Calendars are photoshopped calendar images where each month is filled with the meme that dominated internet culture during that period. The format started as an informal documentation practice on Tumblr in 2014 but took its recognizable shape in June 2016, when Tumblr user ceruleanazura posted a calendar template that racked up over 116,000 notes and spread rapidly to Reddit's me_irl community2.

Overview

Meme of the Month Calendars take a standard 12-month calendar grid and fill each month's slot with an image representing that month's most popular meme. The calendars work as visual time capsules, compressing an entire year of internet trends into one shareable image. They also serve as community debate material, since picking just one meme per month is inherently subjective and different corners of the internet often disagree on the picks1.

The format appeals to the internet's impulse to categorize and rank its own output. Each calendar is part historical record, part opinion piece, and the arguments over which meme truly "won" any given month are half the point.

The practice of assigning memes to specific months started in 2014 on Tumblr1. At the end of that year, entertainment outlet Popbuzz published an article naming a meme for each month of the year, with the Selfie Olympics tagged as January's pick2.

The visual calendar template that defined the format didn't appear until June 9, 2016, when Tumblr user ceruleanazura posted a photoshopped calendar covering the first half of that year1. The post snowballed over the following nine months, collecting more than 116,000 notes and locking in the grid-based format as the standard layout for all future Meme of the Month Calendars.

Origin & Background

Platform
Tumblr (template creation), Reddit/me_irl (viral spread)
Key People
ceruleanazura
Date
2016

The practice of assigning memes to specific months started in 2014 on Tumblr1. At the end of that year, entertainment outlet Popbuzz published an article naming a meme for each month of the year, with the Selfie Olympics tagged as January's pick2.

The visual calendar template that defined the format didn't appear until June 9, 2016, when Tumblr user ceruleanazura posted a photoshopped calendar covering the first half of that year1. The post snowballed over the following nine months, collecting more than 116,000 notes and locking in the grid-based format as the standard layout for all future Meme of the Month Calendars.

How It Spread

Reddit's me_irl picked up the format within days. On June 14, 2016, me_irl user thoompa uploaded an image proposing that the Meme of the Month Calendar itself should be July 2016's meme, earning 5,400 upvotes1. The meta joke fit perfectly with the subreddit's self-referential humor.

ceruleanazura kept updating the original calendar as the year progressed, naming the Nut Button as July's meme and Arthur's Fist as August's1. By then, though, the format had outgrown its creator. Joke variations and competing picks started flooding me_irl and other communities.

The calendar format was especially popular on r/me_irl during a stretch users called the "Meme Renaissance," when the subreddit was burning through new memes at a pace that demanded daily tracking rather than monthly1. Some users responded by creating calendars that covered individual days instead of months.

By early 2017, the end-of-month and end-of-year calendar tradition was firmly established. Competing versions circulated for each new year, with the most widely shared early 2017 picks featuring SaltBae for January and Roll Safe for February1.

How to Use This Meme

Creating a Meme of the Month Calendar typically follows a few steps:

1

Start with a 12-month calendar grid template, or a partial-year version for mid-year posts

2

For each month, pick the meme that best defined that period's internet culture

3

Drop a representative image of each meme into its corresponding month slot

4

Share it with the community and prepare for disagreements about your choices

Fun Facts

The original Tumblr post took months to gain traction before eventually reaching 116,000+ notes1.

The Meme of the Month Calendar became a meme about itself within its first week of existence1.

Despite being created on Tumblr, the format saw its most active use on Reddit's me_irl subreddit1.

The calendars doubled as an informal measurement of meme culture's accelerating pace, showing how completely different the internet's obsessions can be from one month to the next.

Derivatives & Variations

Daily Meme Calendars:

During me_irl's rapid meme turnover period, users built calendars tracking memes by day rather than month to keep up with the subreddit's output[1].

Self-referential entries:

The calendar format was proposed as its own Meme of the Month just five days after its creation, with thoompa's meta Reddit post earning thousands of upvotes[1].

Community-specific calendars:

Different subreddits and platforms produced their own versions, swapping mainstream picks for memes specific to their communities[1].

Frequently Asked Questions