📌 1. “Meme Season” – General trend at the beginning of 2026
“Meme season” is the term used to describe the period when social media experiences a surge of new memes, similar to “buying season” in the financial market — but here it refers to the season of heightened humorous content that spreads rapidly on TikTok, Reddit, X (Twitter), Instagram,…
Early 2026 witnessed a strong recovery of meme coins such as Dogecoin, Pepe, Shiba Inu, and Solana-based tokens, with an upward price trend and high trading volume. This move is referred to by many as the “meme season” of the meme cryptocurrency market.
Meme season is not only confined to finance but also reflects the vibrant activity of internet content, TikTok trends, and meme videos, with meme formats becoming more pronounced at the beginning of the year.
👉 In other words: “meme season 2026” is the period of explosive memes across both the cryptocurrency market and social media in general.
🎭 2. Notable memes and content trends
🐧 Nihilist Penguin – Mood symbol meme
One of the most viral memes at the beginning of the year is “Nihilist Penguin” — a video of a penguin walking alone far from the group, labeled as nihilistic by social media, associated with themes of burnout, social psychology, and fatigue with the modern pace of life.
This meme has become a symbol of the common emotional state: “I give up, I want to escape.”
It spread widely not only as a meme format but also used to comment on political issues — for example, when the White House and President Trump participated in this trend, it created reactions of mockery and deeper commentary.
👉 This highlights that memes are not just entertainment but also reflect collective psychology and social discourse.
🎮 “365 Buttons” — Meme reflecting Gen Z's life
Another meme trend is “365 Buttons”, which poses a concise declaration: do what you want without needing a reason. This meme creates a trend of sharing about personal boundaries, freedom of expression, and ignoring lengthy explanations.
➡️ It illustrates how Gen Z uses memes to talk about boundaries, emotions, and inner life.
🔄 3. Meme Culture and the “Great Meme Reset of 2026”
A trend that has emerged in the TikTok and Reddit communities since the beginning of the year is the concept of the “Great Meme Reset 2026” — the idea of returning memes to their “original, classic” quality of the 2010s like Keyboard Cat, Nyan Cat, Ugandan Knuckles.
This theme reflects frustration with “AI slop” memes, which are too obscure or overly prevalent.
Users are calling for a “reset” to revive classic memes, creating a sense of nostalgia and connection between multiple generations of the internet.
👉 This reflects a pessimistic trend toward modern memes but also a desire to revive the cultural value of old memes.
💡 4. Meme season – Not just “funny”, but also profound
Some important observations about meme season 2026:
📌 Breaking away from “AI slop” memes
The meme community reflects fatigue with repetitive AI-generated content — too mechanical, hard to empathize with, lacking real-life humor. This has led to a reset movement and a demand for more creative memes.
📌 Memes as a way for the new generation to express emotions
Gen Z uses memes as a language of self-expression — from lifestyle choices, emotional stress, to concepts of the meaning of life. Memes like Nihilist Penguin or 365 Buttons are clear evidence.
📌 Meme season encompasses the financial sector
“Meme Season” is also used in the cryptocurrency community to describe the heated phase and strong activity of meme coins at the beginning of the year, often linked to the participation of retail investors and viral phenomena on social media.
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