2021 in Review: Vote for the Social Media Moments That Defined Your Year

From Bernie Sanders in his mittens to TikTok comforts, wise canines and celebs making up for lost time on the red carpet, vote for the viral moments that made your 2021 a year to not entirely forget.

By Natalie Finn Dec 22, 2021 2:00 PMTags

Okay, we'll admit it: 2021 has, at times, run neck and neck with 2020 in the competition for years we'd most like to put in the rearview. But amid the social distancing, home schooling and still-very-much-present coronavirus pandemic, there have been more than a few bright spots

Britney Spears was freed, the Friends reunited and Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck had us all reviewing the "Jenny From the Block" video frame-by-frame

So before we officially turn the page on this year (and by that, we mean scroll over to 2022 in our phone), E! News wants to hear from you, dear reader. What were the moments that sent you down that Internet rabbit hole? The headlines that brightened up even the most monotonous of weeks? Through the end of December, we invite you to make your voice heard by voting for the things that mattered most. (In celebrity-land, that is.) Let's send 2021 off in style—and then maybe lock the door.

As if we weren't online enough before, 2020 was the year when life went online altogether. So by the time 2021 rolled around...

There we were already, glassy-eyed and full of resolutions to not be online so much, to cut down on social media, to take all the lessons that 2020 taught us and turn them into valid everyday plans for our healthier, happier and more grateful, gracious selves.

So, how's that working out for everybody?!

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Biggest Celebrity Photos of 2021

Well, if you had an awesome summer itinerary, only to watch the delta variant make other arrangements, or your kid's school schedule was still all over the place, or you didn't get to shove your masks in a drawer and forget about them, or you settled for watching Dune in your living room instead of on an IMAX screen as the good lord intended, rest assured that you were not alone in your frustrations.

But at least the Internet was always there for us, for better or worse—though its powers can be used for good, as anyone who photoshopped Bernie Sanders onto the Iron Throne in January can attest. And in what was maybe the most normal part of yet another "new normal" year, the celebrity content was plentiful (and, once again, glamorous as the stars broke out their finery for awards season, film festivals and the Met Gala), it rained cats and dogs doing the darndest things, and folks doing good deeds, showing off their uncanny talents and unwittingly triggering heated debates still managed to be heard amid all the noise.

Plus, thanks to the app blowing up in 2020, we headed into this year already knowing that TikTok was the place to be, an unstoppable trend that at last culminated in Beyoncé joining in December. Which is still kinda the point of things, right, to get Beyoncé onboard?

So from the celeb sightings that made you hold your scroll to the memes you couldn't stop sharing and the stories you didn't want to forget about by the end of the day, please vote for the social media moments that made your 2021 not such a bad place to be (and in a timely fashion, please, as these polls close at 11:59 p.m. PT on Thursday, Dec. 23):

Poll

2021 in Review: Favorite Memes

The Meme You Liked a Thousand Times
Bernie Sanders and his mittens sitting everywhere
53.5%
Oprah reacting to Meghan and Harry's bombshell revelations
11.1%
March 2020 vs. March 2021
11.1%
Kathryn Hahn's not-so-subtle "It was Agatha all along" wink
14.1%
The Weeknd lost in his own "Blinding Lights" at the Super Bowl
3%
The Ever Given stuck in the Suez Canal is too relatable
7.1%
Voting For This Poll Has Closed!
Poll

2021 in Review: Stars on Fire Online

The Celebrity Moment You Analyzed Like It Was Your Job
Jeff Bezos' partner Lauren Sanchez laying eyes on Leo
10.4%
Chris Evans and Lizzo's cheeky Instagram exchange
16.9%
Cardi B and Penn Badgley expressing mutual admiration on Twitter
15.6%
Oscar Isaac cherishing Jessica Chastain on the red carpet
27.3%
Adam Sandler reuniting with the IHOP hostess who didn't seat him
19.5%
Lil Nas X announcing Montero with 12 pregnant man emojis
10.4%
Voting For This Poll Has Closed!
Poll

2021 in Review: Breakout Personalities

Content You Couldn't Get Enough Of
Emilia Mariko's salmon rice bowl
3.4%
Noodle, the bones/no bones pug
37.9%
YouTube's MrBeast
6.9%
TikTok's Couch Guy
15.5%
TikTok's Little Lad renaissance
3.4%
Tessica Brown's "Gorilla Glue Girl" saga
32.8%
Voting For This Poll Has Closed!
Poll

2021 in Review: Heartwarming Moments

Something You Saw on the Internet That Actually Made You Feel Good
Ratatouille: The TikTok Musical starts the year off right
7.4%
Sea shanty TikTok
2.9%
Tom Daly knitting in the stands at the Tokyo Olympics
38.2%
Eminem serves customers at the grand opening of Mom's Spaghetti
29.4%
Tom Brady inspires young cancer patient, gifts him hat in person
17.6%
Tom Brady accidentally ends up on a high school team's FaceTime
4.4%
Voting For This Poll Has Closed!

Come back to see the results, for these and all the rest of our 2021 in Review polls, on Monday, Dec. 27.