Ranked Lists

Submission 14,951

About

Ranked Lists is a phrasal template in which people use the format of a ranked list to express the pointlessness of the exercise. However, the number one slot contradicts their point and names one piece of culture the best.

Origin

The earliest known usage of the list was posted by Redditor ^[7] ocentertainment posted a mock^[8] ranking of the films Marvel Cinematic Universe in the /r/MarvelStudios subreddit. The last explains that ranking is essentially pointless because each film is so different. However, the list ends with the punchline _Thor: The Dark World_, implying that no matter what, that film is the worst in the series. The post (shown below) received more than 18,000 points (19% upvoted) and 1,100 comments in one month.

Spread

On June 22nd, 2018, Twitter ^[1] user @WaltsFrzenHead tweeted a "ranking" the top Pixar fils. However, instead of a typical "best of" list, @WaltsFrzenHead wrote "1-It’s Hard 2-To Rank 3-Films 4-Spanning 5-Different Directors 6-And 7-Different Genres 8-Which Are 9-Trying 10-To Do 11-Different Things 12-To their Audience 13-And Are 14-Failing 15-And Succeeding 16-In 17-Different 18-Ways 19-Cars 2 20-The Good Dinosaur." Their post (shown below) received more tha 20,000 retweets and 122,000 likes in less than one year.

The following day, Twitter^[2] user @yngjstice tweeted a "ranking" of X-Men. They wrote, "Best xmen ranked: 15. You 14. Can't 13. Rank 12. Them 11. Because 10. They're 9. All 8. So 7. Diverse 6. And 5. Loveable 4. In 3. Their 2. Own 1. Storm" The post (shown below, left) received more than 700 retweets and 2,200 likes in four days.

The format grew in popularity over the next few days, coinciding with a tweet by @harleivy (shown below, center), whose June 24th ranking of Disney princesses received more than 100,000 retweets and 352,000 likes in three days.^[3]

In that tweet's wake, more ranking received much wider attention on Twitter. On June 25th, for example, Twitter^[4] user @nighttimemytime tweeted the "best Lorde songs," which received more than 24,000 retweets and 100,000 likes in two days.

Several media outlets covered the popularity of the meme, including PopBuzz,^[5] Mashable ^[6] and more.