The most viral memes of 2020 were the Coffin Dance, Rasode Mein Kaun Tha, Binod, the vibing cat, Dalgona coffee jokes and the endless lockdown and work from home memes. Most of them came out of the pandemic year, when people were stuck indoors, online all day and looking for something to laugh at.
Six years later, many of these templates still turn up in group chats and reels. Here is a refreshed look at the memes that defined 2020, where they came from and why they spread so fast in India and around the world.
Why 2020 produced so many memes
The first lockdown in March 2020 put millions of people at home with phones in hand. TikTok was still available in India until the government ban in June 2020, and Instagram, Twitter and WhatsApp filled the gap after that.
Memes became a way to deal with fear, boredom and bad news. A clip, a sound or a single comment could become a national joke within a day. For more internet culture and pop culture lists, see our listicles section.
The most viral memes of 2020
1. Coffin Dance (Dancing Pallbearers)
The clip of Ghanaian pallbearers dancing with a coffin on their shoulders was not new. Videos of the group, Nana Otafrija Pallbearing Services, had been on YouTube since 2015. In late February 2020, TikTok users paired the clip with “Astronomia”, a 2010 EDM track by Tony Igy, and used it as the punchline for fail videos.
By March 2020, as Covid-19 spread, the Coffin Dance had become a dark joke about risky behaviour. The pallbearers leaned into the fame, and group member Benjamin Aidoo later posted a video thanking doctors.
2. Rasode Mein Kaun Tha
This was India’s biggest meme of 2020. In August, music producer Yashraj Mukhate turned a scene from the TV serial Saath Nibhaana Saathiya into a rap. In the scene, Kokilaben, played by Rupal Patel, questions her daughters-in-law Gopi and Rashi about who put an empty cooker on the gas.
The line “Rasode mein kaun tha?” (Who was in the kitchen?) was everywhere within days. Brands, politicians and celebrities shared it. Mukhate went on to make more viral music edits and, as reported in 2024, made his debut as a music director in Marathi cinema.
3. Binod
Binod started in a YouTube comment section. YouTubers Slayy Point made a video about pointless Indian comments, and one example was a user named Binod Tharu who had simply typed his own name.
In August 2020, the joke went national. People spammed “Binod” in live streams and comment sections, and even Paytm briefly changed its Twitter display name to Binod. It is a good example of how Indian internet humour turned something random into a shared joke.
4. Memes about lockdowns
Lockdown memes covered everything: the shock of a 21-day lockdown, people counting days, families stuck together, and the slow loss of any sense of what day it was. Jokes about cooking, cleaning and banging thalis became a daily habit for many users.
These memes worked because nearly everyone was living the same situation at the same time. The relatability was the point.
5. Memes about working from home
Overnight, offices moved to living rooms. Memes about Zoom calls, forgetting to unmute, wearing a formal shirt with shorts, and bosses calling at odd hours spread across LinkedIn, Instagram and WhatsApp.
Some memes treated remote work as a blessing, with no commute and more sleep. Others showed the blurred line between office and home, which many people still joke about in 2026 as hybrid work continues.
6. Dalgona coffee
The whipped coffee trend began in South Korea. Actor Jung Il-woo tried the drink on a TV show in January 2020 and compared its taste to dalgona, a Korean honeycomb toffee. By March, the #dalgonacoffeechallenge had spread on YouTube and TikTok.
In India, it became the drink of the first lockdown. Then came the memes: people mocking the effort of beating coffee by hand, and others joking that they had made it once and never again.
7. Vibing Cat
In October 2020, a short clip of a cat bobbing its head was edited next to a video of Turkish street musician Bilal Göregen, who is blind, singing “Ievan Polkka” while playing a tambourine. The pairing was simple and oddly satisfying.
The cat, later known online as CatJAM, became a popular reaction GIF and emote on Twitch and Discord. Thousands of edits paired it with other songs.
8. US vs India memes
These memes put American and Indian versions of the same situation side by side, usually with the two flags on top. The Indian side often showed jugaad, family habits or desi parenting, and the joke was usually on both countries.
The format was easy to copy, which is why it filled meme pages throughout the year.
9. Expectations vs Reality
An old format that fit 2020 perfectly. People compared their New Year plans with how the year actually went. Others used it for home haircuts, lockdown fitness goals and online classes.
The joke worked because almost no plan for 2020 survived the year.
10. The 2020 US presidential election
The November 2020 election between Donald Trump and Joe Biden produced memes for days as votes were counted. Biden was declared the winner on 7 November 2020, and the press conference held the same day at Four Seasons Total Landscaping, a small business in Philadelphia, became a meme on its own.
Indian users joined in too, comparing the slow US count with Indian election results and the long wait for vote counting.
11. Go Corona Go
A clip from February 2020 showing Union minister Ramdas Athawale and others chanting “Go Corona Go” at an event went viral as the pandemic spread. The chant was remixed, used in songs and repeated as a joke for months.
Where these memes are now
Most 2020 memes now work as nostalgia. Coffin Dance and the vibing cat still appear in reels, while Rasode Mein Kaun Tha is remembered as one of the first Indian music remix memes to go fully mainstream. For more on viral stars and TV personalities, visit our celebs section.
Frequently asked questions
What was the most viral meme of 2020?
Globally, the Coffin Dance was the biggest meme of 2020. In India, Rasode Mein Kaun Tha and Binod were the most shared.
Who made the Rasode Mein Kaun Tha meme?
Music producer Yashraj Mukhate created the rap in August 2020 using a scene from Saath Nibhaana Saathiya featuring Kokilaben, played by Rupal Patel.
What song is used in the Coffin Dance meme?
The meme uses “Astronomia”, a 2010 electronic track by Tony Igy.
Where did the Binod meme come from?
It came from a Slayy Point YouTube video about Indian comment sections, which featured a user who had commented only his name, Binod.
Sources: Know Your Meme: Coffin Dance, Wikipedia: Yashraj Mukhate, Wikipedia: Dalgona coffee, Know Your Meme: Vibing Cat.
