Why 😭 Drowned Out 😂 - by Jennifer Daniel
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Why 😭 Drowned Out 😂<br>New data reveals a melodramatic shift in how we express ourselves
Jennifer Daniel<br>Aug 18, 2026
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For the first time since 2021, fresh data from Google gives us a look at how we’re using emoji and there’s a major shakeup at the very top: 😂 and ❤️ are no longer our most used emoji. I know what you’re thinking. “Jennifer, is it because the world is collapsing? Do we live joyless lives now? Is love … dead??” No, sweet child. Tears of Joy (😂) didn’t drop out of first place because people stopped laughing. We just crave more drama. We collapse from laughter. We weep from laughter. We scream from laughter.<br>Number 1 Emoji Over Time:<br>2021 😂→2024 🤣→2025 😭
Loudly Crying Face (😭) took the top spot because it became the default reaction for when something is so funny, embarrassing, or cute that you can't cope. It's three in one. It’s the KenTacoHut of emoji. When people do want a traditional lol, they lean into the physical chaos, keeping rofl 🤣 at #2.<br>Y R U SO MAD 🤬
For years, we used smiley faces to make it very clear that I am friendly and not threatening :))))) Sometimes plain text lacks nuance and I really wanna make sure you like me!!!! That politeness still exists but unvarnished frustration has officially broken through. Middle Finger (🖕) jumped from #113 in 2021 to #17 in 2025 (!!) Enraged Face (😡) broke into the top 15 (!!!!!!) and Face with Symbols on Mouth (🤬) was ranked #120 and is now #26 (???!!!!!!)<br>Jumping nearly 100 spots into the global top twenty isn’t a gentle trend line; Once you crack the top twenty, the sheer volume of taps is astronomical. It’s a dead giveaway that our digital manners have changed: in addition to cushioning our messages we also throw heat. It's the same hyperbolic shift that pushed 😭 to #1.<br>Highs and Lows 👑
When you scroll through your emoji keyboard looking for the perfect expression, you’ll find nearly 4,000 tiny drawings: an amphora 🏺, a card index 📇, a roller coaster 🎢, and a dozen trains 🚂 🚃 🚄 🚅 🚆 🚇 🚈 🚊 🚋 🚞 🚝 🚟 🛤️. And yet … out of our massive emoji catalog just ten (that’s right, one-zero 10) account for over one third of all global emoji shares: 😭🤣😂❤️🙏😘🥰👍😍😁 . How can this be?<br>Contrary to popular belief, aerial tramway (🚡) isn’t the least-used emoji. That title belongs to Japanese “here” button (🈁). But like aerial tramway, without metaphorical flexibility, thousands of literal objects sit untouched. Over 55% of the entire library gets near-zero use 😲
(Note: This data was collected in 2024/2025 and only includes emoji available for at least a year, giving the new emoji enough time to reach everyone's devices.)<br>This data sheds light on a fascinating tension: our keyboards present emoji as a visible encyclopedia, but in practice we use them for the invisible stuff like sarcasm, tone, and emotional shorthand. Faces and gestures across the board account for over 80% of all global volume. Staples like ❤️ and 🙏 remain frequently used because they’re the digital version of warm gratitude or eye contact. Basic human stuff.<br>The Reality of Encoding a Living Language
Once inducted into the Unicode Standard, an emoji is never removed. It’s there forever. Forever ever. But, as the data shows, people naturally gravitate around a flexible core, leaving a wide long tail of highly specific concepts that collect dust 😬 That leaves digital standards with a real dilemma: how to support rich expression without running up against keyboard limits, search discoverability, accessibility, and font architecture. If we don’t continue to explore and understand how people actually talk, we’ll just end up creating thousands of new emoji that nobody uses.<br>What I love about this data is the reminder that language thrives when we learn the rules then break the rules to make them our own. Lately, I’ve taken to using the Fountain (⛲️) whenever I’m overflowing with energy or feeling bonita. So go ahead, give that emoji picker a twirl, dig into the corners you rarely visit, and find a lonely emoji and make it yours ⛲⛲⛲
Methodology<br>Emoji use data was collected with Google’s Federated Analytics, capturing anonymized, aggregated usage in Gboard. The collection periods spanned November 2024 to January 2025 and November 2025 to January 2026. Special thanks to Alex, Wilder, and the Gboard team for making this analysis possible. 🗿📊
IFYKYK, OG ROFL “Emoji”
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