The battle of funny hashtags on Instagram in 2023

Hashtags are the best way to be discovered on Social Media and especially Instagram. In this post, I looked at the most popular funny hashtags in 2021 and let them compete against one another. Which hashtag or hashtag groups are the most popular? 

When searching for a tag on Instagram you can see the number of posts associated with that hashtag. Unfortunately, there’s no way to see how many people follow a certain hashtag. 

Based on funny hashtags with more than 1 million posts as of August 2021 I’ve compared some trends. (see the full list at the of this post)

Which funny hashtags are most popular?

Insight 1: Plural hashtags have more posts

When analyzing the tags, I’ve found that plural terms are more often used than singular: memes, videos, dogs versus meme, video, and dog, etc.

funny hashtags singular vs plural tags

It makes sense based on the language we use. We look up “jokes” and not a single joke.

Insight 2: Instagram is still an image sharing platform

Even though Instagram recently announced that they are not an image-sharing platform anymore, the content creators speak differently. Funny memes are more popular than funny videos.

funny hashtags on instagram videos vs memes

I know that gifs could be considered as videos or memes but in fact #funnygif and #funnygifs only have 20k and 25k posts under their belt and therefore weren’t considered in the battle of funny hashtags on Instagram.

Insight 3: The king of funny hashtags is #funny

The hashtag with the most posts in my research was #funny followed by – at least for me surprising – #lol (stands for laughing out loud).

funniest hashtag on instagram

Other tags like #lmao (laugh my ass off) or the even more vulgar #lmfao (you get what the f stands for) have many posts as well. Even more than #funnyvideos for example.

Insight 4: There are more funny cats than dogs on Instagram

I know why you are really here. The question of all questions: Who is funnier: cats or dogs? The Internet has spoken.

are cats or dogs funnier on instagram

What can social media marketers learn from hashtag volume?

Without the follower numbers of popular hashtags, it’s hard to say what social media marketers can learn from the funny hashtag trends. Usually, more posts also equal more followers but also a higher competition to get your post seen. 

It’s recommended to have a good mix of trending hashtags to be discovered. The more related to the content the better. For example, a funny gif meme of a dog could have a wide range of tags. From less crowded funny hashtags like #funnygifs to #funny and #lol to hope for the “going viral effect”.

Instagram content creators should also consider other words and internet language like lmao or lol. This is not just true for the funny hashtag category but for others, too. The best way to find related hashtags is to look at the top posts and spy on their used tags. 

Another way is to conduct keyword research and identify long-tail keywords. Of course, search terms are not the same on social media but it can be a good starting point.

Most funniest hashtags in 2021

Hashtag

Posts in Million

#funny

223

#lol

179

#funnymemes

73.4

#lmao

61.3

#laugh

39.8

#funnyvideos

30.7

#jokes

26.9

#hilarious

24.1

#lmfao

21.8

#funnymeme

15.4

#joke

13.6

#funnyshit

11.3

#funnypitures

6.4

#funnyposts

5.3

#funnyvideo

4.7

#funnyquotes

3.4

#funnycat

3.1

#hilariousmemes

2.7

#funnycats

2.6

#funnydog

2.5

#funnydogs

2.3

#funnyjokes

1.5

#funnyanimals

1.4

#jokesfordays

1.3

#funnyvids

1.1

#dadjokes

1.1

#funnytweets

1

All data is based on Instagram’s posts per hashtag. 

Some hilarious hashtags haven’t cut the 1 million posts mark yet to be considered in this blog post.

For example, family tags like #funnykids, #funnybaby, #funnymom, or #funnydad are in the upper hundred thousand.

Internet sources: instagram.com

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