Levity may not be the first thing people think of when they consider the year 2016. But there was diversion from this year’s most popular internet memes. Not all were positive. Or amusing. But here we go!

The mannequin challenge

Finally, a challenge that didn’t involve an obscure Facebook acquaintance ordering you to do something you don’t want to do. (See: ice-bucket challenge, push-up challenge.)

The Mannequin Challenge was a big viral hit in the latter half of 2016. It involves a load of people standing very still – almost as if they were mannequins – while another person films them. Hilarity ensues.

A group of high school students in Jacksonville, Florida, reportedly started the trend. Some of the most popular include the Pittsburgh Steelers standing still in their dressing room and Mississippi hip-hop duo Rae Sremmurd performing the mannequin challenge mid-show.

No one was safe from the mannequin challenge. Not even those in prison – a group of inmates undertook the challenge in an Alabama jail.

In hindsight the worst mannequin challenge, or at least the most ill-judged, may have been the one Hillary Clinton and her campaign staff performed on election day. She lost the election a few hours later.

Harambe

Who can forget Harambe, the lovable gorilla shot to death by staff at Cincinnati zoo after a three-year-old boy fell into his enclosure. The 450lb silverback, blessed with a noble bearing and a regal-sounding name (Harambe is Swahili for “togetherness”) was given a fond send-off by seemingly millions of memes.

“Bush did Harambe” was a popular one. There was Harambe driving next to Vin Diesel in Furious 7. Harambe was imagined as Private Ryan. There were also songs, although many weren’t very good.

Public Policy Polling included Harambe as a presidential candidate on some of their surveys, with the deceased silverback winning 5% support in July and 2% in August.

On election day some people reportedly wrote in Harambe’s name on their presidential ballots, but ultimately the gorilla did not win enough votes to serve as commander-in-chief.

Michael Phelps and his angry face

Phelps, a previously unheralded swimmer from the United States, sprang to fame when he was captured looking extremely angry as his South African rival, Chad Le Clos, pranced about in front of him ahead of their 200m butterfly Olympic semi-final.

It was an apparent attempt to psych Phelps out. It didn’t work. Phelps finished ahead of Le Clos in the semi-final then won gold in the final. Le Clos came fourth.

The memes – showing an image of Phelps’ angry face – came thick and fast. “tfw u wanted gryffindor but were sorted into hufflepuff,” wrote Twitter user @taylortrudon.

“When you found out that Vanilla Ice’s real name is Robert Van Winkle,” said @records and radio – a reference to the singer of the 1990 hit, Ice Ice Baby.

Some were more succinct. “Cargo shorts,” chimed @shirklesxp.

The Obama-Biden bromance

In hindsight the special relationship between Barack Obama and Joe Biden may have been the main highlight for Democrats in 2016.

The pair’s close friendship was well known before 2016 – the number of photographs showing them sharing intimate moments is a testament to that – but it was after Trump was elected that the Obama-Biden memes really took off.

Most portray Biden in his long-established role as the president’s fun-loving, prankster sidekick. Frequently at the expense of Trump-Pence’s impending takeover of the White House.

Pepe the frog

Much less heartwarming was the rise of Pepe the frog. Pepe first appeared in a comic called Boy’s Club, the LA Times reported – but the frog began to be appropriated by certain 4chan and Reddit users as a racist icon around 2015.

The Anti-Defamation League labelled Pepe a hate symbol in September 2016 after use of the frog alongside racist messaging proliferated among the “alt-right”.

Pepe has been portrayed wearing a yarmulke and smirking in front of an image of the burning Twin Towers. He has been seen sporting a Hitler-esque moustache. And much more.

During the presidential campaign Pepe caught the attention of Donald Trump Jr, who posted an Instagram photograph showing prominent Trump supporters. Pepe was among them.

Trump Jr later insisted he had “never even heard of Pepe the frog”.

Pokémon Go

You had to/in some cases still do have to catch them all. It depends on your attention span.

Whether you liked Pokémon Go or not – and many people did not – it was certainly a big deal in 2016. It was Google’s top trending search for the year – apparently the app is the only thing capable of beating Donald Trump.

Pokémon Go meme highlights include people pairing the app with nature-slaying hard man Bear Grylls. The resulting images involved Grylls travelling long distances to capture a Pokemon, often drinking his own urine in the process.

Other memes saw Forest Gump sprinting upon learning the location of a Pokémon – specifically, a Charizard – and Breaking Bad’s Heisenberg ordering someone away from his Pokémon-hunting patch.