Tears of Joy Remained Most Used Emoji in 2021

Tears of Joy continued to be one of the most popular emoji used worldwide in 2021, according to the Unicode Consortium's list of the top emoji used throughout the year.

2021 most popular emoji
The 😂 emoji accounts for over five percent of all emoji use, and the only other emoji that comes close is the heart emoji (❤️).

Other top emoji in 2021 included rolling on the floor laughing face, thumbs up, loudly crying face, hands pressed together, face blowing kiss, face with hearts, face with heart eyes, and smiling face, or in emoji: 😂 ❤️ 🤣 👍 😭 🙏 😘 🥰 😍 😊.

The most popular emoji haven't changed much over the past couple of years, and in fact, crying laughing face and red heart were also the top two emoji in 2019, which was the last time that the Unicode Consortium shared emoji data. Other emoji on the list have shifted position and there are a few that are new to the top 10 list, such as thumbs up and face with hearts.

The Unicode Consortium also broke emoji down by category to discover the top used smileys, people emoji, symbols, clothing, animals, travel emoji, objects, and food emoji, with graphs of the frequency of use available on the Unicode Consortium website.

emoji smileys 2021
Party popper is the most popular event emoji, for example, followed by balloon and gift. Fire is the most popular weather emoji, unsurprisingly, and the most popular plant emoji is the rose. The butterfly is the most used bug emoji, and rabbit face is the most used mammal emoji.

Of the clothing emoji, the crown is the most popular, and the birthday cake is by far the most popular sweet food emoji. Hot beverage is the most popular drink emoji, and in the fruit category, strawberry takes the top spot.

More on the most popular emoji in 2021 can be found through the Unicode Consortium's full 2021 emoji breakdown.

Tag: Emoji

Popular Stories

Apple Watch Ultra Night Mode Screen

Apple Watch Ultra 3 Launching Later This Year With Two Key Upgrades

Wednesday July 2, 2025 1:13 pm PDT by
The long wait for an Apple Watch Ultra 3 appears to be nearly over, and it is rumored to feature both satellite connectivity and 5G support. Apple Watch Ultra's existing Night Mode In his latest Power On newsletter, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said that the Apple Watch Ultra 3 is on track to launch this year with "significant" new features, including satellite connectivity, which would let you...
iPhone 17 Pro in Hand Feature Lowgo

iPhone 17 Pro Coming Soon With These 14 New Features

Friday July 4, 2025 1:05 pm PDT by
Apple's next-generation iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are just over two months away, and there are plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models. Latest Rumors These rumors surfaced in June and July:Apple logo repositioned: Apple's logo may have a lower position on the back of the iPhone 17 Pro models, compared to previous...
iPhone 17 Pro in Hand Feature Lowgo

iPhone 17 Pro Max Battery Capacity Leaked

Thursday July 3, 2025 5:40 am PDT by
The iPhone 17 Pro Max will feature the biggest ever battery in an iPhone, according to the Weibo leaker known as "Instant Digital." In a new post, the leaker listed the battery capacities of the iPhone 11 Pro Max through to the iPhone 16 Pro Max, and added that the iPhone 17 Pro Max will feature a battery capacity of 5,000mAh: iPhone 11 Pro Max: 3,969mAh iPhone 12 Pro Max: 3,687mAh...
airpods pro 2

AirPods Pro 3 to Help Maintain Apple's Place in Earbud Market Amid Increasing Low-Cost Competition

Thursday July 3, 2025 7:25 am PDT by
Apple's position as the dominant force in the global true wireless stereo (TWS) earbud market is expected to continue through 2025, according to Counterpoint Research. The forecast outlines a 3% year-over-year increase in global TWS unit shipments for 2025, signaling a transition from rapid growth to a more mature phase for the category. While Apple is set to remain the leading brand by...
apple silicon mac lineup 2024 feature purple m5

Apple's Upcoming Macs Listed in New Report

Thursday July 3, 2025 9:09 am PDT by
AppleInsider's Marko Zivkovic today shared a list of alleged identifiers for future Mac models, which should roll out over the next year or so. The report does not reveal anything too surprising, but it does serve as further evidence that Apple is seemingly working on new models of every Mac, including the MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, iMac, Mac mini, Mac Studio, and Mac Pro. Apple is...
iPhone 17 Pro Lower Logo Magsafe

iPhone 17 Pro's New MagSafe Design Revealed in Leaked Photo

Wednesday July 2, 2025 8:37 am PDT by
The upcoming iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are rumored to have a slightly different MagSafe magnet layout compared to existing iPhone models, and a leaked photo has offered a closer look at the supposed new design. The leaker Majin Bu today shared a photo of alleged MagSafe magnet arrays for third-party iPhone 17 Pro cases. On existing iPhone models with MagSafe, the magnets form a...

Top Rated Comments

contacos Avatar
47 months ago
How do they even know this? I thought my messages are secure ?
Score: 20 Votes (Like | Disagree)
that be me Avatar
47 months ago

Who are these cat-face users?
Cats
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
fel10 Avatar
47 months ago
Oh glad to know. I can finally sleep tonight
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
TheYayAreaLiving ?️ Avatar
47 months ago
Nice! Glad to have a confirmation.

No one is using this emoji anymore? ??

Can’t wait till these new emojis are released. Bring out the melting face emoji, please.



Attachment Image
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
currocj Avatar
47 months ago
At least 10 times a day I wished to use pregnant man ... FINALLY
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
MJaP Avatar
47 months ago
As an early GenX-er I say screw emojis...ASCII art for the win!



Attachment Image
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)