The most popular emoji in the world

The top ten, ranked

The Unicode Consortium, which standardises emoji, publishes how often each one is used across the platforms it samples. Its most recent ranking (2021) is still the only public, cross-platform list, and the top of it has barely moved since the first count in 2019. Tap any emoji to copy it, or follow the link for the full meaning.

Also in Unicode’s top twenty, in no particular order: 🎉 party popper, 😁 beaming face, 💕 two hearts, 🥺 pleading face, 😅 grinning face with sweat, 🔥 fire, ☺️ smiling face, 🤦 person facepalming, ♥️ heart suit and 🤷 person shrugging. Copy any of them from the grid above.

What the newest data changed

Unicode counts across many platforms but publishes rarely. Keyboard makers publish more often and see a different slice of the world. In 2026 Google shared Gboard usage for 2025 with The New York Times, and the most used emoji of the year was 😭, the loudly crying face, rather than 😂. That matches what Emojipedia and Twitter (now X) had already reported for 2021: 😭 briefly overtook 😂 as the platform’s top emoji, and the two have traded places since.

The reason is generational, not a change of mood. Younger users treat 😭 and 💀 (the skull) as the laughing emoji, and keep 😂 for older relatives and work chats. So on a keyboard used heavily by teenagers, 😭 wins; across every platform and age group, 😂 still does.

Why the top ten barely moves

• Reactions dominate. Most emoji are sent as a one-character reply (laughing, love, thanks, ok), and there are only a handful of ways to say each.
• Keyboards remember. The “frequently used” row on every phone feeds the same ten emoji back to you, which keeps them on top.
• Hearts and faces travel. They need no cultural context, so they lead in every language Unicode samples. The heart family alone takes four of the top twenty.
• New emoji start at the bottom. Even hits like 🫠 (melting face) or 🥹 take years to reach the chart because older phones cannot show them yet.

How to use this list

If you want to be understood by the widest audience, the top ten is the safe set: every device draws them, every generation reads them the same way, and none of them carries a hidden second meaning. If you want tone, read the guide behind each one first; 👍 in particular reads as curt to many younger people, and 😂 has picked up an ironic edge in some circles.

For the opposite problem, an emoji nobody else is using, browse the categories or try the random emoji picker. For meanings of the whole set, start at emoji meanings.

The best emoji to use in any message

The top ten on this page are safe all-round choices: they are widely supported and generally read positively. If you want an emoji that will be understood in almost any context, ❤️, 😂 and 🙏 are three safe picks.

That said, the best emoji depends on tone. 🥺 pleading face reads as genuine and soft; 🫶 heart hands feels warmer than ❤️ in close friendships; and 🔥 works for praise without being effusive. These suit close friends or people who appreciate a little more nuance.

For work or mixed-age groups, stick to the list above. For close friends, you can experiment with the full set. Note that 👍 can read as passive-aggressive between younger people, so it may be safer to choose a different positive emoji.

Trending emoji: what’s moving up the charts

Emoji trends rise and fall with social media. The skull 💀 became a laughing emoji on TikTok, and the melting face 🫠 has also become more common. Different platforms often favour different emojis because their audiences and usage patterns vary.

On Instagram, the same familiar faces—😂, ❤️, 😍—are common, while 🥺, ✨ and 🤍 also appear often in captions and comments. If you are choosing emojis for an Instagram post, these are sensible options.

Trendy picks change quickly, but the all-time leaders like 😂, ❤️ and 👍 remain widely used across all ages.

Questions people ask