If you thought 😂 was still the undisputed king of the internet, we have some bad news: the crying face has taken over. New data from Google, shared with The New York Times, has crowned 😭 the world’s
most-used emoji, knocking the cry-laughing face off the top spot after years of digital domination.
And no, people haven’t suddenly become sadder. The real reason is much more Gen Z: 😭 can mean almost anything.
Your boss schedules a meeting at 9am? 😭 Your mum makes you eat something you hate? 😭 Basically, if words feel like too much effort, just cry.
😭 It Doesn’t Always Mean Crying
The genius of the loudly crying face is that it doesn’t have one fixed emotion anymore. It can mean ‘I’m actually devastated’, ‘I’m laughing so hard’, ‘this is painfully awkward’, ‘I can’t believe this happened’ or simply ‘my life is a mess today’. That may explain why it has become so popular. One tiny yellow face can now do the work of an entire sentence. And researchers suggest our brains may take emojis more seriously than we realise.
Researchers at Bournemouth University, led by Madeline Molly Ely, found that emojis can trigger neural response patterns similar to those involved in processing real human facial expressions. So when someone drops an 😭 in the middle of a conversation, your brain may not be treating it like punctuation. It may actually be processing it more like an emotional expression.
😂 Sorry, But The Laughing Emoji Is Getting Old
In 2015, the Oxford English Dictionary named the cry-laughing emoji its Word of the Year, calling it a major linguistic shift. A decade later, however, 😂 has developed something of an image problem.
Its diagonal cousin 🤣 isn’t exactly having a comeback either. The same goes for 🍻, 🙈 and 😎. They’re still technically allowed, but these days they work best with a heavy dose of irony. In other words, they’re not necessarily dead. They’re just uncool.
From Broken Hearts To Dead Roses
The biggest emoji shifts aren’t always about what an emoji literally means. They’re about what feels *current*. The wilting rose has increasingly become a more dramatic way of expressing heartbreak than the straightforward 💔.🙏 has also moved beyond its traditional meaning. It can now be a thank-you, a plea, a polite sign-off or a slightly desperate ‘please let this work’.
And then there’s 🗿. The Moai statue went from being the 482nd most-used emoji in 2021 to the 33rd today. Its new job? Deadpan reactions, awkward silences and the digital equivalent of staring blankly at someone.
Apple released the Face With Bags Under Eyes is practically tailor-made for modern exhaustion. Then came the Distorted Face in March 2026, with its eyes pushed towards the sides of its head. It’s a wonderfully specific addition for those moments when you’re simultaneously horrified, embarrassed, worried and wondering what on earth is happening. Because apparently 😳 wasn’t enough anymore.
