Reddit Recap 2021: South African ‘Phone Robbie’ viral cash-in-transit video among top posts of the year

Reddit has released its Recap 2021, highlighting some of the major moments and top posts on the platform.

Among the top upvoted posts on the platform was a viral video from South Africa that spawned a series of “Phone Robbie and Josh” memes. The video, which shows an attempted cash-in-transit heist, was the fifth most upvoted post on Reddit.

The recap follows shortly after Google’s Year in Search 2021, but encompasses all the weird and wonderful things you can find across the site.

In addition to highlighting some of the most popular posts on the platform, Reddit released a video celebrating some of the highlights. This includes the Battle of the Joshes, as well as the viral WallStreetsBets movement.

In a company blog post, the company noted that Reddit not only provided an escape for some people, but also inspired real-word change.

“In 2021, the most notable moments on Reddit were when Redditors took their comments, comradery, conversations, and more from URL to IRL,” the company said in its Reddit Recap post.

“This past year, Reddit became the place where people felt empowered and inspired to share their opinions, experiences, and stories and connect with one another to take action and positively impact their communities.”

The recap was also accompanied by a Community Reflections report, which looked at viral moments and reflections from moderators and communities.

Reddit Recap 2021: What were some of the biggest highlights?

The company found that in 2021, users on Reddit created 19% more posts on the platform compared to 2020. This is a total of 366 million posts.

The most upvoted post on the platform was from the WallStreetBets subreddit. It showed a billboard in Times Square, rented by a user, referring to the rise of GameStop stocks with a visual and text that says “$GME GO BRRR”.

Meanwhile, the second and third most upvoted posts were from the same subreddit and also related to the losses experienced by Wall Street hedge funds due to GameStop investments by Reddit users.

You can see a list of the most upvoted posts on Reddit during 2021 below: 

1. r/wallstreetbets: Times Square right now (431K upvotes)
2. r/wallstreetbets: UPVOTE so everyone sees we got SUPPORT (322K upvotes)
3. r/wallstreetbets: GME YOLO update — Jan 28 2021 (286K upvotes)
4. r/antiwork: Quit my job last night, it was nice to be home to make the kids breakfast and take them to school today! Off to hunt for a new opportunity, wish me luck 🙂 (270K upvotes)
5. r/nextf*ckinglevel: Dodging a cash-in-transit robbery. The man has balls of steel (258K upvotes)

Reddit also highlighted the most popular themes in 2021.

The most viewed topics in 2021 included:

1. Cryptocurrency
2. Gaming
3. Sports
4. Weddings
5. Health and Fitness
6. Food and Drink
7. Movies and Television

Reddit Community Reflections insights

Meanwhile, the Community Reflections report highlighted some of the notable moments on the platform.

Reddit notes that 2021 saw growth in the antiwork subreddit’s growth.

“U/abolishwork, one of the early moderators to join the r/antiwork team, commented, ‘A lot of people say r/antiwork helped give them a sense of community and a place to see their value is not only tied to work.’,” the company notes.

The company also looked at community fundraising efforts by those on Reddit. This includes a viral post about the One Simple Wish website, which resulted in hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations.

You can explore more on this on the Reddit blog.

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Feature image: Reddit