These are the most frequently used emoji of 2021

Unicode has shared the list of the most frequently used emoji from throughout the world in 2021.

The news: Unicode Consortium, the nonprofit organization responsible for creating emoji, reviewed its own data to find the frequency of people using emoji.

• The Unicode list shows which emoji were commonly used by people throughout the world.

The findings: Tears of Joy (😂) accounts for over 5% of all emoji use, according to Unicode.

• Positive vibes were strong throughout the year.
• The top 100 emoji accounted for about 82% of all emoji used. There are 3,663 emoji overall.

The top 10 emoji: 😂 ❤️ 🤣 👍 😭 🙏 😘 🥰 😍 😊

The least-popular emojis: Flags. Any and all flag-based emoji bottomed out on the list.

Why it matters: “This data is a strong signal to encode fewer specific concepts like flags and less single-use objects like shower caps,” according to Unicode. “And, instead focus on globally-relevant, well-established communicative concepts.”