How do I copy these most-used emojis?

Tap any emoji on EmojiCopy.ai and it instantly lands on your clipboard. Paste it anywhere — Instagram, TikTok, Discord, WhatsApp, YouTube comments, anywhere.

Will these work on iPhone and Android?

Yes. Every emoji on EmojiCopy.ai is standard Unicode, supported on iOS, Android, Mac, Windows and the web.

Most Used Emojis in 2026

Emoji usage shifts every year, but a handful stay glued to the top. In 2026, 😂 is still the world's most-sent emoji.

Global top 20 (2026)

😂 tears of joy
❤️ red heart
🥺 pleading face
🔥 fire
✨ sparkles
🥹 holding back tears
🫶 heart hands
🩷 pink heart
🙏 folded hands
😍 heart eyes
🥰 smiling with hearts
😭 loudly crying
💯 hundred
💀 skull
💅 nail polish
🤣 rolling on floor
😎 cool face
💕 two hearts
🤝 handshake
👍 thumbs up

What's growing

🥹 holding back tears, 🫶 heart hands, and 🩷 pink heart are the breakout emojis of the year. 💀 has officially replaced 😂 in Gen Z chats.

What's fading

😆 grinning squinting, 😋 yum face, and 🙃 upside down are quietly losing usage.

New to watch

🫨 shaking face, 🪿 goose, 🪼 jellyfish and 🪻 hyacinth are gaining traction.

Copy from our most-used emojis page or browse all emojis.

How "most used" is actually measured

Every year Unicode publishes the emoji-frequency rankings based on a sample of public Twitter / X posts. Those rankings underestimate private use (DMs, WhatsApp, iMessage are invisible) and overweight reaction emojis. The list below blends Unicode's public data with what's visible across TikTok captions, Instagram captions, and YouTube comments in 2026 — which is closer to how creators experience emoji frequency on the ground.

The 2026 top ten

😭 — Loudly Crying Face. Functioning as the universal "this is too much" emoji, used for funny, sad, and overwhelmed contexts.
❤️ — Red Heart. Still the default love emoji and the most-sent emoji in private chats.
💀 — Skull. The Gen Z laugh emoji that replaced 😂 around 2019 and has held the position since.
🥹 — Face Holding Back Tears. The "I'm getting emotional" emoji that exploded post-pandemic.
🤍 — White Heart. The aesthetic-default heart of the 2020s.
✨ — Sparkles. Still the universal "make it special" accent.
🫶 — Heart Hands. Replaced 🙏 for casual gratitude across most under-30 contexts.
🔥 — Fire. Still the dominant "this is great" emoji.
😂 — Face with Tears of Joy. Slipping but still top 10 because older users keep it on top.
🥺 — Pleading Face. The soft-emotional emoji of the decade.

What dropped out since 2020

👍 (Thumbs Up) was a top-five emoji in 2020 and is now read as passive-aggressive by many Gen Z users — a curt acknowledgement rather than a positive signal. 🙏 (Folded Hands) was a top-ten in 2019 and has been largely replaced by 🫶. 😍 (Smiling Face with Heart Eyes) has fallen because it now reads as overdone — replaced by 🥹, 🥰, and the heart hands. 🤣 (Rolling on the Floor Laughing) was once paired with 😂 and is now mostly a millennial signal.

What rose since 2020

🥹 didn't exist in 2020 (added in Unicode 14, late 2021) and is now top five. 🤍 was niche aesthetic and is now mainstream. 🫶 was niche and is now top ten. 🩷 (added 2022) is rising fast. 🫩 (Face with Bags Under Eyes, Unicode 16) is on a steep climb in late 2026.

Regional differences

The "most used" picture varies dramatically by language. Japanese users heavily favor 🙏, 😊, and ✨ over 😭 and 💀. Spanish-speaking users use 🤣 and 😍 at higher rates than English speakers. Arabic users use ❤️ and 🌹 at much higher rates than the global average. The top-ten list above is closest to English-speaking US / UK / AU / CA internet use.

The most-sent vs. most-public split

Privately, ❤️ dominates everywhere — it's the default acknowledgement emoji in iMessage and WhatsApp. Publicly, 😭 and 💀 lead because they perform reactions, which is what social media rewards. Knowing the split helps you choose: ❤️ feels warm in a DM and generic in a caption; 💀 feels funny in a caption and confusing in a DM.

What's likely to rise in 2027

Watch 🫩 (Face with Bags Under Eyes), 🫨 (Shaking Face), and 🩵 (Light Blue Heart). All three are in the early-adoption phase, with TikTok comments and Twitter/X power users driving them mainstream. By the end of 2027, expect at least one of them in the top fifteen.

Emojis that never made it big

Some emojis were predicted to take off and quietly didn't. 🪩 (Disco Ball) had a 2022 moment and faded. 🪿 (Goose) became a meme without becoming a mainstream emoji. 🫥 (Dotted Line Face) is widely loved but rarely sent. 🪷 (Lotus) is beautiful and barely used. Predictability of emoji adoption is low — the ones that work are the ones that fill an unmet emotional slot.

The most-used emoji in private chat (probably)

Apple has never published iMessage emoji stats, but multiple third-party surveys consistently put ❤️ at the top, followed by 😂, 😭, and 👍. The gap between public (😭/💀) and private (❤️/😂) frequencies is one of the more interesting facts about how emojis really work — public emojis perform, private emojis comfort.