The loudly crying face drew roughly 814 million social-media mentions between January 1 and December 15, 2025, making it the single most-used emoji on the internet that year (Meltwater, Top Emojis of 2025). That one pictograph outran every rival on X, Reddit and much of TikTok, yet it does not even top the oldest ranking in the field: Unicode’s own frequency table still seats Face with Tears of Joy in its highest tier, a position it has held for more than a decade. The catalog those emoji live in reached 3,953 characters as of September 9, 2025 (Emojipedia; Unicode Consortium), and Emoji 17.0 is about to push it toward 4,000. Meanwhile the business case is measurable: Experian recorded 56% of brands lifting unique open rates with emoji subject lines (Campaign Monitor, citing Experian), and Slack found 9,400 hybrid workers overwhelmingly treat emoji as a speed and nuance tool at work (Slack, 2022). This analysis consolidates data from the Unicode Consortium, Emojipedia, Adobe, Meltwater, and 8 other primary sources spanning 2021 through 2026.
TL;DR
- The loudly crying face was the most-used emoji on social media in 2025, at ~814 million mentions (Meltwater, Top Emojis of 2025).
- The Unicode Standard held 3,953 emoji as of September 9, 2025 (Emojipedia; Unicode Consortium).
- Emoji 17.0 (2025) adds 164 emoji but only 9 entirely new designs (Statista; Unicode Consortium).
- New-emoji output swung from 118 in 2024 to a record-low 8 in 2025 (Statista, 2025).
- On Buffer’s network, sparkles led 2025, used by 207,768 accounts (Buffer, Most Popular Emojis 2025).
- 58% of workers say emoji add nuance with fewer words; 54% say emoji speed up communication (Slack, 2022).
- 68% of US users like emoji at work and 69% say emoji boost likability (Adobe, 2022 US Emoji Trend Report).
- 50% of people use emoji differently than their literal meaning (Adobe, 2022).
- 56% of brands saw higher unique open rates using emoji in email subject lines (Campaign Monitor, citing Experian).
- More than 1,000 US court cases have referenced emoji or emoticons through 2023, up from 25 in 2016 (Eric Goldman, Santa Clara University).
- Emojipedia named the face with bags under eyes the most popular new emoji of 2025 (Emojipedia).
1. The Emoji Catalog: How Many Exist and How Fast It Grows
The supply of emoji is large but no longer expanding smoothly. The Unicode Standard held 3,953 emoji as of September 9, 2025, and the annual output has become erratic: 118 new characters landed in 2024, then just 8 in 2025, an all-time low, per Statista’s emoji timeline. Most of the volatility comes from how skin-tone and gender variants are counted, not from a surge of genuinely new ideas. Emoji 17.0, announced by Unicode on World Emoji Day 2025, bundles 164 additions but only nine wholly new designs.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Emoji in the Unicode Standard (Sept 9, 2025) | 3,953 | Emojipedia / Unicode Consortium |
| New emoji in Emoji 17.0 (2025) | 164 total, 9 entirely new designs | Statista / Unicode Consortium |
| New emoji released in 2024 | 118 | Statista |
| New emoji released in 2023 | 31 | Statista |
| New emoji released in 2022 | 112 | Statista |
| New emoji released in 2025 | 8 (record low) | Statista |
| Original Japanese emoji set (Shigetaka Kurita, 1999) | 176 pictograms | Statista |
| Emoji sent per day on Messenger (2017, flagged stale) | 5 billion | Facebook via Emojipedia |
Note: Emojipedia counts Emoji 17.0 as 163 new entries (8 new base concepts plus 155 sequences); Statista frames the same release as 164 additions with 9 new designs. The Messenger figure is the most recent public per-platform daily count and dates to 2017.
2. The Most-Used Emoji: Two Rankings That Disagree
There is no single “top emoji,” because the leading measurements count different behavior. Unicode’s frequency table, built from messaging data, keeps Face with Tears of Joy in its top tier, while Emojipedia’s Emojitracker ranks the red heart as the number-one copied emoji across countries. A third lens, social-media mention volume, crowns the loudly crying face. Reading all three together is the honest way to answer “what is most popular,” because copy events, sends and public mentions capture different moments of use.
| Emoji | Ranking signal | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Face with Tears of Joy | Highest median frequency, Unicode top tier | Unicode Consortium |
| Red Heart | Unicode second tier; No. 1 on Emojitracker globally | Unicode / Emojipedia |
| Check Mark, Fire, Sparkles | Emojitracker global positions 2 through 4 | Emojipedia |
| Skull | Top six on Emojitracker (US) | Emojipedia |
| Sparkles | No. 1 on Buffer’s publishing network | Buffer |
| Loudly Crying Face | Top five in the US; No. 1 by social mentions | Meltwater |
Context: Unicode does not publish exact percentages; its frequency page groups emoji into tiers relative to the leader, so ranks are ordinal, not precise shares.
3. Emoji on Social Media in 2025
Platform culture, not a universal favorite, decides which emoji wins. The loudly crying face topped X with a 25.4% share of voice and led social media overall at ~814 million mentions, yet Facebook stayed loyal to Face with Tears of Joy at 47.1% (Meltwater, Top Emojis of 2025). Buffer’s separate look at what creators actually publish tells a different story again, led by sparkles, a sign that broadcast posting and reactive commenting pull toward different symbols. For the wider platform picture behind these numbers, see our social media statistics roundup.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Most-used emoji on social media, 2025 | Loudly crying face, ~814M mentions | Meltwater |
| Facebook top emoji (share of voice) | Face with Tears of Joy 47.1%; Red Heart 23.1% | Meltwater |
| X top emoji (share of voice) | Loudly crying face 25.4%; Fire 22% | Meltwater |
| YouTube / Twitch top emoji | Red Heart ~34% SOV; Fire 32.2% SOV | Meltwater |
| Most-used emoji on Buffer’s network, 2025 | Sparkles, 207,768 accounts (57.7% ahead of No. 2) | Buffer |
| Buffer No. 2 and No. 3 | Pointing hand 131,783; Fire 125,665 | Buffer |
Outlier: on Meltwater’s data the loudly crying face drew 452 million mentions from female users, with 74% of all its use coming from the 18-to-24 age group.
4. Emoji Around the World
Geography reshapes the leaderboard. Face with Tears of Joy tops the US, UK, Canada, Nigeria and Ghana, while the loudly crying face leads South Africa, Indonesia, the Philippines and Japan, and fire wins India (Meltwater, Top Emojis of 2025). Emojipedia’s copy-based Emojitracker, by contrast, shows the red heart as the steady global No. 1, a reminder that “most popular” depends on whether you count laughs on a feed or hearts pulled from a picker. Regional messaging habits, heavily shaped by WhatsApp’s global footprint, drive much of this variation.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Top emoji in US, UK, Canada, Nigeria, Ghana | Face with Tears of Joy | Meltwater |
| Top emoji in India | Fire | Meltwater |
| Top emoji in South Africa, Indonesia, Philippines, Japan | Loudly crying face | Meltwater |
| No. 1 emoji across countries (copy events) | Red Heart | Emojipedia (Emojitracker) |
| US top six, 2025 | Red Heart, Check Mark, Fire, Sparkles, Loudly crying face, Skull | Emojipedia / MacRumors |
Context: Japan, the birthplace of emoji, still favors distinctive symbols such as the bowing figure that rank far lower elsewhere, per Emojipedia’s country trackers.
5. Emoji at Work
In professional settings emoji function as an efficiency tool, not decoration. 58% of workers said emoji let them communicate more nuance with fewer words and 54% said emoji speed up workplace communication, in Slack and Duolingo’s survey of 9,400 hybrid workers. Adobe’s separate US study found broad acceptance of emoji at work alongside a clear hierarchy of who gets which symbol: people are far more guarded messaging a boss than a peer. The takeaway is that emoji at work carry real social rules, not just tone.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Say emoji add nuance with fewer words | 58% | Slack / Duolingo (2022) |
| Say emoji speed up workplace communication | 54% | Slack / Duolingo (2022) |
| US workers reporting emoji add nuance / speed | 69% / 67% | Slack / Duolingo (2022) |
| Include emoji when messaging colleagues | 53% | Slack / Duolingo (2022) |
| Never use emoji with their boss | 30% | Slack / Duolingo (2022) |
| US users who like emoji at work | 68% | Adobe (2022) |
| Say emoji positively affect likability | 69% | Adobe (2022) |
| Say emoji affect perceived credibility | 59% | Adobe (2022) |
Note: the Slack and Duolingo survey is from 2022 and remains the largest published cross-country workplace emoji study; treat it as the most recent available benchmark.
6. The Meaning Gap: Misreads, Generations and the Courtroom
Emoji ambiguity is not a fringe problem, and it now reaches the legal system. Half of users apply emoji differently than the literal meaning (Adobe, 2022), and more than 1,000 US court cases had referenced emoji or emoticons through 2023, up from just 25 in 2016 (Eric Goldman, Santa Clara University). Generational drift is the engine: younger workers report more misfires, and a UK survey flagged the once-safe thumbs-up as a marker of age. For how younger audiences rewrite these codes, see our Gen Z media statistics.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Use emoji differently than literal meaning | 50% | Adobe (2022) |
| Gen Z workers whose emoji was misunderstood | 31% | Slack / Duolingo (2022) |
| Millennials whose emoji was misunderstood | 24% | Slack / Duolingo (2022) |
| Unaware some emoji carry multiple meanings | 58% | Slack / Duolingo (2022) |
| UK adults who find the thumbs-up most annoying | 22% | Perspectus Global (2021) |
| US emoji/emoticon court cases through 2023 | More than 1,000 (25 in 2016; 225 in 2023) | Eric Goldman, Santa Clara University |
| Emoji cases where courts do not analyze the symbol | ~90% | Eric Goldman, Santa Clara University |
Outlier: Adobe reported that 32% of Gen Z respondents have ended a relationship using an emoji, and named the cowboy, cherries and upside-down face as the most misunderstood symbols. See the Perspectus Global “officially old” findings for the generational angle.
7. Emoji in Marketing: Open Rates and Push Notifications
The commercial data is real but conditional, rewarding restraint over volume. Leanplum testing lifted web-push open rates from 2.4% to 4.5%, an 85% gain, yet the same body of research shows one or two emoji beat three or more, which deliver diminishing returns (CleverTap benchmarks; Marketing Dive on Leanplum). On email, Experian’s often-cited figure is a modest edge, not a guarantee. Because push and in-app messaging drive most of this lift, the effect is tied to mobile app usage patterns.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Brands with higher unique open rate using emoji subject lines | 56% | Campaign Monitor, citing Experian |
| Web-push open rate, no emoji vs emoji | 2.4% to 4.5% (+85%) | Leanplum via CleverTap |
| Open-rate lift, 1-2 emoji vs 3+ emoji | 91% vs 17% | Leanplum / AppFollow (2026) |
| Push CTR uplift, business and finance apps | +128% | CleverTap benchmarks |
| New Year email open rate, plain vs champagne emoji | 18% to 22% | Experian via Campaign Monitor |
| Unique open / click lift with emoji (Swiftpage) | +29% open, +28% click | Swiftpage (Act!) via Campaign Monitor |
Note: the 56% Experian figure is widely cited but predates 2024; results are inconsistent, so roughly 44% of brands saw no gain or a decline, per the same reporting.
Summary: Emoji Usage by the Numbers
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Emoji in the Unicode Standard (Sept 9, 2025) | 3,953 | Emojipedia / Unicode Consortium |
| New emoji in Emoji 17.0 (2025) | 164 total, 9 entirely new | Statista / Unicode Consortium |
| New emoji in 2024 vs 2025 | 118 vs 8 | Statista |
| Most-used emoji on Buffer’s network, 2025 | Sparkles, 207,768 accounts | Buffer |
| No. 1 emoji across countries (Emojitracker) | Red Heart | Emojipedia |
| Facebook top emoji (SOV) | Face with Tears of Joy, 47.1% | Meltwater |
| Workers: emoji add nuance with fewer words | 58% | Slack / Duolingo (2022) |
| US users who like emoji at work | 68% | Adobe (2022) |
| Say emoji positively affect likability | 69% | Adobe (2022) |
| Use emoji differently than literal meaning | 50% | Adobe (2022) |
| UK adults who find the thumbs-up most annoying | 22% | Perspectus Global (2021) |
| Push CTR uplift, business and finance apps | +128% | CleverTap benchmarks |
| US emoji/emoticon court cases through 2023 | More than 1,000 | Eric Goldman, Santa Clara University |
| Brands with higher open rate, emoji subject lines | 56% | Campaign Monitor / Experian |
| Web-push open-rate lift with emoji | +85% (2.4% to 4.5%) | Leanplum via CleverTap |
| Most popular new emoji, 2025 and 2026 | Face with bags under eyes; distorted face | Emojipedia |
Methodology and Sources
Data was gathered by cross-referencing original reports, survey disclosures and frequency datasets published by emoji standards bodies, market-research firms and academic and marketing sources, prioritizing 2025-2026 releases and flagging older figures inline. Every statistic above was taken directly from the cited source during research for this article; where figures diverged between measurement methods, both are shown.
- Unicode Consortium - Emoji Frequency and Emoji 17.0 release, 2025
- Unicode blog - New Emoji Coming in Unicode 17.0, 2025
- Emojipedia - Emoji Statistics, Emojitracker and World Emoji Day 2025 data
- Emojipedia - The Most Popular New Emoji of 2026 and 2025 award posts
- Statista - Number of Emojis 1995 to 2026, 2025
- Adobe - 2022 US Emoji Trend Report (5,000 US users) and 2021 Global Emoji Trend Report (7,000 users, 7 countries)
- Slack and Duolingo - Emoji Use at Work survey (9,400 hybrid workers), 2022
- Meltwater - Top Emojis of 2025, social-media mention analysis
- Buffer - Most Popular Emojis 2025 (publishing-network data)
- Perspectus Global via JOE - survey of 2,000 UK respondents, 2021
- Campaign Monitor, citing Experian - emoji in email subject lines
- CleverTap and Marketing Dive - Leanplum push-notification benchmarks
- Eric Goldman, Santa Clara University - emoji law case census
- MacRumors - World Emoji Day 2025 US top emoji, reporting Emojipedia data
Data watch: Unicode publishes new emoji annually (Emoji 17.0 was approved in September 2025, with 18.0 expected in 2026); Emojipedia releases World Emoji Day rankings each July 17; Meltwater and Buffer publish year-end emoji roundups in December; Adobe’s Emoji Trend Report has not been refreshed since 2022, so those figures are the most recent available; Eric Goldman posts an annual emoji-law year-in-review each January.
Last updated: July 17, 2026.
We review and update this page quarterly as new data is published.