Aachen, a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, emerges victorious in a heated social media competition.
The cities of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) have shown a surprising potential in the world of memes, extending far beyond the digital realm. This was evident in the recent "Meme Duel" competition launched by 1LIVE and Lokalzeit, where local businesses in Aachen, such as a supermarket chain and a nightclub, even offered incentives for the win.
The competition saw seven meme accounts from NRW participating this month, including @koelschking, @kurti.corleone, @kiki_van_dre, @mimi_klarks, @die_bonuse, @hugo_koeln, and @eye_of_ruhr. Aachen was represented by "ACbushofmemes", with nearly 100,000 subscribers and a publisher who has been active for five years.
The event, which took place on Instagram, saw thousands of fans participating in commenting on the Meme Duel for hours. Essen reached 21 million comments, but after adjusting for the number of followers, Aachen won the overall competition with over 16 million comments in just 48 hours.
Voting took place on Instagram, with comments being counted within 48 hours relative to the number of followers. The numbers suggest that both posts may have reached record values, potentially unmatched in Germany and globally. However, confirmation from Instagram's parent company, Meta, is still pending regarding these record values.
The Meme Duel is expected to bring immense attention to the participating cities and their meme accounts. A trophy presentation is planned for Monday with 1LIVE and Lokalzeit. Our website reporters, 1LIVE, and the host of "ACbushofmemes" were sources for this article. This article will also be reported on the radio on 08.09.2025 on our website 2, Rhineland.
Comment parties took place during the competition, with the host of "ACbushofmemes" coordinating the action from vacation and remaining proud of the achievement. The success of the Meme Duel competition in NRW underscores the power of memes as a tool for community engagement and local promotion.
