About
Accent Challenge is a social game in which TikTokers read off various words to show off their accent. Though the similar “accent tag” YouTube trend began in 2010, the Accent Challenge began in 2018 and gained increased popularity in late June 2020 when TikTokers began making parodies of the original challenge by reading off the words in a comical way.
Origin
On December 22nd, 2019, TikToker queenlauren.micheali uploaded the earliest known Accent Challenge video featuring a list of words that are read off in a British accent (shown below).
Precursor
In 2010, many YouTubers began doing games of Accent Tag where they would read off a series of words. On June 28th, 2010 YouTuber ChiTownRattler uploaded the earliest known Accent Tag video “TAG: How Do You Say These Words (Chicago ‘Blaccent’)” (shown below). The video garnered over 33,700 views in ten years.
Spread
On January 17th, 2020, YouTuber Simba Channel uploaded “Accent Challenge TikTok Compilation 2019 #AccentChallenge” (shown below). The video features a series of TikToks with people simply reading off words.
On March 25th, TikToker iskra uploaded a popular video using the #accentchallenge hashtag which received over 4.5 million likes in four months (shown below, left). On June 30th, TikToker frankiewitt640 uploaded a parody video of the Accent Challenge which accumulated over 910,100 likes in 10 days (shown below, center). On July 5th, TikToker the_maclad uploaded a video where he reads off words in a Carl Wheezer voice (shown below, right). The video gained over 545,800 likes in four days. Distractify, HITC and StayHipp published articles on the parody trends.
Various Examples
Search Interest
Know Your Meme Store
External References
Source: https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/accent-challenge