Venmo's most used emoji of 2021 isn't what you'd expect

For Venmo users who want to keep their transaction descriptions secret – or just a little cheeky – emoji are the way to go. In 2021, one emoji ruled Venmo descriptions far and wide. Drum roll, please...

According to Quartz, the most used emoji on Venmo this year was ❤️.

This may come as a surprise, as the ❤️ ranks number two on the global list of most used emoji in 2021, coming after 😂. And what's ❤️ supposed to convey when it comes to payment descriptions, anyways? Perhaps it's just vague enough to keep Venmo users on their toes.

Rounding out the top five most popular emoji on Venmo in 2021 are 💸, 🍕, 🏠, and 🎁, which makes a lot more sense as those are presumably meant to represent cash, pizza parties, rent bills, and gifts. Interestingly, these emoji ranked much lower on the global usage chart, coming in at 233rd, 208th, 209th, and 91st, respectively. The globally loved 😂 loses much of its popularity on Venmo, where it ranks at 73rd.

Quartz also examined emoji combinations and the most popular emoji used during each month of the year, and found these tended to correlate with major holidays and events. Notably, October's most popular Venmo emoji were 🎃 👻, correlating with Halloween, while February's were 🍪 ❄️, correlating with peak Girl Scout cookie sales. Who needs Valentine's Day, anyways?!

It's important to note that the study could only evaluate emoji used in public transactions on Venmo, so there could be a whole host of private emoji we don't even know about. We'll just have to wonder what emoji reigns supreme in those deep, dark, probably NSFW lands... shudder!