Below is a collection of the most popular posters of 2016. You can click on each image to view it in higher resolution.
Most of these are quite large and look nice in a frame. You can buy them as prints, canvas wraps or posters.
The list was compiled by Poster Spy, who also offer high quality prints of some of these posters.
Poster Spy is one of the largest online directories of movie, TV and video game movie art, posters and collectibles. They sell many kinds of movie memorabilia at print quality level and above – including limited edition movie posters from the 1960s to today.
The Most Popular Posters of 2016:
The Most Popular Posters of 2015: The 10 Most Collected Movie Posters Of 2015
The most popular posters of 2016 has been released, with the Grand Theft Auto V map taking the top spot in the list. Picking up from last year’s No.1 Star Wars: The Force Awakens, it seems that this year’s trend is a return to the retro, as abstract and minimalist posters take up half of the list.
The list was compiled from data gathered by print-on-demand service Redbubble, who spotted the top five most popular images based on sales and page views.
While GTA V may be one of the highest grossing games in recent years, it is not surprising to see that it has made its way into the art world. It has a huge following of gamers who are incredibly devoted to the series and no doubt have been looking for alternative ways to display their passion.
The second place spot went to an image based on Studio Ghibli’s animated film Spirited Away, while third place was occupied by a graphic design made with only numbers 0 through 9.
There is something incredibly satisfying about seeing a really good work of art on a street corner, or in the window of a shop. Art museums may be fun, and they’re certainly important, but they’re also intimidating. The size of the place, the strictness of the guards, the sheer number of works you could spend all day looking at—it’s all rather overwhelming.
The street, on the other hand… Well, it’s just lower pressure. There are no velvet ropes and no security guards, and there’s usually no charge to get in. There are often fewer people around to ask if you know what you’re doing, too. And perhaps most importantly: When you look at a work in a museum you have to admire it for its own sake; when you see it in the wild, you can admire it because it made you laugh or cry or think about things in a new way. It doesn’t necessarily have to have any artistic merit whatsoever. It just has to be interesting.
Which brings us to this list of 2016’s most popular posters among readers here at mental_floss HQ.* The posters below were mentioned more than any others in Slack chats and email chains; they were pinned by our staff on Pinterest (and then subsequently emailed around);
As reported by The Atlantic , the most popular posters of 2016 have some interesting, albeit discouraging, messages.
Challenging stereotypes with humor, these posters are designed to encourage a more inclusive and diverse community, but may possibly be reinforcing the very stereotypes they’re attempting to dispel. While these posters were created with good intentions, the cultural implications of doing so are still worth thinking about. I’ll let you interpret the meanings behind these posters for yourselves.
What do you think about this list? Are these posters promoting diversity or perpetuating stereotypes? What would you change about them?
This is the second year we’ve done this post, and it’s fun to see how things have changed.
Last year we had a hard time narrowing the list down to just 50 posters, and now we’re up to 90. There are a bunch of new artists on there too. But some trends remain: The majority of these were sold through Mondo, and most were released at Comic-Con. Most posters did sell out. The average cost was still $50 for a one-sheet, but there are more $100+ posters on the list than last year. And more than ever before, people went nuts for exclusives: Only 5 of the 90 posters listed here were not released as exclusives.
We’d also like to thank everyone who voted in our poll to help us select the winners. The results are below.
Mondo is running a sale right now that will end later today (in fact, it ends an hour or so after this post goes live). You can save up to 40% on their entire stock of posters right now with the code POSTER40 . Here’s a random selection of some of their best stuff:
Visit MondoTees here
What makes a piece of art popular? The topic, the artist, the mood, the medium—or is there a formula? We decided to find out. We looked at the most liked and shared posters on CanvasPop in 2016 (so far) and analyzed what made them successful. Some were funny, some were thought-provoking, some were just plain beautiful; but we started noticing themes.
Here are the 10 most popular prints of 2016 so far.*
We’ve added commentary to help you figure out which qualities your own art can borrow.
Light leaks might be the most popular photography trend of 2016.