Overwatch was the second-most trending tag for nearly a year on Tumblr, according to a trove of data released by the social media site today.
That put the game ahead of any TV show or film on Tumblr, and made it bigger than even generic tags like #GIF and #art. The next highest video game-related tag was #Pokemon, all the way down at number 20 on the list.
In total, the #Overwatch hashtag reached nearly 150 million engagements, according to Tumblr.
Tumblr analyzed “millions of posts from May 23, 2016 to May 18, 2017” as part of its “Fandometrics in Depth” series. The next highest video game-related tag was #Pokemon, all the way down at number 20 on the list. Overwatch is currently riding a 29-week streak as the No. 1 game term on the site.
Tumblr even highlighted the percentage of original posts by class in the game. Reaper was the most-posted offense hero, Junkrat was number one on defense, while D.Va was the most popular tank and Mercy was the most popular support. Orisa’s creator Efi Oladele was the most popular non-playable character.
Where Tumblr really thrives in the Overwatch community, however, is its “ships.”
“Ship” here is short for relationship, and it’s a slang term that refers when community members pair up heroes to be romantically involved. Sometimes it’s due to in-game interactions, like Pharah being pocket-boosted by a Mercy, or Roadhog and Junkrat because they’re always linked in a number of ways.
Other times, it’s just because people want it. The most popular ship, by a wide margin, is the pairing of McCree and Hanzo, lovingly dubbed as McHanzo. The above photo posted by Kozeni on Tumblr is just one of many, many examples.
McHanzo made up 35.03 percent of ship-related posts, more than double the next pair, Soldier: 76 and Reaper, also known as Reaper: 76. Another favorite that has been alluded to a few times in lore and in-game is Mercy and Genji, known as Gency.
Overwatch is on a 29-week streak at number one in Tumblr’s Fandometrics Video Games list. That’s broken a record that was previously set by Undertale, whose streak ended at just 21 weeks.
Tumblr is just one of the places on the Internet where Overwatch is obscenely popular. Did you know that it was the 11th-most searched term on PornHub in 2016?
With a fresh new batch of legendary skins for artists to imagine and do with what they please, it doesn’t look like Overwatch’s popularity on Tumblr (or PornHub) will be dulling anytime soon.
