Skype launched in 2003 and became the default way people made internet calls, with its chirpy ringtone baked into a decade of online culture. After Microsoft acquired Skype in 2011, the sound became a fixture of offices, streams and early YouTube videos. Bass boosted remixes of it began circulating online in the mid-2010s, riding the wave of distorted meme audio that turned every familiar notification into a joke. It remains popular because almost everyone recognises the ringtone, and the exaggerated low end turns a polite chime into a meme in its own right.