Some people choose popular tattoos and some unique ones. It all depends on whether you're a 'follow the crowd' type or a stand out in a crowd type. Nevertheless, there are certain tattoos every year that by sheer quantity remain most popular.

You may be able to guess which ones they are if you're into tattoos and keep up on what's what. As it stands right now most people choose by popularity. I have a 17 year old niece who does tattoos on kids in the neighborhood. She tells me the first thing they ask is, "What are the others getting?"

Let me say this for those of you who are wondering how/why a 17 year old girl is giving underage kids tattoos. This is the deal. The kid's want the tattoos and their parents won't give permission so they go to my niece who is too immature to care about what parents say.

Now, getting back to our topic which is popular tattoos and why they're popular. The main reason is because most people are followers. They don't want to stand out, but instead fit in and or compare their popular tattoos.

Yes, it's a show me yours and I'll show you mine kind of a thing. They compare their stars, crosses, hearts, butterflies, skulls, animals, flowers and angels. All of these have been on the most popular tattoos list for years now.

Another reason they're chosen is simply because there are more designs to choose from. For example, if you want a tattoo of a star, which is one of the most popular tattoos, you will find hundreds to choose from. Whereas, if you want a tattoo of a Chinese panda bear how many designs do you think you will see? I know it's a lame example, but you get the idea.

Until there are more people who want to stand out in the crowd and more designs to choose from that are unique these popular tattoos will remain on top.