We now know the 10 most popular emoji for the first time ever

• The Unicode Consortium released a list of the most frequently used emoji for the first time ever.
• �� and ❤️ topped the list.
• Unicode uses frequency to determine which emoji categories to focus on in the future.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

The Unicode Consortium has released the most popularly used emoji for the first time ever.

The Unicode Consortium sets the international standards for characters, including emoji, across software platforms, and it uses frequency as one factor to determine which emoji make the cut.

The Consortium said that it is publishing this data in part to help people who are proposing new emoji. Frequently used emoji impact what categories and types of emoji the Consortium accepts, it said.

Read more: Here's every single new emoji we're getting this year

For this list, Unicode said its rankings were based on "median frequency across multiple sources." Characters that come with varying skin tones and genders were counted together, and newer emoji didn't rank highly since they take time to roll out to every platform.

Check out the top 10 most frequently used emoji, and see how your own list compares.