Unicode Emoji 13.0 added 117 emoji in 2020.
The total included 62 new emoji characters and 55 gender and skin-tone variants. The release expanded representation with additions such as Smiling Face with Tear, Ninja, Anatomical Heart, Polar Bear, and Bubble Tea.
Emoji 13.0 was published alongside Unicode 13.0. Although people often describe every addition simply as a “new emoji,” Unicode counts both standalone characters and certain variation or gender sequences in its headline total.
This release was followed by Emoji 13.1, which added 217 emoji in 2020 through new sequences rather than a full Unicode character release. That distinction explains why figures for nearby emoji releases can look unusually different.