A more accurate response: 4 years, 4 months and 13 days. This duration was calculated from December 31, 2021 until today's date.
2021 was 4 years ago because we are now in 2026.
2021 was 52 months ago because we are now in May 2026. The math is simple: each year has 12 months, 4 x 12 = 48 and four months have passed since the beginning of 2026. So 48 + 4 = 52.
2021 was 227 weeks ago. The trick I like to use is to first calculate how many days have passed since 2021 and divide that number by 7 (days in a week). In short, 1594 / 7 = 227.71, but only the quotient is relevant here, 227.
2021 was 1594 days ago because today is May 14, 2026. This total comes from multiplying the number of years passed since 2021 (4) with the length of a standard year (365 days) for a base of 1460 days. Adding the 133 days that have passed in 2026 gives us 1593. However, we also must account for 1 leap year since 2021, which means 1593 + 1 = 1594.
As an academic exercise, it’s also possible to calculate how many hours passed since 2021. Given that we already know there are about 1594 days between then and now, we can multiply this number by 24 (the number of hours in a day) to get 38256 hours. Since it's currently 6:14 PM, we need to add the 18 hours that have passed since midnight to our subtotal of 38256. So 38256 + 18 = 38274, ergo 2021 was 38274 hours ago.
A lot happened in 2021. For a quick look at the most memorable events, here is the “The Year In Review 2021” cover from TIME Magazine.