The year of 2025 was chaotically good and bad. It had its ups and downs, so we decided to recap the major pop culture events that happened throughout this…interesting year.
January
We started the year off strong. On January 19, TikTok was briefly banned, and people were furious: specifically, influencers. The TikTok ban was driven by national security concerns over its Chinese parent app, ByteDance. However, the app only went offline for 12-14 hours until President Trump paused the enforcement of the sale-or-ban law, giving extensions while they discussed deals, later allowing the app to remain active.
February
This next month was a short one, as February brought controversy in the perceived political message in Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl halftime show. While he brought a ton of excitement and light to the stadium, people were still disappointed with the results.
March
The Labubu collection craze sparked a frenzy on social media.
April
Katy Perry’s flight to space was a hot topic, as was the…6-7 trend.
May
The Met Gala’s theme was “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style”. The global girl group KATSEYE continued growing in popularity, especially on social media.
June
The movie “KPop Demon Hunters ” was released on Netflix and took the internet by storm. Many people were doing the dances as the songs “Golden”, “Your Idol”, and “Soda Pop” immediately hit the top charts on music platforms. The movie stayed in the top ten, as a sing-along movie came out shortly after the original.
The popular K-pop boy group BTS reunited after their mandatory service in the South Korean military, and they planned their big comeback with a new album, “Airang”, releasing in March of 2026.
July
July brought us the viral Coldplay kiss cam scandal, and tragically, July 4 had severe flash flooding in Texas at Camp Mystic. 135 people were recorded deceased due to the destructive and deadly flood caused by the water levels along the Guadalupe River rising rapidly.
August
In August, Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce got engaged, “The Summer I Turned Pretty” went viral, with everyone picking sides: Team Conrad or Team Jeremiah.
September
Controversy followed the suspension of Jimmy Kimmel’s show, and famous Italian fashion designer Giorgio Armani passed away.
October
Taylor Swift released the record-breaking album “The Life of a Showgirl” and the Louvre Heist sparked conspiracy theories and speculation.
November
Wicked: For Good hit theaters, along with Zootopia 2, later in the month. The final season of the popular show, “Stranger Things”, began airing.
December
Not much happened in the pop culture world, but ”slop” was named word of the year by Merriam-Webster. Australia banned social media for ages 16 and under.
And that brings 2025 to an end!