The year 2025 has been filled with cultural absurdities.
Toothy plush dolls became one of the hottest and most elusive collectibles. A fiery feud between two rappers boiled over at the Super Bowl. And a viral cheating scandal between a boss and his employee became the biggest meme of the year.
Here’s a full look at NBC News’ list of the biggest cultural moments of 2025.
Winter
The TikTok ban that never actually happened
After months of anticipation for the day U.S. users would lose access to TikTok, a nationwide ban of the app — which was supposed to take effect in January — puttered out as neither President Joe Biden nor President Donald Trump expressed interest in enforcing the new law. U.S. users anxiously rushed to join other platforms, including the Chinese-owned RedNote, in protest, but Trump repeatedly delayed the ban until he finally struck a deal in September to transfer majority ownership of TikTok to Americans.
Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl halftime show turns heads
Fresh off of winning five Grammy Awards for his Drake diss track “Not Like Us,” Lamar rapper headlined the Super Bowl halftime show in a performance that averaged 133.5 million views (the most-watched Super Bowl halftime ever recorded). Samuel L. Jackson, dressed as Uncle Sam, narrated the show, which featured a cameo from Serena Williams and appearances from SZA and DJ Mustard. Lamar’s Super Bowl rendition of “Not Like Us,” performed to a loudly singing crowd, escalated Drake’s lawsuit against Universal Music Group for its promotion of the song. But in October, a federal judge dismissed Drake’s defamation suit against the record label, marking the legal culmination of a prolific feud between the two that spanned much of 2024 and part of 2025.
Spring
Labubu craze takes the world by storm
A toothy plush doll that many have described as creepy, or even slightly ugly, ignited the biggest collectible craze of the year. Labubus, which come in blind boxes sold by Pop Mart, were so quickly sold out that a lucrative market for resold Labubus — and even fakes, known as Lafufus — thrived this year. A life-size Labubu sold for more than $170,000 in China, and Labubu heists have even gotten local police involved in California.
Celebs (briefly) go to space
Katy Perry and “CBS Mornings” co-host Gayle King were among a handful of public figures sent to space in a brief but high-profile flight aboard Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket and capsule. Also part of the all-female crew were: Lauren Sánchez, a former journalist who married Jeff Bezos this year; Aisha Bowe, a former NASA rocket scientist; Amanda Nguyen, a bioastronautics research scientist; and Kerianne Flynn, a movie producer. The female-only spaceflight was the first since 1963, when Valentina Tereshkova of the former Soviet Union became the first woman in space. The flight led to some viral moments, including a meme of Perry holding up a daisy and singing “What a Wonderful World.”
Summer
The explosion of ‘Kpop Demon Hunters’
Saja Boys and HUNTR/X, two fictional groups from the animated film “KPop Demon Hunters,” became global superstars this year. The movie, which was produced by Sony Pictures Animation and released by Netflix, has spawned a massive global fan base, with many fans even dressing up as the group members for Halloween this year. The songs “Your Idol” and “Golden” topped the music charts for months and received several Grammy and Golden Globes nominations. “KPop Demon Hunters,” which Netflix has said is its most-watched movie of all time, was also recently named one of the 35 films eligible for the animated feature film category at the 98th Academy Awards.
Sydney Sweeney becomes cultural flash point
An ad for the clothing brand American Eagle became one of the biggest controversies of the year after it touted actor Sydney Sweeney’s “great jeans” in a denim-focused fall campaign. Many online accused the brand of promoting eugenics via perceived racial undertones in the ad’s messaging, while others on the right lauded the campaign as a blow to “wokeness.” The ad even drew the attention of Trump, who called it “the ‘HOTTEST’ ad out there.” It became one of several instances when Sweeney became a lightning rod for online discourse. In an interview with People magazine published earlier this month, Sweeney, 28, addressed the ad, saying ““I’m against hate and divisiveness. In the past my stance has been to never respond to negative or positive press but recently I have come to realize that my silence regarding this issue has only widened the divide, not closed it.”
Parasocial relationships officially go too far
Fans have long formed parasocial relationships with celebrities and fictional characters. But this year’s online discourse became so toxic that two of the biggest shows of the year — “Love Island USA” and “The Summer I Turned Pretty” — issued anti-bullying PSAs to their fandoms. Still, internet sleuths continued to harass “Love Island USA” contestants for their on-screen behavior, and many turned their grievances with “TSITP” characters into vitriol for the actors who portray them.
Kiss cam cheating scandal shocks the internet
It was a viral moment now memorialized in memes, think pieces and Halloween costumes. At a Coldplay concert in July, a married CEO was spotted embracing his chief people officer. When the kiss cam landed on them, the pair immediately hid their faces — prompting lead singer Chris Martin to speculate that they were having an affair. The scandal, which became an overnight sensation, led both the CEO, Andy Byron, and the HR chief, Kristin Cabot, to resign from the data company Astronomer.
Fall
Taylor Swift enters her fiancée/showgirl era
Swift released “The Life of a Showgirl,” her 12th studio album, in October. The 14-time Grammy winner reunited with Swedish producers Max Martin and Shellback for the album, which featured a dozen tracks. There are several playful, upbeat songs on the album, as well as some lyrics that appear to refer to Travis Kelce, the Kansas City Chiefs tight end. Kelce this year also gave Swift a fairy-tale ending to their love story with a garden proposal (and a massive diamond ring) that made Swifties collectively freak out.
Jimmy Kimmel’s suspension stokes free speech concerns
ABC shocked viewers by taking “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” off the air after Kimmel stoked conservative fury and public criticism from Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr for his jokes following the death of right-wing media personality Charlie Kirk. It was a move that sparked renewed free speech debates, with protesters gathering outside Disney’s studios and celebrities threatening to break ties. Within a week, Kimmel returned to the air to thunderous audience support. In his first episode back, he criticized Trump while also trying to smooth tensions around his comments about conservatives’ reaction to Kirk’s killing.
6-7 becomes part of the lingo
Gen Alpha’s lingo has entered the zeitgeist (again). This time, it’s two numbers — six and seven — that have become inescapable in either browsing the internet or talking to younger people. The phrase is often said accompanied by a double hand gesture that looks like a person is weighing two options. The lingo, like many things Gen Alpha says, comes from the internet. As Today.com noted in its explainer this year, six seven “doesn’t mean anything, which means that it can mean everything.” Teachers have started banning the slang in their classrooms, and In-N-Out Burger reportedly removed the number “67” from its ticket order system amid the viral trend.
