Marking the end of the quarter century, 2025 was a year full of changes, innovations, and often unanticipated trends. Despite seemingly constant global turmoil, an appreciation for online brain rot, and trending items united the world. Here is a highlight reel of some of the trends that made 2025 one for the books.
Tiktok Trends
‘6-7’
How could any trend wrap-up for 2025 omit the most ubiquitous numbers of the year? The virtually meaningless saying exploded on social media early in the year alongside its signature accompanying hand gesture of an alternating up and down movement. The saying propagated mainly among Generation Alpha, who are children born on or around the year 2013. It definitely indicates a widening generational divide between the constantly online Gen Alpha and older generations as they establish slang and jokes that confuse those who don’t belong to the age group. It became so widespread that it transcended language barriers, with children being able to communicate by doing the hand gesture and saying “6-7” to each other. It was even named Dictionary.com’s word of the year for 2025, if that says anything about how popular it became.
The Louvre Heist
On Oct. 19, thieves disguised themselves as construction workers and used a truck mounted ladder and chainsaws to break into the Louvre’s Galerie d’Apollon exhibit hall. They stole eight pieces of the French crown jewels, valued at approximately $88 million euros. Videos from social media users followed almost immediately, clowning the ease and unsophisticated theft from one of the most renowned and presumed secure museums in the world. Though a crown from the stolen items was later discovered damaged, the rest of the items have yet to be found.
Labubus
A Labubu is a fluffy, cute, stuffed monster bag charm sold by Chinese toy company Pop Mart, known for their “blind box” toys and collectibles. Labubus first appeared on the designer bags of celebrities, making them synonymous with the aura of exclusivity that high-end items elicit. The dolls sold out on Pop Mart multiple times, skyrocketing prices and creating a thriving resale market. Quite a few fakes also appeared, for which the term “Lafufu” was coined to describe the uncanny false versions of the toy.
Beauty/Fashion
Rhode Skincare
Hailey Bieber sold her skincare and beauty makeup line, Rhode, to E.l.f. makeup for $1 billion in 2025, marking one of the most major deals in the modern beauty space. The company, founded in 2022, has recently expanded to being stocked at Sephora, with its initial drop selling out in days. The brand has reached a top tier status in the beauty world, with new drops of makeup products expected for 2026. The use of minimalism in Rhode’s branding and the aura of exclusivity curated around each product release seemingly left the whole internet tuned in to what was next.
Country Chic
Beyoncé embarked on her “Cowboy Carter” tour after the album debuted in 2024, renewing the momentum of her award winning music. It also sent Western wear and Cowboy chic clothing into worldwide popularity. Texan garb popped up in countries such as Italy, forming the new “Texani” aesthetic that blends European sophistication with cowboy boots and other traditionally American southern pieces. It marked how previously separated aesthetics are now merging in a show of cross cultural fashion progression — and how Europeans are influenced by American fashion, and vice versa.
Denim
Denim cemented its comeback in 2025, with classic jeans styles like skinny jeans and the ‘90s straight jeans showing up across clothing stores and designer brands. Relaxed outfits also rose in popularity, such as wide leg and barrel leg jeans becoming more widespread than a skinny jean, which has long held one of the top spots in most worn jean styles. With the return of the iconic 2000s low-rise jeans and new takes on denim, such as leopard print and fun colors other than blue, denim cemented itself even further as a staple of everyday fashion.
Books/Music
“Sunrise on the Reaping”
Suzanne Collins released the fifth Hunger Games book this year, a prequel following the beloved Haymitch during his time in the games. What followed was a flurry of online praise, which only amped up when the official Hunger Games TikTok account started posting anticipated casting announcements, revealing a star-studded cast with the likes of Elle Fanning, Billy Porter, and Glenn Close. The movie is set to release on Nov. 20, 2026.
TikTokers becoming Musicians
2025 was the year that saw a “TikToker to Musician” pipeline become all too present: artists such as Addison Rae and Alex Warren released their debut albums to widespread acclaim and popularity. Rae’s album in particular, alongside her worldwide tour, gained massive online fame as fans of the Tiktok personality shifted to being fans of her music. Alex Warren began his music journey with “Carry You Home” in 2024, but 2025 saw the release of his first album and a performance of his at the Video Music Awards. The two artists showed how TikTok and social media as a whole is becoming even more instrumental in shaping the modern music industry.
KATSEYE
The band’s formation was detailed in the Netflix documentary series, “Popstar Academy,” but it was their collaboration with GAP on an ad campaign featuring the company’s new line of jeans that cemented their fame. The six-person girl group embarked on their debut tour, “Beautiful Chaos” in July, selling out show after show. The band is the first to integrate K-Pop band formation techniques, like the training camp model, into the creation of a girl group that featured members from around the world. The band members have a carefully curated online presence and public image, a practice also taken from K-Pop’s idol culture. They will continue their tour in 2026.
TV/Film
“The Summer I Turned Pretty” ends
The final season of the hit teen summer show hit Amazon Prime in July, and the internet was abuzz. Between the outlandish plot events and the endless yearning of main character Conrad, played by Christopher Briney, fans devoured every episode until the finale ended the TV series on Sept. 17. This season had both new fans and old fans making reaction videos on TikTok, allowing creators to share their reactions to the show with their audience, which made it even more popular. The author of the book series the show is based on, Jenny Han, confirmed that the story will continue with a new movie.
“Wicked: For Good”
The highly anticipated second installment of the “Wicked” film adaptation was released on Nov. 21. Though it received mixed reviews from critics at first, fans were taken in by its highly emotional and touching ending, often leaving theaters in tears. The press tour was just as memorable as the tour for the first film, with fans noting the close relationship between leads Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande. The film’s leads performed the show’s beloved songs during the special “Wicked: One Wonderful Night” that aired on NBC on Nov. 6 in anticipation for the film.
“Heated Rivalry”
In late 2025, the Canadian streaming service Crave released a six-episode series based on the romance novel “Heated Rivalry” by Rachel Reid, never expecting that it would soon become a worldwide phenomenon. It introduced the world to relatively unknown actors Connor Storrie and Hudson Williams, who have since seen their fame skyrocket and result in appearances on late night shows. A second season of the show has been confirmed to release in 2027.
Despite being a massively turbulent year, 2025 made strides across the cultural landscape. Stuffed bag charms, gay hockey players, and being changed “for good.” Here’s to a new year, and all the unexpected trends it will undoubtedly bring.
