Looking back at 2025, it was truly a year chock full with major events, new technological growth, and shocking cultural trends.
One of the most major developments mixed both arts and science. The rapid creation and installation of AI was evident throughout last year. Google AI has become the top result for many searches. AI generated text, photos, music, and videos can be created with the click of a button.
Another thing to be considered is the cinematography that this year presented. A Minecraft Movie was the highest grossing film in the US, earning over $400 million. The movie is also recognized for its cultural significance; ranging from merchandise, widespread social media acknowledgement, and slang. ‘Chicken Jockey’ even became one of the most frequent google searches unique to 2025.
Topping the charts of both music and movies, you can’t forget the Netflix hit K-Pop Demon Hunters. The story follows musical group Huntr/x, whose hit song ‘Golden’ dominated the number one spot of the Billboard Hot 100 for eight weeks. The animated movie itself spurred the growing popularity of K-Pop music and caused major ripples in the cinematic world.
Additional music artists of 2025 include Bad Bunny, Bruno Mars, Taylor Swift, Sabrina Carpenter, Alex Warren, and many more. Bad Bunny became the most played artist of 2025, with more than 19.8 billion streams. According to Spotify data, “Die with a Smile,” by Bruno Mars and Lady Gaga was streamed over 1.7 billion times, placing it as the top song of 2025 globally. Ultimately, however, it was Taylor Swift’s new song, “The Fate of Ophelia” to cap this year off with a plethora of popularity.
But Taylor Swift wasn’t only famous for her music this year. Her recent engagement with NFL football player Travis Kelce was a top story in celebrity gossip. Their wedding is a highly anticipated event, expected to take place June 13, 2026.
Other notable relationships include Jeff Bezos’ marriage to Lauren Sarchez and dating between Katy Perry and former Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau.
Celebrities and influencers played a big role in the fashion trends of 2025. Gone are the days of skinny jeans and high-waisted styles, replaced with a craze of low rise baggy jeans and wide-leg sweatpants. Owala water bottles also made a huge appearance, speeding ahead of Stanleys and becoming one of the most purchased items on Amazon. Additionally, the plush toy Labubus became a top seller due to their trendiness and collectible value.
As far as reading trends go, Sunrise on the Reaping made a big splash in young adult fiction as a prequel to the famous Hunger Games series. The heartbreaking dystopian novel won a YA choice award and over 1 million ratings on Goodreads. Another YA Goodreads choice winner was the rom-com Fake Skating by Lynn Painter. The Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros topped adult fiction and The Let Them Theory by Mel Robbins was a nonfiction bestseller.
Of course, it wouldn’t be a full review of 2025 without mentioning its prominent additions to our vocabulary. For their Word of the Year, Merriam-Webster chose ‘Slop’ (referring to low-quality, often AI, content) and Oxford Languages chose ‘Rage-Bait’. However, Dictionary.com’s choice likely had the most widespread usage, being the word ‘67’. 67 arose as a trend in early 2025, used frequently among younger generations as a nonsensical or ‘brain-rot’ expression.
Whether these trends show cultural integration or cognitive decline is up for debate. However, one thing’s for certain; 2025 was a year rooted in change.
