The pop culture moments that defined 2025

They say that as you get older, time seems to move faster. But is it just me, or was 2025 a bit of a slog? In the UK, it was a year of headlines dominated by economic flops, the rise of the far-right and flagshagging – all things that frankly, make you want to hide under a duvet and never leave your house again.

And yet, there were rare rays of light during these surreal 12 months. Whether it was Lily Allen baring all on West End Girl, or Jet2 holiday memes blowing up on TikTok, pop culture made the year feel a bit more human, giving us moments – ranging from funny, to moving, to downright weird – to rally around.

So without further ado, here are this year’s biggest highlights.

NOTHING BEATS A JET2 HOLIDAY

Suitcases floating in the sea. Mice scurrying around in a hostel. A man lying on a sun lounger as the rain drenches him. We all saw those holiday-fail videos on TikTok, with the Jet2Holidays jingle playing over them (the one with Jess Glynne’s Hold My Hand). Well, the company reported record passenger numbers this year and credited part of its success to the viral social media trend. 

ADOLESCENCE

The award-winning four-part Netflix show followed 13-year-old Jamie (Owen Cooper) from Merseyside, who murdered a girl in his class. Inspired by real-life cases, Adolescence gripped the nation because it forced us to confront the terrible reality of what young boys are absorbing online, sparking much-needed conversations about radicalisation, misogyny, and the growing influence of the manosphere on young men.

COLDPLAY KISS-CAM

We all saw the clip. A couple wrapped around each other at a Coldplay concert, only to recoil the second they realised the camera was on them. Chris Martin even joked, “Either they’re having an affair, or they’re just very shy.” Then, and I genuinely feel for them, internet sleuths dug up their names, jobs and family lives, revealing that both were married with children. A full-blown media storm followed, and both ended up leaving their jobs. What was at first a funny viral video quickly escalated into another cautionary tale about the dangers of trial by social media.

KATY PERRY’S TRIP TO SPACE (AND ROMANCE WITH JUSTIN TRUDEAU?)

Katy Perry has certainly had a headline-making year. In April, she blasted off on Blue Origin’s all-female space flight – a journey that was met with criticism (and memes) because participating in Jeff Bezos’s space programme is obviously not a win for feminism. Then, later in the summer, photos emerged of Perry on her yacht off the coast of Santa Barbara kissing none other than Justin Trudeau, Canada’s former Prime Minister. The couple is still going strong and were recently spotted together in Tokyo. 

RIP POPE FRANCIS

The best pope (no offence to all the others) died this year after serving for 12 years. Pope Francis was celebrated for championing economic justice, welcoming refugees, and advocating compassion, including tolerance towards LGBTQ+ people, while repeatedly pushing for peace in Gaza until his final days. But it was the papal conclave – the process of electing the next pope – that sparked a thousand memes. You just had to be there.

KIM K’S MERKINS

If you thought Kim K went too far with releasing bras with fake nipples in 2023, this year Skims released pubic wigs. Were the merkins a publicity stunt? Probably. Did it work? Unfortunately, because here I am writing about it.

THE GREAT SWIFTIE CRASHOUT

I can’t believe it’s taken this long, but Taylor Swift was finally called out for producing a mid album (they’re all mid!), The Life of a Showgirl. A lot of the criticism centred around how dull the record was, and also ‘Actually Romantic’, the song rumoured to be about Charli xcx.  Fans think Swift was responding to Charli’s ‘Sympathy Is a Knife’, a song that’s been interpreted as Charli grappling with the weird insecurities that can arise from being around someone as famous as Swift. But ‘Actually Romantic’ delivered a childish reply that completely missed the point.

SYDNEY SWEENEY’S DOWNFALL

Sydney Sweeney, of Euphoria fame, has had quite the year (and not a good one). From doing that controversial American Eagle ad, which was controversial in the sense that it had white-supremacist undertones, to trying to sell us her used bathwater, she gave a masterclass in how not to ‘get the bag’. They say that all publicity is good publicity, but is a series of PR disasters really the recipe for career longevity?

FKA TWIGS WONDERING WHERE ALL THE THINKERS ARE

In an awkward interview with Resident Advisor, singer FKA twigs asked, “Where are all the thinkers?” When the host gently suggested that we’re all thinkers, she doubled down and ocne again demanded to know where “the great thinkers” were. Hello, some of us are right here!

THE COVER OF SABRINA CARPENTER’S MAN’S BEST FRIEND

This summer, Sabrina Carpenter’s album cover for Man's Best Friend started a full-blown debate over whether it was feminist or straight-up trad-wife. In the cover art, the 26-year-old singer appears on her hands and knees while a faceless man stands above her, holding her hair as if it were a leash. Some fans argued that the image aligned perfectly with Carpenter’s cheeky persona and was clearly subversive, while others criticised it as regressive and focused on male dominance. But as ever, the discussion revealed more about us than it did about Carpenter’s artistic choices.

ZOHRAN MAMDANI’S ENTIRE ELECTION CAMPAIGN

Against all odds, Zohran Mamdani won the election to be New York’s mayor last month, fast becoming a beacon of hope in a bleak world of right-wing politics. Competing against Andrew Cuomo, who had the backing of billionaires and Donald Trump, Mamdani nailed every single debate and led a phenomenal grassroots and social media campaign. His team threw absolutely everything at the wall, and it all stuck. Woke is back baby!

THE LOUVRE JEWELLERY HEIST

In October, four thieves pulled off what can only be described as a cinematic heist. They slipped into a second-floor gallery of the Louvre, the world’s most visited museum, via a window and an electric lift, before spepeding away on scooters with an estimated €88m (£77m) in crown jewels. The loot is yet to be recovered. Predictably, the memes came in thick and fast, and a surprising number of people online found themselves rooting for the culprits for daring to dream big.

LILY ALLEN SPILLING THE POST-DIVORCE TEA ON WEST END GIRL

There are break-up albums, and there’s West End Girl, Lily Allen’s first album in seven years, which took only ten days to write and record. The record provides a raw and detailed account of the breakdown of her four-year marriage to actor David Harbour: according to the singer, the marriage evolved into an open arrangement that eventually soured when Harbour broke their pre-agreed rules. She delves into forensic detail around the alleged infidelity and the other woman, “Madeline”, who left Allen a voicemail to say it had only ever been a physical relationship with her husband, not an emotional one. It’s honestly jaw-dropping.