Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s engagement, Katy Perry’s spaceflight, Coldplay’s Kiss-Cam scandal, Diddy’s sentencing, Labubu dolls craze, and “6-7” dominated 2025’s pop culture.
From record-breaking celebrity news to inexplicable internet slang, 2025 was a year defined by moments that didn’t just go viral but became shorthand for how we relate to culture online and offline. Here’s a look at the most talked-about events, trends, and controversies that shaped our feeds, conversations, and headlines:
1. Taylor Swift & Travis Kelce’s Engagement Took Over Global Pop Culture
Pop superstar Taylor Swift and NFL star Travis Kelce confirmed their engagement in August 2025 with a now-iconic Instagram announcement that quickly became one of the most liked posts of the year, capturing global attention across music, sports, and celebrity spaces. Swift captioned the announcement with playful personal flair, and the couple’s story dominated entertainment news for weeks.
2. The Coldplay Kiss-Cam moment went viral
What was meant to be a fun concert moment turned into a global meme and corporate scandal. At a Coldplay gig in Foxborough, Massachusetts on July 16, a kiss cam spotlighted two senior executives from a tech company, Andy Byron and Kristin Cabot, leading to awkward reactions and instant virality.
The clip quickly racked up tens of millions of views on TikTok and YouTube, sparking debate about privacy, public exposure and online shaming culture, and ultimately resulting in both Byron and Cabot leaving their company amid fallout from the incident.
3. Sean “Diddy” Combs sentenced in a high-profile legal case
2025 also saw a major legal moment in music history. Rap mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs was found guilty on two counts of transportation for prostitution in a federal trial in New York. He was sentenced to 50 months (about four years) in prison and fined $500,000, after being acquitted of the more serious racketeering and sex trafficking charges.
The case dominated entertainment and legal news, partly because it underscored how allegations and accountability around powerful figures have shifted in the digital age, and partly because Combs’ sentencing sparked widespread discussion about the intersection of celebrity culture and the justice system.
4. Katy Perry went to space
In April 2025, Katy Perry made global headlines by joining Blue Origin’s NS-31 mission, an all-female suborbital spaceflight that briefly crossed the Kármán line, widely considered the edge of space. The roughly 11-minute journey, which launched from West Texas, included a crew of six women, among them journalist Gayle King and aerospace engineer Aisha Bowe, making it the first all-female crewed suborbital flight since 1963.
Perry described the experience as “second only to being a mother” and even sang What a Wonderful World in zero gravity, a moment that quickly went viral. While many hailed the mission as a symbolic milestone for representation in space travel, it also sparked debates around celebrity space tourism, privilege, and spectacle, ensuring that Perry’s brief trip beyond Earth became one of 2025’s most talked-about pop-culture moments.
5. Labubu Dolls Became a Global Collectible Obsession
A more quirky but undeniably pervasive cultural trend of 2025 was the Labubu dolls craze. Originating from Pop Mart’s collectible toy line, these fuzzy, monster-like figures went viral on social media, appearing everywhere from celebrity accessories to fashion shows and viral unboxing videos. When Blackpink’s Lisa posed with the doll, it became a global obsession.
Special mention: “67” Became Dictionary.com’s Word of the Year
The seemingly meaningless internet catchphrase “6-7” didn’t just trend on TikTok it was named Dictionary.com’s Word of the Year for 2025. The term, pronounced “six-seven,” originated as a viral meme tied to social media trends and basketball culture, and spread so widely in online conversation that lexicographers noted its impact across search data and usage patterns.
Interestingly, “6-7” has no clear definition. Some interpret it as so-so or maybe this, maybe that, but its popularity speaks to a broader shift in how digital slang infiltrates real-world language.
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