If you’re not careful, you can find out that it’s not clocking to you that you haven’t been standing on business by knowing all of the cultural trends that happened this year. That’s why we’re going over the memes, viral moments and trend-setting sensations that dominated the cultural landscape of 2025:
No one could get enough of Labubus this year. The collectible plush toys, which were created by Hong Kong illustrator Kasing Lung, are fluffy monsters with pointy teeth, large ears and a playful look on their face. They’re exclusively sold by the retailer Pop-Mart, although knockoff versions of the product, known as Lafufus, also took the world by storm. While most people don’t usually get to pick which color Labubu appears in their blind box, TikTok user Lilzbullzmarbella infamously showed off her gold one. “I have the one and only 24 carat gold Labubu,” she says in a video that went viral.
Here’s one that we’ll do our best to explain, but you may want to consult your youngest family member for more. The phrase 6-7, pronounced six seven, was completely unavoidable this year. YouTuber Cam Wilder posted a video in which a young boy named Maverick Trevillian is seen yelling, “Six seven,” while doing a hand gesture moving upward-facing palms up and down. Video edits of Maverick doing this went viral, and the phrase, which has no fixed meaning, became a meme popular with Gen Alpha.
It was the video we all cringed at but couldn’t look away from. A couple, locked in an intimate embrace, were caught allegedly cheating on their respective spouses while on the kiss cam at a Coldplay concert this summer. Former Astronomer CEO Andy Byron and its head of human resources, Kristin Cabot, immediately pulled apart from each other just as Coldplay’s Chris Martin said, “Either they’re having an affair or they’re very shy.”
A video of Justin Bieber speaking to the paparazzi sparked an internet phenomenon this year. “You’re not getting it. It’s not clocking to you. It’s not clocking to you that I’m standing on business, is it?” Bieber asks the photographers. The phrase became so popular that Bieber himself referenced it in his SWAG track “STANDING ON BUSINESS.”
Finally, the TikTok audio referred to as “Nothing beats a Jet2 holiday,” which featured an old advertisement for the Jet2 airline mixed with the 2015 song “Hold My Hand” by Jess Glynne, took the world by storm. Everyone was using the cheerful audio to ironically post disastrous videos from vacations gone wrong.
The logo for ‘Malcom in the Middle: Life’s Still Unfair.’ (Hulu)
The teaser for the Malcom in the Middle revival has arrived.
Hulu released the first teaser for Malcom in the Middle: Life’s Still Unfair on Friday. The revival will consist of four episodes that will arrive to Hulu and Hulu on Disney+ in 2026.
The new teaser pays homage to the original series’ pilot episode, which found Bryan Cranston‘s Hal getting his back shaved by Jane Kaczmarek’s Lois. We see someone’s back getting shaved, and then the hair forms the show’s logo.
“Some things never change,” the Instagram caption of the teaser reads. “#MalcolmInTheMiddle Life’s Still Unfair, a special four-part event, streams 2026.”
This new revival picks up after Malcom (Frankie Muniz) has spent over a decade shielding himself and his daughter from his family.
“Malcolm is dragged back into their orbit when Hal and Lois demand his presence at their 40th anniversary party,” according to its official synopsis.
Also starring in the revival are Chris Kennedy Masterson as Francis, Justin Berfield as Reese and EmyColigado as Piama.
Joining the franchise for this new installment are Keeley Karsten as Leah, Malcolm’s daughter; Vaughan Murrae as Kelly, Malcolm’s youngest sibling; Kiana Madeira as Tristan, Malcolm’s girlfriend; and CalebEllsworth-Clark as Dewey.
Disney is the parent company of ABC News and Hulu.
We have our first look at the upcoming new Steve Carell comedy series, Rooster. HBO has shared the first photos from the show, which will debut on HBO linear and on HBO Max in March 2026. It comes from co-showrunners Bill Lawrence and Matt Tarses and stars Carell, who also executive produces. The comedy is set on a college campus and follows an author’s complicated relationship with his daughter …
Three actors are joining the cast of My Life with the Walter Boys for its upcoming third season. All three will act in recurring roles. Chad Rook will play Mac, a drag racer who hires Cole to revamp the engine of one of his racing cars; Naveen Paddock will play Eliot, Uncle Richard’s new intern; and Erin Karpluk will play Hannah, George’s sister, and the mother of Isaac and Lee. Season 3 will debut on Netflix in 2026 …
The official trailer for The Copenhagen Test has arrived. Simu Liu stars as a first-generation Chinese-American intelligence analyst who realizes his brain has been hacked in the upcoming espionage thriller series. MelissaBarrera also stars in the Peacock series, which arrives to the streaming service on Dec. 27 …
