The Best Memes and Social Media Trends of 2025
If you felt like 2025 unfolded one meme at a time, you’re not wrong. This was the year internet jokes stopped being quick punchlines and started becoming full-blown cultural moments—shaped by pop culture, TV, music, AI, and the collective exhaustion of kids (and parents) everywhere. Some memes were genuinely hilarious, others made absolutely no sense unless a teen explained them (and even then, barely), and a few crossed generational lines in surprising ways. Together, they tell the story of how families, kids, and culture experienced 2025 online. The themes? Irony, escapism, nostalgia, and the occasional viral cringe. These are the memes and internet trends that defined the year, and why they mattered far beyond the screen.
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Italian Brain Rot
Italian Brain Rot exploded in 2025 as a surreal, AI-fueled meme genre featuring over-the-top Italian stereotypes, exaggerated accents, operatic music, and nonsense visuals that felt intentionally unhinged. The trend largely took off on TikTok, where creators used AI image and voice tools to generate chaotic characters (often named things like Ballerina Cappuccina) doing absolutely nothing of substance. The appeal? For teens and tweens, it was the absurdity itself. It didn’t need to make sense. In a year defined by digital overload, Italian Brain Rot thrived precisely because it rejected coherence.
Nothing Beats a Jet2 Holiday
“Darling, hold my hand…” This meme originated from Jet2 airline ads featuring cheerful narration and pop music that TikTok users began remixing into wildly inappropriate or ironic situations. (Think: a disastrous moment dubbed with the audio.) In 2025, the sound became shorthand for escapism, only used over clips of stress, burnout, or everyday chaos to contrast reality with the fantasy of a carefree vacation. The irony! Teens and grown people alike latched onto this trending sound as humor. Parents, meanwhile, recognized the feeling immediately. The meme worked because it captured a universal longing to mentally clock out.
Jon Hamm Dancing
A clip of Jon Hamm dancing with his eyes closed—confidently, joyfully, and slightly awkwardly from Apple TV+ series Your Friends & Neighbors—circulated widely in 2025 after resurfacing online. The meme continues to thrive in remixed versions. Some have cats enjoying life with eyes closed, then showing Hamm dancing. Others have people doing the same.
Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl
This was from early 2025, but we still remember it like it was yesterday. Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl performance became meme fuel almost instantly in 2025, not because of spectacle alone, but because of how dense, symbolic, and layered it was. Clips and reaction memes circulated as fans (and critics) dissected and recreated the choreography. The memeification reflected how the major cultural event now lives on long after the broadcast and reinterpreted endlessly online.
Victoria Ratliff From ‘The White Lotus’
By season three of The White Lotus, Parker Posey’s turn as the hyper-controlled, emotionally volatile mom became the show’s most meme-able force. Her tight smiles, laser-focused stares, and perfectly delivered passive-aggressive pauses were clipped, looped, and repurposed across TikTok and Instagram as reaction memes for everything from school pickup drama to being burdened by work to family group chats. Posey’s character became meme shorthand for a very specific kind of adult pressure: polite on the surface, quietly spiraling underneath. The internet couldn’t look away.
100 Men vs. 1 Gorilla
This absurd hypothetical—whether 100 men could defeat a single gorilla—went massively viral in 2025 after resurfacing on TikTok and Reddit as a “serious” debate. Meme creators treated it with mock intensity, using charts, fake simulations, and exaggerated arguments. Teens loved the chaos, while adults were baffled by how invested everyone seemed. The meme’s appeal lay in its total uselessness—pure internet debate with zero stakes.
The Coldplay Couple
It was the cheating scandal that rocked social media. The “Coldplay Couple” meme stemmed from a viral video of a man and woman—later identified as Andy Byron, then-CEO of tech company Astronomer and Kristin Cabot, the company’s Chief People Officer—embracing and swaying together during a Coldplay concert before abruptly pulling apart when they realized they were being filmed. It wasn’t long before people began recreating the moment in funny, exaggerated, and intentionally awkward versions. It instantly turned the clip into a meme about secret relationships, getting caught, and the universal panic of realizing you’re on camera at the exact wrong moment.
6-7
“6-7” became one of 2025’s most confusing and popular memes largely because it had no clear meaning. Originating from a viral TikTok clip that was endlessly remixed, the phrase spread purely through repetition. Teens used it in comments, captions, and videos as a signal of being “in on the joke.” Parents searched for definitions and found none. That was the point.
Dubai Chocolate
Dubai Chocolate went viral in 2025 after creators began posting luxury-style videos of oversized, glossy chocolate bars filled with pistachio cream or elaborate interiors. The meme lived at the intersection of food obsession and wealth fantasy, with teens alternating between awe and parody. Some posts were aspirational while others mocked excess with ASMR vibes. Either way, the chocolate became a symbol of internet luxury culture taken to absurd levels, and many brands and companies have since made versions of it that all IRL can enjoy.
Gen Z Stare
The “Gen Z Stare” meme called out a specific facial expression—blank, unbothered, mildly judgmental—that teens jokingly labeled as their default reaction. Originating in TikTok skits comparing generational responses, the stare became a reaction meme for awkward moments, authority figures, or emotional overload. Parents recognized the look instantly, often from across the dinner table. We feel particularly attacked when it’s compared to the people-pleaser-y millennial approach.
The Anthropologie Rock
Yes, this meme came from a real product: a decorative rock sold by Anthropologie that went viral in 2025 for its high price and questionable purpose. Screenshots circulated alongside jokes about late-stage capitalism, minimalist decor, and “things rich people buy.” That pricy rock became shorthand for consumer absurdity.
The Little French Fish
The Little French Fish meme emerged from an animated clip of a small fish speaking French-accented English, often paired with existential or melodramatic captions. In 2025, it became a favorite among younger teens for its mix of cuteness and emotional exaggeration. The humor was gentle, weird, and surprisingly heartfelt, perfect for reposting when words felt like too much.
Bobby Hill’s Wabi-Sabi
This meme fused King of the Hill nostalgia with the Japanese philosophy of wabi-sabi (finding beauty in imperfection). Screenshots of Bobby Hill paired with captions about acceptance, mediocrity, and emotional peace spread in 2025. Teens embraced it as self-aware humor; parents appreciated the throwback. It became a surprisingly thoughtful meme about letting go.
‘Get Me to God’s Country’ Morgan Wallen
This meme grew out of Morgan Wallen lyrics and the wave of country-aesthetic TikToks that romanticized wide-open spaces, pickup trucks, and getting out of town. Then, Wallen walked off the SNL set, and the meme transformed into gold. Sometimes it was used sincerely, as a genuine longing for nature, tradition, or peace. Other times, it was played for the desire to escape. Giving “take me to the middle of nowhere” vibes. Either way, it tapped into a very real feeling that year: wanting to be somewhere else, anywhere else, even if just for a minute.
Katy Perry in Space
Katy Perry’s space-themed appearance and visuals sparked meme culture in 2025 almost immediately. Screenshots, edits, and reaction memes focused on Perry holding that flower in space and smiling, and the pop star kissing the ground upon landing back on earth. Her quote on allowing herself to “take up space,” mind you, didn’t quite land.