58 Pop Culture Moments From 2015 That Are Turning A Decade Old In 2025 (And It's …

1.Star Wars returned in a HUGE, HUGE way. The Force Awakens was released and would go on to become one the biggest movies of all time.

2.Jurassic World, Inside Out, and Avengers: Age of Ultron were among the year’s highest-grossing movies.

3.We said goodbye to the Hunger Games movies (at the time), as The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part II also hit theaters.

4.Snapchat introduced filters, and the dog one immediately had a chokehold on us.

5.Selfie sticks were super popular, and people used them EVERYWHERE.

6.Lots of people were riding around (and falling) on hooverboards EVERYWHERE.

7.Apple released the iPhone 6S, and it now came in the new oh-so-trendy Rose Gold color.

8.Almost a year after they were first announced, Apple Watches were finally released and were an immediate hit.

9.Apple also launched Apple Music.

10.People were live-streaming themselves on the newly launched Periscope app.

11.Everyone started using the peach and eggplant emoji for sexting. Though, people debated whether the peach emoji meant a butt or a vagina.

12.Mark Ronson’s “Uptown Funk” ft. Bruno was the biggest song of the year — and really, you COULD NOT ESCAPE IT.

13.Adele dropped “Hello” and not only broke a bunch of records but also launched thousands of parodies…

14.…which included SNL‘s viral “A Thanksgiving Miracle” skit.

15.Adele also released her third album, 25, which broke records when it became the album with the most first-week sales — selling a whopping 3.38 million copies (beating NSNYC’s record of 2.4 million, set in 2000). The album would go on to be the biggest album of the year.

16.Drake released the music video for “Hotline Bling,” which launched thousands of memes.

17.Madonna and Drake got into a mini-feud after she kissed him on stage during a surprise performance she did at his Coachella set, and he made a disgusted look afterward.

Christopher Polk, Social Channel / Via youtube.com

18.Katy Perry headlined the Super Bowl Halftime show, though Left Shark upstaged her and took over the internet.

19.The internet also lost its mind after Zayn Malik announced he was leaving One Direction.

20. After news broke of Zayn’s departure from 1D, Harry tweeted this, which became the biggest tweet of the year:

Twitter: @Harry_Styles

21.Taylor Swift embarked on her 1989 Tour, which was also the highest-grossing tour of 2015.

22.And she popularized the term and hashtag #SquadGoals.

23.People posted videos and photos of themselves doing the Kylie Jenner Challenge (#KylieJennerChallenge). Which, in case you forgot, involved putting your lips into a bottle or shot glass in order to form an airtight seal and then sucking for a few minutes in order to swell them like hers.

24.Fifty Shades of Grey was released, but the awkward press tour that Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan gave was what people were really talking about.

25.Beck shocked everyone (including himself) after he won the Grammy for Album of the Year, winning over Beyoncé’s Beyoncé.

26.And Prince became a meme after giving side-eye on stage during the event.

27.Steve Harvey accidentally announced the wrong Miss Universe, and, of course, the internet roasted him for it.

28.Everyone was filming themselves doing the “Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae)” dance — including the kids in this video, who got over 200 million views on YouTube doing it.

29.People were also filming themselves doing the Mannequin Challenge. If you have forgotten, it was freezing in place to Rae Sremmurd’s song “Black Beatles.”

30.Pizza Rat went viral and became an NYC ICON, and someone even renamed a street in Brooklyn for it!

31.Avocado toast and poke bowls were trendy foods to eat.

Miguel Angel Partido Garcia / Getty Images, Nerudol / Getty Images

32.Hamilton was the hottest show on Broadway, and people were obsessed with the soundtrack.

33.Nicki Minaj called out Miley Cyrus at the VMAs, and it was heard around the world.

34.Jennifer Aniston and Justin Justin Theroux, Sofia Vergara and Joe Manganiello, Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher were the big celebs weddings that happened that year.

35.Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner announced they would be divorcing after 10 years of marriage.

36.Marvel and Sony announced that Tom Holland had been cast as the new Spider-Man.

37.Mad Max: Fury Road was released and was possibly the most unexpected and wildest ride of the year.

38.The first Back to the Future Day was celebrated on October 21, to commemorate the day that Marty, Doc, and Jennifer arrived in 2015 in Back to the Future Part II.

Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images, Martin Bernetti / AFP via Getty Images

39.Jon Stewart hosted his last The Daily Show (well, at least at the time).

40.David Letterman hosted his final episode of The Late Show.

41.And few months later, Stephen Colbert took over as host, and had George Clooney on as his first guest.

42.Mad Men aired its last episode, which featured a pretty perfect final scene.

43.Parks and Recreation also aired its finale, which included multiple time jumps — with one being in 2025 .

44.Empire premiered, giving us the juiciest rich people nighttime soap since Dynasty.

45.Mr. Robot also premiered and instantly got us hooked.

46.The Season 5 finale of Game of Thrones aired, leaving us on a huge cliffhanger about whether or not Jon Snow had died.

47.Everyone went wild for the Lilly Pulitzer for Target collection…

48.…and the Balmain for H&M collection.

49.The Met Gala’s theme was “China: Through the Looking Glass,” and Beyoncé showed up late but looked stunning in a sheer Givenchy gown.

Jamie Mccarthy / FilmMagic, Larry Busacca / Getty Images

50.While Rihanna wore one of the most iconic looks ever to the Met Gala: the yellow fur-trimmed Guo Pei gown (and we’re still not over it).

Mike Coppola / Getty Images

51.Rihanna also released the epic music video for “Bitch Better Have My Money.”

52.Justin Bieber pulled a bait-and-switch and released the music video to his boptastic single “Sorry” without having himself in it, featuring just a dance crew.

53.Demi Lovato released her sultry sapphic single “Cool for the Summer”:

54.Kendrick Lamar released his critically acclaimed album To Pimp a Butterfly, which was arguably the best album of the year.

55.Måns Zelmerlöw won Eurovision.

56.Everyone loved Amy Schumer! She won an Emmy for Inside Amy Schumer and had a box-office hit with Trainwreck. Amy also fake-fell in front of Kim Kardashian at the Time100 gala.

57.“Netflix and chill” entered the lexicon.

58.And lastly, the dress happened, and it absolutely, absolutely broke the internet (sorry, Kim K, this did it way more than you!) and people’s brains.