Memes, moments, and madness: What went viral in 2025?

Like every year, the world went through more than its fair share of chaos in 2025. From ongoing genocide in Gaza and global tragedies, the news cycle remained heavy. 

On most days, it felt like the world was falling apart, but amid all the doomscrolling, the internet did what it always does: it coped. Through jokes, memes, absurd moments, and distractions that made timelines feel a little lighter.

As we step into 2026, here’s a look back at the internet moments that went wildly viral this year — the ones that took over feeds and kept netizens hooked, with humour and satire when everything else felt like too much.

'You talk too much!': American woman goes viral in Pakistan

The year kicked off with a wildly bizarre episode that unfolded with near-daily twists, keeping netizens glued to their screens. An American woman, Onijah Andrew Robinson, 33, went viral for her audacious antics and aplomb after travelling to Pakistan to reunite with her much-younger “husband,” as she called him.

The saga broke in late January after a video claimed Onijah was stranded at Karachi airport. It later emerged that her fiancé had disappeared. She refused to return to the US, fell ill, made unusual demands, and left after police cited mental health concerns.

Her son later said she had bipolar disorder. The situation spiralled, exhausting welfare officials as her claims kept changing. It peaked when she cut off Ramzan Chhipa at a press conference, snapping, “Listen! You talk too much,” sparking laughter and online buzz.

The clip went viral, quickly cementing its place as premium meme material. Onijah eventually returned to her home country on February 8, 2025, after weeks of clamour, confusion, and gifting Pakistan a memorable piece of internet humour..

Pakistan-India war memes

Pakistan-India tensions erupted into full-blown conflict when New Delhi launched unprovoked attacks, and Islamabad responded with Operation Bunyan-um-Marsoos, downing seven Indian jets, destroying an S-400 system, and hitting 20+ military sites.

Hostilities ended May 10 with a US-brokered ceasefire, while Pakistanis flooded social media with humorous memes, outshining India online. Here are some of the most entertaining memes shared during the war.

Asia Cup heartbreak, meme victory

Even in sport, 2025 proved that Pakistan’s internet rarely loses, even when the scoreboard does. During the Asia Cup clashes in Dubai, timelines on X, Facebook and Instagram lit up as soon as Pakistan and India met, with fans from both sides turning every key moment into instant meme material — equal parts celebration, trolling and real-time analysis. While team India piled on the misery on the national team, Pakistanis responded with witty takes on turning points, player moments and the emotional weight that always comes with cricket’s fiercest rivalry.

The meme wave didn’t fade with the result. After Pakistan’s defeat in the final — the third meeting between the two teams in the tournament — Pakistani users kept the “meme game” alive, using humour to process disappointment and keep the online banter rolling, with references to the war earlier in the year. It was classic 2025 internet behaviour: when the news cycle is heavy, and emotions run hot, comedy becomes the pressure valve.

Labubumania

This year, social media went wild for Labubu, a cute-but-creepy doll by Chinese company Pop Mart. With big eyes, pointy ears, and sharp-toothed smiles, it sparked debates over its looks. 

Sold in "blind boxes", Labubu went viral, with celebrities spotted carrying it and unboxing videos flooding timelines worldwide.

Coldplay KissCam moment

During a July 2025 Coldplay concert in Boston, a kiss cam moment went viral when a couple froze awkwardly on the big screen, he ducked, she hid her face. 

Chris Martin joked from the stage, but it emerged that the pair were a CEO and his employee, sparking his resignation. The clip exploded online, becoming the summer’s top meme.

The crazy airline ad that was everywhere

If you’ve spent any time scrolling through videos this year, you’ve probably heard a British woman confidently saying, "nothing beats a Jet2 holiday", usually right before something goes hilariously wrong. The line became one of the most overused and recognisable sounds on social media, instantly turning ordinary clips into comedy.

The sound comes from a Jet2 airline advertisement from years ago, but it went viral in the summer when the ad resurfaced on TikTok. Set to Jess Glynne’s song Hold My Hand, the upbeat voice promotes a budget-friendly vacation trip. Social media users, however, flipped the script.

The trend quickly went global, with creators pairing the audio with fun holiday fails, most famously, videos where hotel curtains are dramatically opened to a disappointingly tiny window.

The contrast between the happy music and disappointing or chaotic visuals struck a chord, making the trend even funnier and drawing participation from celebrities and the singer herself. The trend grew so popular that the advert’s script was searched for more online than the airline’s name, proving just how hard the internet ran with the joke.

From Ghibli-fied to Nano-sized

In 2025, AI-generated visuals became a global social media craze. The Ghibli Art trend, sparked by ChatGPT's new image feature in March-April, transformed selfies, pets, and street scenes into soft, dreamy Studio Ghibli-inspired illustrations, flooding timelines worldwide. 

Critics questioned the ethics, citing the close imitation of Hayao Miyazaki’s style. 

Later, from August to September, the Nano Banana trend took over, using Google Gemini to turn people into hyper-realistic 3D figurines in playful, surreal miniature worlds, showing AI’s fun and absurd side.

'Pretty little baby'

The 1960s hit by Connie Francis found new life in 2025, nearly 60 years later, becoming a massive TikTok trend. Its sweet vocals and old-school charm made it perfect for wholesome videos, babies, pets, vintage fashion, across TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram. 

Celebrities like Kylie Jenner and Kim Kardashian joined in, boosting the craze to tens of billions of views. Francis, shortly before her passing in July, expressed delight and gratitude for the late-career resurgence.

Katy Perry’s space moment

Katy Perry’s short trip to space in April may not have been meant to go viral, but it quickly took over the internet. The singer joined TV host Gayle King and an all-female crew on a Blue Origin flight that lasted only about ten minutes. The spacecraft briefly crossed the edge of space before returning, and the short duration became a major talking point online.

Social media is filled with memes and jokes, with some people even questioning whether the crew truly went to space. The mission also included scientists Amanda Nguyen and Aisha Bowe, film producer Kerianne Flynn, and Lauren Sanchez, the fiancée of Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos.

While many treated the flight as a fun moment, it also drew criticism. Some pointed to the environmental impact of rocket launches, while others questioned the high cost of space tourism at a time when wealth gaps are growing. The trip sparked both laughter and debate.

Meri Nadia, Meri Baggo

In a year defined by fast-moving online trends, 2025’s viral memes thrived on repetition and tone rather than punchlines. Meri Nadia, Meri Baggo stood out for its simplicity: an affectionate call met with a flat response. Easy to remix and endlessly looped, it became shorthand for dry humour and one-sided emotion online.