Illustration: Tom Jellett
15 of the Biggest Cultural Moments of 2025
Our first official year in the brainrot era was filled with notable moments. From coffee raves to a good old fashioned art heist, here’s what we latched onto this year.
Illustration: Tom Jellett
Words by Callum McDermott · Published on 23 Dec 2025
Katy Perry went to space (and started dating Justin Trudeau). Quentin Tarantino partnered with Fortnite. Dolly Parton made a country song with The Wiggles. And a Coldplay kiss cam became the year’s unlikeliest flashpoint.
We stopped saying “that wasn’t on my bingo card for this year” when it became clear that every week in 2025 was going to deliver something absurdly improbable on the culture front. Let’s take a look back at some the moments that got everyone talking.
If 2025’s words of the year are anything to go by, the zeitgeist isn’t doing so hot. The Oxford Dictionary’s word of the year was “rage bait”. Cambridge went for “parasocial,” while Collins chose “vibe coding”. Local authority the Macquarie Dictionary gave it to “AI Slop” in light of Italian brainrot and friends. Dictionary.com just said “screw it” and chose two numbers instead of a word: 6-7– the completely meaningless catch-cry for Gen Alpha kids everywhere.
You know this one: a prominent young man does an underwear ad. The public’s imagination is captured. Last year, it was Jeremy Allen White for Calvin Klein. This year, it was Robert Irwin, son of Steve, brother to Bindi, who disrobed for a Bonds billboard ad. And yeah – kid’s got abs. Robert Mania ensued. And it’s gone international, too – Bobby just won Dancing With the Stars US, 10 years after Bindi took home the title.
A more divisive Aussie export this year was Kevin Parker – aka Tame Impala. The less Parker knows about the critical reception to Deadbeat, Tame’s long-awaited and much-hyped comeback, the better. This dancey album, inspired by raves and bush doofs, got a tepid reaction from critics and mixed reviews from fans.
Speaking of raving, zero-booze, zero-darkness matcha and/or coffee “raves” took over Australian capitals this year. There’s Maple Social in Sydney, Mix & Matcha in Melbourne, AM Social in Brisbane, Coffee Sessions in Adelaide and Cuppa Sessions in Perth. In the words of Broadsheet’s own James Williams, “I’m all for wholesome activities, but I believe the best dancing is done on a dark dance floor.”
The Melbourne band has been a bright spot in Aus music this year. From a maiden appearance on Jimmy Fallon and winning four Arias to the cancelled free concert at Fed Square they salvaged by shouting disappointed fans $35,000 worth of drinks, the punky party poppers really popped off this year. Bless ’em.
Triple J’s Hottest 100 of Australian Songs delivered one of year’s music highlights. It was the first time in a minute that one of the station’s countdowns felt truly vital, with more than 2.65 million votes cast. It had it all – genre and era diversity – high placements for beloved faves, and a few eyebrow-raising picks. Plus, a worthy winner (I say this as a Veronicas lifer) in Never Tear Us Apart.
One earworm captured Australia – and the rest of the world – more than any other this year: Golden, from KPop Demon Hunters. The other day, my mate, a fellow man of fading youth, said he doesn’t get the hype around KPop Demon Hunters. Well, yeah. That’s the point. It’s not for us. And if you think the tune doesn’t slap, you’re just being a hater, plain and simple.
Harry Styles and Taylor Swift brought on national fevers when they toured in 2024. But 2025 backed it up with a series of massive stadium and arena shows by the biggest names in country, pop, rock and hip hop. Luke Combs kicked things off, followed by Drake with his My-Beef-With-Kendrick-Was-Totally-a-Draw tour. Billie Eilish, Kylie and Dua Lipa followed. The second half of the year brought Oasis mania, Pearl Jam, AC/DC, Metallica, Kendrick Lamar and Lady Gaga to town. The year’s big five – Combs, Oasis, Metallica, AC/DC and Gaga – accounted for a staggering combined audience of roughly two million Aussies.
If 2024 was the year Drake and Kendrick Lamar’s years-long rivalry hit fever pitch, 2025 was the year Lamar emerged king. A record-breaking 133.5 million people tuned in for the American rapper’s Super Bowl halftime show. The performance lasted just 13 minutes and in that time Lamar: kickstarted a bellbottom jeans renaissance; grinned and gave us one of the year’s best memes; delivered the knockout punch to his nemesis with an unforgettable rendition of “Not Like Us” that whipped the crowd and the internet into a frenzy. A 47-show global tour (and victory lap) followed.
Dua Lipa confirmed her engagement to actor Callum Turner (a massive win for Callums everywhere). Taylor Swift released The Life of a Showgirl in August, then got engaged to Travis Kelce. And Charli XCX got married to fellow musician George Daniel. Twice. Is that brat? Not sure. Others called it. Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban shocked punters when they split after 19 years. And with the break-up album of the year, Lily Allen gave us 2025’s version of “Becky with the good hair”. Her name is Madeline.
Look, teens, we feel you. As a media company, tech giants are always threatening to pull Broadsheet from social media. It’s not a nice feeling! Australia’s long-awaited social media ban launched in December. And these kids will either be the canary in the privacy coal mine, or this is the thing that gives our young people their youth, mental health and attention spans back.
On the subject of questionable taxpayer-funded developments online, the BOM somehow spent almost $100 million on a new website – that everyone hates. That’s 20 times over budget. It makes spending about a quarter of a million on rebranding yourself to The Bureau in 2022 look like chump change. I forecast a high chance of future failures.
If we want competence, perhaps we should look to the thieves who cat-burgled France’s crown jewels from the Louvre in October. Tragic as that was for les Français, this old-fashioned Pink Panther-style art heist held the rest of us in rapturous attention.
A media storm arrived in April, when Nagi “Recipetin Eats” Maehashi accused Brooke “Brooki Bakehouse” Bellamy of plagiarising her recipes, which triggered accusations from a second author.
This year gave us the long-awaited conclusion to the Leongatha mushroom murders. Erin Patterson was convicted of (but is now appealing) the murders of Don Patterson, Gail Patterson and Heather Wilkinson, plus the attempted murder of Ian Wilkinson. And Australians just couldn’t look away. As the venerable Betoota Advocate quipped: “Australians Disappointed That Our ‘Trial Of The Century’ Isn’t Televised Like The American Version”.
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