Fandom & stan culture

◐ Dyingn.✎ 2

Bachelorette Pulled

ABC's removal of The Bachelorette from its schedule in March 2026, three days before the twenty-second season was due to premiere on 22 March, amid a domestic assault investigation involving its star. The record files the scheduling decision and the online reaction to a season that did not begin.

▸ 2026peak 2026still up

● Aliven.✎ 4

Backrooms (Film)

The 2026 A24 science-fiction horror film that turned the Backrooms creepypasta into a feature, directed and co-scored by Kane Parsons, written by Will Soodik, starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, Renate Reinsve and Mark Duplass. Budgeted under ten million dollars, it grossed 394.1 million. The record's entry for a liminal-space meme that became a liminal-space franchise.

▸ 2026peak 2026still up

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Bangaranga

The song with which the Bulgarian contestant Dara won the Eurovision Song Contest 2026 in Vienna, held from 12 to 16 May, giving Bulgaria its first victory. The record's entry for a title that became a noise and then a caption.

▸ 2026peak 2026still up

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Drake Triple Drop

Drake's release on 15 May 2026 of Iceman alongside two surprise albums, Maid of Honour and Habibti, his first solo albums since For All the Dogs in 2023. The record's entry for the day the internet had to listen to three things at once.

▸ 2026peak 2026still up

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Emmys 2026

The 78th Primetime Emmy Awards, airing on NBC in September 2026 from the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles with Mariska Hargitay as host. An awards show hosted by the longest-serving detective on television, which the internet noted before she had said a word. The record keeps the venue and the host.

▸ 2026peak 2026still up

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Iceman Meme

The run of fan jokes ahead of Drake's ninth album Iceman, released 15 May 2026, imagining a title track that rhymed Iceman with nice man and lines such as cooking some rice, man. A fake Kendrick Lamar album cover titled Fireman circulated. The album's track National Treasures then did contain the rhyme. The record's entry for a parody the record proved right.

▸ 2026peak 2026still up

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Kenan on AGT

Kenan Thompson's return to America's Got Talent as a guest judge in September 2026, filling in for Simon Cowell, his first appearance on the panel since 2020. The longest-serving SNL cast member in the seat of the show's sternest critic, and the internet's brief delight at the swap. The record's entry for a substitution that trended.

▸ 2026peak 2026still up

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Kids' Choice on CBS

The 2026 Kids' Choice Awards, simulcast on CBS and Nickelodeon from Los Angeles in September, the first time the ceremony has gone out on broadcast television. Slime on a network that also carries the evening news. The record files the first.

▸ 2026peak 2026still up

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Lighter (World Cup Song)

'Lighter', by Jelly Roll and Carín León, produced by Cirkut, the first single from the official 2026 FIFA World Cup album. A country singer and a Mexican regional star on one tournament anthem, and the internet's month-long argument about whether a World Cup song is supposed to sound like that. The record's entry for the official soundtrack of a three-country tournament.

▸ 2026peak 2026still up

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Nickelodeon Animation Folded

Paramount Skydance's announcement in April 2026 that Nickelodeon Animation Studio would no longer operate as a separate company and would become a label of CBS Eye Animation Productions. The record files the change as announced and the response from animation fans and former staff online.

▸ 2026peak 2026still up

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Queen Latifah AMAs

The 52nd American Music Awards, aired on CBS in May 2026 from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, with Queen Latifah hosting for the first time since 1995. Thirty-one years between hosting gigs, which was the statistic every post led with. The record leads with it too.

▸ 2026peak 2026still up

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Soul Train Awards Return

The return of the Soul Train Music Awards to television in September 2026, simulcast on BET and CBS, the first broadcast of the ceremony since 2023. Three years off air and back on two channels at once. The record files the gap and the pair of networks.

▸ 2026peak 2026still up

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Adolescence

A four-episode British drama, each shot in one take, about a boy accused of murder, which became the most-discussed show of spring 2025, was screened in parliament, and made 'the 80/20 rule' and emoji meanings a topic in schools. The record's entry for a drama as a public inquiry.

▸ 2025peak 2025still up

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Amaya Papaya

A contestant on Love Island USA whose nickname, emotional honesty and speech about being 'too much' made her the summer of 2025's favourite reality-television person and the winner. The record's entry for a nickname as a fandom.

▸ 2025peak 2025still up

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Gaga as Rosaline

Lady Gaga as a Nevermore teacher, with a song and a gothic outfit that the internet screenshotted for a month, in the second half of Wednesday's second season. The record's entry for a cameo as the season's actual meme.

▸ 2025peak 2025†2025

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Heated Rivalry

A Canadian hockey romance series that arrived in November 2025 and became the winter's obsession — the memes, the edits, the fanfiction, the 'I don't even watch hockey' — and made two fictional players the internet's couple of the season. The record's entry for the sports romance as a phenomenon.

▸ 2025peak 2025still up

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Infinity Castle

An anime film that became the highest-grossing Japanese film ever in 2025 and produced a season of 'I'm not crying' posts, a fight scene that was edited into everything, and a lot of adults in cinemas at 10 a.m. The record's entry for the anime film as a global event.

▸ 2025peak 2025still up

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Krypto

Superman's badly behaved dog, who stole the film, the trailer and a summer of adoption stories from shelters that reported a run on scruffy terriers. The record's entry for a CGI dog as the year's most-loved character.

▸ 2025peak 2025still up

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Pluribus

A science-fiction series about the world becoming happy and one woman who is not, which became the autumn of 2025's prestige obsession and the source of a genre of 'me being the only miserable person in the room' memes. The record's entry for the hive mind as a relatable format.

▸ 2025peak 2025still up

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Rebecca Black Grammys Redemption

The internet's periodic realisation that the 'Friday' singer, mocked at thirteen, had become a respected pop artist, which peaked in early 2025 around the song's anniversary and a run of appearances. The record's entry for a redemption arc the record's own 'Friday' entry needed.

▸ 2025peak 2025†2025

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Sinners Twins

Michael B. Jordan playing twin brothers in a 1930s vampire film that became the spring of 2025's surprise hit, and the internet's discovery that it wanted two of him. The record's entry for the dual role as a thirst trap and the film as the year's original-story success.

▸ 2025peak 2025still up

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Snow White Discourse

A live-action remake that was argued about for two years before release — the casting, the dwarfs, the interviews — and for a fortnight after, when the box office made the argument moot. The record's entry for a film that was a discourse first and a film second.

▸ 2025peak 2025†2025

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Squid Game Season 3 Ending

The end of Squid Game, with a baby, a sacrifice, and a final-scene cameo that half the internet read as a set-up for an American version and the other half as an insult. The record's entry for a finale that was argued about more than watched.

▸ 2025peak 2025†2025

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Stitch Summer

The summer of 2025 in which a blue alien from a 2002 cartoon was on every T-shirt, backpack, cup and child in the world, following a live-action remake that made more money than anyone expected. The record's entry for a merchandise season.

▸ 2025peak 2025†2025

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Stranger Things Finale

The end of a show that began in 2016, released in three parts across the 2025 holidays with the finale in cinemas on New Year's Eve, and the internet's response: theories, ages of the cast, and a lot of people realising they had been watching for a decade. The record's entry for a finale as a milestone.

▸ 2025peak 2025†2026

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The New Avengers

A Marvel film with an asterisk in its title, which turned out to stand for a rename revealed in the final scene, and the marketing that replaced the posters overnight. The record's entry for punctuation as a plot twist.

▸ 2025peak 2025†2025

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Wednesday Dance (Revival)

The record has the Wednesday dance from 2022. This is its return with the second season in August 2025, when the dance came back, did less, and was replaced by a cameo from the original Wednesday. The record's entry for a sequel meme that knew it was one.

▸ 2025peak 2025†2025

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Arcane Season 2

The second and final season of the League of Legends show, released in three parts in November 2024 and argued about in real time: the animation, the pacing, the ending, the ship. The record's entry for a video-game adaptation that the internet treated as prestige television.

▸ 2024peak 2024†2024

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Arise

The command from Solo Leveling — 'Arise' — with which the hero raises shadows, said by the internet about anything getting up: a friend after a night out, a dead phone, a football club. The record's entry for the anime word that became a general instruction.

▸ 2024peak 2024still up

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Baby Reindeer

A comedian's dramatisation of being stalked, which became the most-watched thing of April 2024, produced a meme from the emails ('sent from my iPhone'), and then a real lawsuit when the internet identified the woman it was about. The record's entry for a show that ended in court.

▸ 2024peak 2024†2024

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Bluey The Sign

A twenty-eight-minute special episode of a children's cartoon about a house being sold, which was treated by the internet as a season finale of a prestige drama, with theories, spoilers and adults crying at work. The record's entry for the day a cartoon dog was the most-discussed television.

▸ 2024peak 2024†2024

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Boots (Trailer)

A 1915 recording of a Kipling poem — 'boots, boots, boots, boots, movin' up and down again' — over a zombie-film trailer, which became the most unsettling audio of December 2024 and a TikTok sound for any relentless task. The record's entry for a poem's second life a century on.

▸ 2024peak 2025†2025

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Colosseum Sharks

A flooded Colosseum full of sharks, in a film set in ancient Rome, and the historians who spent November 2024 explaining that this did not happen and the internet that did not care. The record's entry for the sharks, which were the film's most-discussed cast.

▸ 2024peak 2024†2024

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Dandadan Opening

An anime opening so kinetic — a rap track, a dancing ghost, a first-episode plot that defied summary — that the clip outran the show in October 2024 and became the autumn's most-copied edit. The record's entry for the opening as the meme.

▸ 2024peak 2024still up

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Freakbob

'Freakbob is calling' — a SpongeBob with a distorted face, calling your phone, and the instruction to answer or not. A brainrot format of late 2024, and the record's entry for a cartoon sponge as a jump scare.

▸ 2024peak 2024still up

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Hazbin Hotel

An animated musical about a hotel in Hell, which went from a YouTube pilot to a streaming series in January 2024 and brought with it the loudest fandom of the year, a soundtrack that charted, and a radio demon with more fan art than most film stars. The record's entry for an indie cartoon's ascent.

▸ 2024peak 2024still up

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JJK Ending Discourse

The final chapter of Jujutsu Kaisen, and the internet's week of deciding it was rushed, fine, or a betrayal, with the author's health cited by all sides. The record's entry for the argument about how a manga should end, which happens every time one does.

▸ 2024peak 2024†2024

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Joker 2 Flop

A sequel to a billion-dollar film that was a musical, mostly, and was received by its own fandom as a betrayal and by the internet as a case study. The record's entry for the film whose D CinemaScore was the meme.

▸ 2024peak 2024†2024

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Longlegs Marketing

A horror film sold with a phone number, coded newspaper adverts, a heart-rate monitor on a viewer, and no image of its villain — the campaign that made 'scariest film of the decade' a meme before anyone had seen it. The record's entry for marketing as the film.

▸ 2024peak 2024†2024

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Madame Web

A superhero film so poorly received that its trailer line — 'he was in the Amazon with my mom when she was researching spiders right before she died' — became a meme months before release and the film's most-quoted moment. The record's entry for the flop as a genre.

▸ 2024peak 2024†2024

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Nobody Wants This

A romantic comedy about a rabbi and a podcaster, which produced 'the hot rabbi' as a type and a season of memes about how the internet had forgotten it liked romantic comedies. The record's entry for the show that made a rabbi a heart-throb.

▸ 2024peak 2024still up

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Oiia Cat

A cat spinning in place to a sound that goes 'oiiaioiiiai', which became the autumn of 2024's most-shared cat and a chant at a lot of school gates. The record's entry for a cat whose name is a noise.

▸ 2024peak 2024still up

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Sad Hamster

A hamster with enormous wet eyes, edited to look up at you while a sad violin plays, which became the reaction of early 2024 for any minor disappointment played as tragedy. The record's entry for the hamster as a self-portrait.

▸ 2024peak 2024still up

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Solo Leveling Discourse

The argument, in early 2024, about whether the year's most-hyped anime was good or just loud, conducted between people who loved it and people who called it 'a power fantasy with a budget'. The record's entry for the seasonal anime war.

▸ 2024peak 2024†2024

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The Substance

A body-horror film about an ageing star and a younger self, which became the year's most-discussed film for its final act, its Demi Moore comeback, and a lot of people saying 'I can't describe it' at dinner. The record's entry for the film that made a Golden Globe speech a meme.

▸ 2024peak 2024†2025

☠ Deadn.✎ 3

Anita Max Wynn

Drake's gambling alter ego — 'I need a max win' — announced on a stream, printed on a hat, and turned into a persona for a season. The record's entry for a pun as a character.

▸ 2023peak 2023†2024

☠ Deadn.✎ 3

Attack on Titan Finale

The end of a series that had been ending since 2021, finally, in November 2023, and the week of arguments about whether it had stuck the landing. The record's entry for a finale that the internet had rehearsed three times.

▸ 2023peak 2023†2023

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Banana Cat

A cat's face on a banana, crying — the crying-cat meme with a banana body — which became the reaction of early 2023 and the character in a thousand small sad videos. The record's entry for a fruit-cat that predates the Italian ones by two years.

▸ 2023peak 2023still up