{"id":16266,"date":"2025-12-30T09:07:15","date_gmt":"2025-12-30T09:07:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/skybeaconnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/30\/the-biggest-viral-moments-of-2025\/"},"modified":"2026-01-31T02:09:29","modified_gmt":"2026-01-31T02:09:29","slug":"the-biggest-viral-moments-of-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/skybeaconnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/30\/the-biggest-viral-moments-of-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"The biggest viral moments of 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"

Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Subscribe to our newsletter <\/p>\n

When you think back over 2025 what comes to mind? A new Pope? The first signs of a peace deal in Gaza? The celebrity traitors? All valid contenders. But here are our choices of the most meme-orable, eye-rolling, jaw-dropping and head-scratching moments of the year.<\/p>\n

Coldplay kiss cam<\/h2>\n

The<\/em> moment of the year unravelled on that fateful mid-July day at a Coldplay concert in Foxborough, Massachusetts. Andy Byron, then CEO of tech company Astronomer, and the company\u2019s Chief People Officer Kristin Cabot broke away from a cosy embrace and ducked for cover to avoid being caught on kiss cam. A ripple of gasps in the audience ensued. Then Chris Martin delivered the iconic line: \u201cOh, what\u2026either they\u2019re having an affair or they\u2019re just very shy.\u201d Turns out, the latter was a little generous.<\/p>\n

To add to the madness, Astronomer then hired Martin\u2019s ex-wife Gwyneth Paltrow to be a \u201ctemporary spokesperson\u201d and the face of a new, tongue-in-cheek advertisement released to ride the publicity wave. Byron and Cabot have both since left the company. The latest Coldplay singles?<\/p>\n

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Labubu craze<\/h2>\n
\n

\"Labubu <\/p>\n<\/figure>\n

These dolls were everywhere. First seen swinging from the bag of South Korean Blackpink band member Lalisa Manobal \u2013 known as \u201cLisa\u201d \u2013 they were soon adopted by music icons Rihanna and Dua Lipa, and sporting greats Sir David Beckham and Naomi Osaka. \u201cApr\u00e8s Lalisa, la delulu\u201d, said essayist Mireille Silcoff in The New York Times. The \u201cjunky-looking fuzzy toy\u201d spiralled into a \u201cweird totem of adult fashion juvenilia\u201d, as both adults and children queued for hours to get their hands on the newest colour or style.<\/p>\n

You couldn\u2019t just buy them in shops, you had to wait until the next \u201cdrop\u201d, where crowds would break into a frenzy. The toys took a darker turn as the year wore on. The counterfeit market has caught up, with 236,000 Labubu dolls seized at UK borders alone, raising health and safety concerns. Such was the success of the Labubu boom, there are whispers circulating of a film deal, with Sony reportedly securing the rights, said The Hollywood Reporter. The craze continues.<\/p>\n

Blue Origin space mission<\/h2>\n
\n

\"Blue <\/p>\n<\/figure>\n

The space race took a strange turn this year. The 20th-century rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union is firmly in the rearview mirror. In April, a star-studded crew \u2013 including singer Katy Perry and CBS presenter Gayle King \u2013 embarked on an 11-minute space mission, rising more than 100km above the Earth. The Blue Origin mission was funded by Amazon boss Jeff Bezos, whose wife Lauren S\u00e1nchez was also on board. Upon landing, S\u00e1nchez told reporters that \u201cI looked out of the window and we got to see the Moon\u201d. Earth-shattering stuff.<\/p>\n

Perry, who performed Louis Armstrong\u2019s \u201cWhat a Wonderful World\u201d during the flight, said she felt like a \u201chuman pi\u00f1ata\u201d for the online abuse she received after the flight. The crew were slammed for these flights which were described as \u201cessentially just joyrides for the super-rich\u201d.<\/p>\n

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Sydney Sweeney\u2019s jeans<\/h2>\n
\n

\"Sydney <\/p>\n<\/figure>\n

Actor Sydney Sweeney appeared in an advert for jeans company American Eagle over the summer, under the tagline \u201cSydney Sweeney has great jeans\u201d. Wordplay-gone-wrong or a marketing epiphany? The pun on genes sparked online outrage, with many criticising the supposed idealisation of her skin colour and physique, even \u201cflirting with eugenic imagery\u201d, said Vanity Fair. As usual, sadly, any publicity was good publicity.<\/p>\n

Even the president weighed in on the controversy, after he found out she was affiliated to the Republican Party. \u201cShe\u2019s a registered Republican? Oh, now I love her ad,\u201d said Donald Trump. \u201cIf Sydney Sweeney is a registered Republican, I think her ad is fantastic.\u201d<\/p>\n

In September, shares in American Eagle Outfitters \u201cjumped\u201d more than 25% following Sweeney\u2019s involvement, said the FT. Her signature jeans had sold out within a week of launch, the company\u2019s executives said. Another commercial success, but at what cost? $89.95 (\u00a366.58) per pair.<\/p>\n

Louvre robbery<\/h2>\n
\n

\"Investigators <\/p>\n<\/figure>\n

Heists are usually seen only in films, but sometimes, life imitates art. October\u2019s heist at the world\u2019s most famous museum was a plotline straight out of \u201cOcean\u2019s 11\u201d or \u201cThe Thomas Crown Affair\u201d.<\/p>\n

Armed with a vehicle-mounted mechanical lift, four suspects arrived at 9:30am, shortly after the Louvre opened to visitors. They raised the lift to the first floor, cut through the glass, and made off with around \u00a376 million of loot. To add insult to injury, in November, it was revealed that a 2018 security audit conducted for the museum identified the balcony that was used as a weak point, warning that it could be accessed by a freight elevator, said Le Monde. D\u00e9j\u00e0 vu?<\/p>\n

In late November, the Paris Prosecutor\u2019s office confirmed that the fourth and final suspect for the crime had been arrested. The jewellery haul, however, remains at large \u2013 if you needed another reason to visit Paris.<\/p>\n

Explore More<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Subscribe to our newsletter When you think back over 2025 what comes to mind? A new Pope? The first signs of a peace deal in Gaza? The celebrity traitors? All valid contenders. But here are our choices of the most meme-orable, eye-rolling, jaw-dropping and head-scratching moments of the year.
\nColdplay kiss camThe moment of the year unravelled on that fateful mid-July day at a Coldplay concert in Foxborough, Massachusetts. Andy Byron, then CEO of tech company Astronomer, and the company\u2019s Chief People Officer Kristin Cabot broke away from a cosy embrace and ducked for cover to avoid being caught on kiss cam. A ripple of gasps in the audience ensued. Then Chris Martin delivered the iconic line: \u201cOh, what\u2026either they\u2019re having an affair or they\u2019re just very shy.\u201d Turns out, the latter was a little generous.
\nTo add to the madness, Astronomer then hired Martin\u2019s ex-wife Gwyneth Paltrow to be a \u201ctemporary spoke..<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":16267,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16266","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tie-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/skybeaconnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16266","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/skybeaconnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/skybeaconnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skybeaconnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skybeaconnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16266"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/skybeaconnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16266\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16272,"href":"https:\/\/skybeaconnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16266\/revisions\/16272"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skybeaconnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16267"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/skybeaconnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skybeaconnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16266"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skybeaconnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}