Doha, Qatar: From Labubus to 6-7 memes, internet has been abuzz with various viral trends and memes in 2025.
The Peninsula lists a few of the memorable ones that defined 2025.
The 6-7 mania
Dictionary.com named "67" its Word of the Year - pronounced six-seven, not sixty seven. The two-digit number has no inherent meaning, yet its surge in usage throughout the year shows no sign of stopping.
Yesterday at church the Bible readings started on page 66-67 of the missal, and my 5-year-old went absolutely nuts repeating "six seven" like 10 times. And now I think we need to make this narrow exception to the first amendment and ban these numbers forever.
— JD Vance (@JDVance) December 10, 2025
@g_unit24 How many times I heard 6 7 today as a teacher #teacherlife #sixseven #teachersoftiktok #teacher ♬ original sound - Gabe Dannenbring
While some users suggest it means "so-so" or "maybe this, maybe that", Dictionary.com says that the word itself is meaningless and nonsensical, with all the hallmarks of brainrot. That, in turn, leads to the next viral trend: Italian Brainrot.
Italian Brainrot
Another trend embraced by Gen Z and Gen Alpha, Italian Brainrot features shouty, crude and often nonsensical Italian voiceovers layered over short video clips.
School-age Italian Brainrot fans can now be found from Kenya to Spain and South Korea, while some of the most popular videos reference Indonesia's language and culture instead.
Read more: Italian Brainrot: the AI memes only kids know
One YouTube Short titled "Learn to Draw 5 Crazy Italian Brainrot Animals" -- including a cactus-elephant crossover named "Lirili Larila" -- has also been watched 431 million times.
Labubu dolls
Though this trend has now faded, the small, fuzzy, baring sharp teeth dolls from Chinese toy maker Pop Mart were a viral sensation until a few months back. From creepy to cute, Labubu dolls sparked a social media storm this year with customers lining up at stores to get their hands on them. It helped that these dolls adorned the handbags of celebrities such as Rihanna and Cher. While many found their "ugliness" as cute, others found them plain creepy.
Read more: Monsters and memes: Labubu dolls ride China soft-power wave
Skibidi, tradwife, delulu
Cambridge Dictionary, in its online edition, added 6,000 new entries, which included words popularised by Gen Z and Gen Alpha such as skibidi, delulu and tradwife.
The dictionary took on the challenge of defining skibidi, a word popularised in online memes, as a term which had "different meanings such as cool or bad, or can be used with no real meaning".
Delulu, derived from the word delusional, was defined as "believing things that are not real or true, usually because you choose to".
Meanwhile, tradwife, a portmanteau of traditional wife, was said to reflect "a growing, controversial Instagram and TikTok trend that embraces traditional gender roles".
Read more: 'Skibidi' and 'tradwife': social media words added to Cambridge dictionary
Another word that gained traction this year was vibe coding, which essentially means using AI to tell a machine what you want instead of coding it yourself. This term was named as Collins Word of the Year 2025 in its annual list of new and notable words that reflect the ever-evolving language.
Snoafers
One of the biggest trends in footwear combines the cushioned sole of a sneaker with the upper of a loafer, for a comfortable business casual shoe that is meant to be worn anywhere. Although their divisive appearance initially generated backlash, snoafers have emerged as a viral breakout category for major sneaker brands including New Balance, Hoka and Puma, selling out quickly and landing on online marketplaces at wildly inflated prices since last year.
Read more: Snoafers, a hybrid sneaker-loafer, become footwear’s hottest trend
Ghibli AI
Some time in the first half of 2025, the internet was abuzz with users discovering OpenAi's image generator that could replicate iconic animation style of Studio Ghibli.
Social media platforms, particularly X, were quickly inundated with AI-generated Ghibli memes, ranging from witty pop culture mashups to whimsical, dreamlike landscapes. Among the most viral creations are reimagined the classic memes in Ghibli’s signature aesthetic, while former boxer Mike Tyson also joined in by sharing an AI portrait of himself in Ghibli style, peacefully holding a dove.
Read more: Timeless charm of Ghibli: How AI is making the beloved animation style accessible to all
Porch geese
The beginning of 2025 saw concrete models of one unlikely animal soar in popularity: the goose. Life-size decorative goose statues, which were popular in 1920s in the US, made a surprising comeback as younger generations flocked to the trend. A 35-year-old Philadelphia resident, Allison Roddy said that the porch goose trend is fueled by its innate positivity. "Things are pretty bleak out there,” she says. "This is a way for us to just laugh at ourselves and maybe not take ourselves so seriously. I think millennials are coming into our own; we’re done with the ‘millennial gray,’ and now we want whimsy and dressed-up porch geese.”
Read more: A 1980s midwestern trend is back: The porch goose
