12 Most Viral Pop Culture Moments of 2023

After last year's rekindled obsession with The Royal Family and Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex released his memoir, Spare, in January 2023. Ghostwritten by J. R. Moehringer, Spare dives into his life in The Royal Family, his mother's death, falling in love with Meghan Markle, and many, many details. Although he reveals lots of raw details about his mother's death, the blood on his hands as a part of the British army, and the reality of the press, he also goes into what many consider excruciating detail about his frostbite. Quickly, his frostbite in his "nether regions," as he wrote, became the biggest takeaway from the memoir on social media.

At this year's Superbowl, Rihanna made history by being the first pregnant performer on the halftime show. Not only that, but she used the biggest football game of the year to announce her pregnancy to the world. The camera revealed Rihanna levitating 60 feet in the air, wearing an iconic red ensemble with a baby bump. Many viewers panicked, not wanting to assume she was pregnant. Social media flocked with uncertainty as users debated whether or not it was okay to assume she was pregnant. But after her confirmation, her performance transported the world back to Beyonce's 2017 Grammy performance in an impressively executed production. 

Beyoncé and Taylor Swift set off on their highest-grossing tours this year. Alongside the hype of Barbie, these two women dominated headlines. This year has definitely been for the girls. Beyoncé's Renaissance Tour generated almost 600 million dollars and Taylor Swift's The Eras Tour grossed one billion dollars, making these two tours some of the most historic ever. But what has been so remarkable about these two succeeding together is the Barbieness of it all. Both Beyoncé and Swift showed up to support each other at their respective tour movie premieres and have endlessly supported each other on social media. The world has reached some equilibrium with pop stars finally back at the center of pop culture.

Whispers of Kylie Jenner and Timothée Chalamet's relationship started echoing in April of this year, mostly from the pop culture fiend Deuxmoi. In July, the first photo of them emerged. The invasive photo pictured them at Chalamet's house. After a month or so of a whirlwind of rumors about their breakup and the circumstances of their relationship, Jenner and Chalamet casually showed up at Beyoncé's Rennaisance Tour together, marking their first public appearance as a couple. Who wouldn't do it for Beyoncé? Just a few days ago, Jenner began referring to Chalamet as her boyfriend, rounding out this pop culture moment with some confirmation.

As fans waited for Rihanna to arrive at the prestigious Met Gala's red carpet, a cockroach started running up the Upper East Side steps. Variety was the first to report on the sighting, saying "A cockroach has arrived at the #MetGala." In the video posted on Variety's Twitter, the reporter utters the words "he's hungry," followed by a plea for a photo of the cockroach on the carpet. Immediately, social media blew up with memes iconizing the off-brand Met Gala moment. Quickly after the sighting, Variety posted a farewell post to the roach. It's safe to say that this legendary cockroach may have stolen the show. 

It's shocking to think that the Titan submersible implosion happened only a few months ago. For days, five people were stuck in the Titan submersible which only had 96 hours of oxygen available. They went on this expedition to view the remains of the famous Titanic ship. The world sat in anticipation wondering if they could ever escape or, more likely, that the vehicle would implode. After its implosion that killed all five people immediately, many people outside of OceanGate, the company that sent the Titan submersible down to the Titanic remains, started weighing in saying it was "an accident waiting to happen," according to a former OceanGate employee. Many experts, told OceanGate's founder, Stockton Rush, of their concerns but he ignored them. The five passengers paid $250,000 each to experience most people's worst nightmare. But this event took over the Internet, with people sharing their thoughts and making memes for weeks. 

On July 21, 2023, two of the biggest films of 2023 came out on the same day. As one of the biggest double releases since Mamma Mia and The Dark Night were released on the same day in 2008, Barbie and Oppenheimer battled it out this year. The two movies may have targeted different audiences, but many moviegoers came together to double-feature both films by two of the greatest directors of our time, Greta Gerwig and Christopher Nolan. 

Last year, Elon Musk acquired Twitter. But this July, he made the confounding decision to rebrand the well-established app into 'X.' We had to say a reluctant goodbye to the blue bird we've known for years and say hello to the plain white 'X' on a black background. He even insisted that the headquarters represent the new brand. Although Musk attempted to change the fate of the brand, most users still refuse to let go of the Twitter they've known for most of their lives. Twitter has had such a sizable impact on culture that it has its own unerasable verbiage in the word "tweet." We'll have to wait to see if anyone ever accepts this brand change but for now, we can laugh about the many tweets poking fun at the rebranding. 

These two lovebirds have been inundating headlines for months now. When Travis Kelce first mentioned wanting to give a friendship bracelet to Taylor Swift at her Eras Tour show in Kansas City, Swifties and sports fans from all over began paying attention. But when Swift showed up at her first Kansas City Chiefs game to support Kelce on the field she sang on only a few months before, the internet quite literally broke. Kelce jersey sales spiked, the NFL fangirled over Swift's presence, and Swift's seemingly ranch became a viral phenomenon. 

A few months into the pair's fling, Swift finally confirmed that the Cheif's game was not the couple's first date. "I think some people think that they saw our first date at that game? We would never be psychotic enough to hard launch a first date," Swift admitted in her Time Magazine Person of the Year interview. Regardless, Swifties and football fans have been forever united through this seemingly oddball but apparently successful pairing. As we enter the new year, we can all sit back in anticipation for the next pop culture moment from these two. 

After years of rumors of former President Donald Trump's arrest, X, formally known as Twitter, users got ahold of his mugshot this August after his stay in an Atlanta jail. Quickly, his mugshot infiltrated the social media platform, with memes circulating almost immediately. Users compared Trump to the blue steel look in Zoolander and the Stanley Kubrick stare. People started selling merch with his mugshot, most notably mugs with his mugshot. Creativity was not at a loss this year in the pop culture sphere. 

2023 has been the year for devastating breakups, from Kylie Jenner and Travis Scott to Meryl Streep and Don Gummer to Taylor Swift and Joe Alwyn. But one of the most shocking and viral breakups were Joe Jonas and Sophie Turner. After two years of marriage and the birth of their two kids, Jonas filed for divorce in September of 2023. The plot really thickened when the internet got word that Turner didn't know about the divorce until social media did. The two subsequently entered a heated custody battle but were able to come to an agreement. 

Taylor Russell couldn't save dear Harry Styles from his haircut faux pas. On a fateful day in November, a blurry photo of a bald Harry Styles began circulating social media, fans in denial about the loss of his luscious locks. After the haircut was confirmed, fans were devastated, trying to justify his actions saying it was for an acting part. But a month later, no confirmation has come out about any new roles that could have caused the chop. From man-bun to a bald head, fans of Styles have had to bear the reality of his poor hair choices most of this year.