From Labubu mayhem to the Diddy trial: These are the cultural moments that defined 2025

The year 2025 has been filled with cultural absurdities.

The year 2025 has been filled with cultural absurdities.

Toothy plush dolls became one of the hottest and most elusive collectibles. A fiery feud between two rappers boiled over at the Super Bowl. And a viral cheating scandal between a boss and his employee became the biggest meme of the year.

Here’s a full look at NBC News’ list of the biggest cultural moments of 2025.

After months of anticipation for the day U.S. users would lose access to TikTok, a nationwide ban of the app — which was supposed to take effect in January — puttered out as neither President Joe Biden nor President Donald Trump expressed interest in enforcing the new law. U.S. users anxiously rushed to join other platforms, including the Chinese-owned RedNote, in protest, but Trump repeatedly delayed the ban until he finally struck a deal in September to transfer majority ownership of TikTok to Americans.

He's not like us: Kendrick Lamar didn't hold back this year.Gregory Shamus / Getty ImagesKendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl halftime show turns heads Fresh off of winning five Grammy Awards for his Drake diss track “Not Like Us,” Lamar rapper headlined the Super Bowl halftime show in a performance that averaged 133.5 million views (the most-watched Super Bowl halftime ever recorded). Samuel L. Jackson, dressed as Uncle Sam, narrated the show, which featured a cameo from Serena Williams and appearances from SZA and DJ Mustard. Lamar’s Super Bowl rendition of “Not Like Us,” performed to a loudly singing crowd, escalated Drake’s lawsuit against Universal Music Group for its promotion of the song. But in October, a federal judge dismissed Drake’s defamation suit against the record label, marking the legal culmination of a prolific feud between the two that spanned much of 2024 and part of 2025.