History will remember — or choose to forget — a lot about 2016, and much of that will live forever archived on Twitter.
The top trends of the year ranged from the Olympics to Game of Thrones, covering everything in between from the Brexit to #BlackLivesMatter. Celebrities, movies, GIFs and challenges paint a picture of the 2016 in danger of drowning but looking firmly in the other direction.
Here are Twitter’s top 10 trending topics in 2016:
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#Rio2016
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#Election2016
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#PokemonGo
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#Euro2016
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#Oscars
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#Brexit
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#Blacklivesmatter
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#Trump
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#RIP
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#GameofThrones
The top global retweets came from YouTuber Rubiu5’s giveaway, a cheeky Harry Styles, and from Hillary Clinton after her election concession speech.
LIMONADA ?
— elrubius (@Rubiu5) August 20, 2016
I don’t know about you, but I’m feeling 22.
— Harry Styles. (@Harry_Styles) February 1, 2016
“To all the little girls watching…never doubt that you are valuable and powerful & deserving of every chance & opportunity in the world.”
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) November 9, 2016
It was another huge year for musicians on Twitter, with musical artists eight of the top 10 most followed celebrities.
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Katy Perry
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Justin Bieber
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Taylor Swift
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Rihanna
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Lady Gaga
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Ellen DeGeneres
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Justin Timberlake
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Kim Kardashian West
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Britney Spears
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Selena Gomez
The top retweeted musical artists were both former One Direction members: Harry Styles, with his Taylor Swift lyrics, and Louis Tomlinson celebrating the birth of his son.
I don’t know about you, but I’m feeling 22.
— Harry Styles. (@Harry_Styles) February 1, 2016
Meet my little lad, Freddie ? pic.twitter.com/nec7OqwuQR
— Louis Tomlinson (@Louis_Tomlinson) January 28, 2016
I’m pleased to say my baby son was born yesterday 🙂 ? He is healthy and pretty amazing 🙂 I’m very happy!!
— Louis Tomlinson (@Louis_Tomlinson) January 23, 2016
Top Trending Challenges:
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#MannequinChallenge
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#SoGoneChallenge
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#RunningManChallenge
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#HuhChallenge
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#TrustFallChallenge
The highest trending TV shows were Game of Thrones, The Walking Dead and Grey’s Anatomy, with a list rounded out by international sensations like Big Brother Brasil and the South Korean drama Descendants of the Sun.
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#GameOfThrones (Game of Thrones)
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#TheWalkingDead (The Walking Dead)
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#GreysAnatomy (Grey’s Anatomy)
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#DescendantsOfTheSun (Descendants of the Sun)
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#MasterChefbr (Masterchef Brasil)
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#OITNB (Orange is the New Black)
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#StrangerThings (Stranger Things)
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#Empire (Empire)
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#TheVoice (The Voice)
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#Bbb16 (Big Brother Brasil)
Science fiction and major franchises ruled the movie trends, led by Star Wars, Suicide Squad and Deadpool, and including family films like Finding Dory and Zootopia.
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#StarWars (Star Wars)
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#SuicideSquad (Suicide Squad)
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#Deadpool (Deadpool)
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#HarryPotter (Harry Potter)
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#Batmanvsuperman (Batman vs Superman)
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#CaptainAmericaCivilWar (Captain America Civil War)
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#FindingDory (Finding Dory)
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#TheRevenant (The Revenant)
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#Zootopia (Zootopia)
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#Ghostbusters (Ghostbusters)
So when you remember 2016, remember what we learned, but also remember the weird videos and GIFs we made in the process. Top videos:
Damn Daniel pic.twitter.com/Va10hmpePO
— Joshua Holz (@Josholzz) February 16, 2016
Happy Birthday babe pic.twitter.com/Ee38e4LVFj
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) October 21, 2016
I made my girl film my #sogonechallenge pic.twitter.com/hWaznUgs2q
— Lil Chano From 79th (@chancetherapper) August 10, 2016
Top GIFs:
Actual footage from the first date with my wife. Tried to surprise her and totally forgot I was a fucking shark. pic.twitter.com/7AxuauYH2e
— Ryan Reynolds (@VancityReynolds) June 24, 2016
20年の旅。20周年おめでとうございます!#Pokemon20 #ポケモン20周年 pic.twitter.com/fhCpBEvZGQ
— memi (@_gamemix_) March 2, 2016
Why is a 99 ice cream £1.25 whys it still called a 99 ??? the world doesn’t make any sense anymore pic.twitter.com/dMbVz9IYow
— Liam (@LiamPayne) March 9, 2016
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