These were the biggest viral moments of 2024

As 2024 comes to an end, many of us will no doubt reflect on the last 12 months. So, it wouldn't be right to say goodbye to this past year without looking back on some of the best viral moments - and there were a lot.

Everything from an infamously doomed Willy's Chocolate Experience in Glasgow, the word "Demure" becoming part of everyone's vocabulary, living our best summer lives listening to Charli XCX's Brat on repeat, attending celebrity lookalike contests and falling in love with a baby pygmy hippo - you could say there was something for everyone.

Many of these viral moments originated on TikTok, but with the looming potential of the platform being banned in the US, it will be interesting to see what permeates pop culture in 2025.

Here are our picks of the biggest and best viral moments of 2024:

Willy Wonka experience

Who knew a £35-a-ticket Willy Wonka experience in Glasgow would cause such a viral frenzy?

It's fair to say families who bought tickets to the event were disappointed when they were met with a poorly-decorated warehouse and met bewildered Oompa Loompas. But what really stole the show on social media was the introduction of a new masked villain (not in the books) called ‘The Unknown’, which scared the kids - but became an internet icon.

Being 'very demure and very mindful'

If you've been hearing the words "very demure, very mindful" way too much over the last few months, then you'll probably know that it's now in everyone's vocabulary thanks to a viral TikTok trend, which originated with creator, Jools Lebron.

It all started when Jools, a self-proclaimed "fierce diva" created a satirical take on how people should act at work or in public.

For instance, in one clip, Jools showcases her low-key make-up for a day at work. "Very demure. Very mindful," she says.

"I don't come to work with a green-cut crease. I don't look like a clown when I go to work. I don't do too much. I'm very mindful while I'm at work. You see how I look very presentable?

"The way I came to the interview is the way I go to the job."

And it's been stuck in all of our heads ever since.

Brat summer

It's been all over our social media feeds and has topped many Spotify Wrapped playlists, so at this point, if you haven't heard Charli XCX's album Brat, then you've probably been living under a rock.

Fans embraced the lime green aesthetic and carefree party girl attitude that accompanied the album, as Charli declared it was a "brat summer" for all. One track off the album in particular, 'Apple', went viral thanks to a dance created by TikToker, Kelley Heyer.

With Brat receiving seven Grammy nominations, the hype is set to continue into 2025.

Kendrick Lamar vs Drake

Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images for Coachella and P

2024 was a great year for rap beef as fans watched rappers Kendrick Lamar and Drake go back and forth with diss tracks about one another throughout the months.

It all started with Lamar's guest verse on Future's "Like That" claimed he was the best rapper out of Drake, J Cole, and himself by rapping: “M********* the big three, n**** it’s just big me”.

While J Cole responded with his diss track "7 Minute Drill," which he later retracted and issued an apology, but Drake then hit back at Lamar with his song “Push Ups”.

All in all, there were nine diss songs released between Lamar and Drake where they both got personal, but ultimately in the public court of opinion, Lamar came out on top when he dropped the West Coast hip-hop track "Not Like Us."

Since then, Drake has launched legal action against Universal Music, accusing the label of artificially boosting streams of Kendrick Lamar’s "Not Like Us".

Reesa Teesa's Who TF Did I Marry?

TikTok story times are a genre of their own, and the best one of 2024 has to go Reesa Teesa's 50-video series titled: "Who TF Did I Marry?" where she breaks down her relationship and marriage to a man known as "Legion" - who she called a pathological liar.

With all the success online, the story is set to be made into a television series, starring and executive produced by Natasha Rothwell.

Hawk Tuah Girl

YouTube/Plan Bri Uncut

Hawk Tuah Girl is one of the biggest viral stars to come out of 2024. YouTubers, Tim & Dee TV, were interviewing various partygoers on the street, when they ran into Hailey Welch and her friend, quizzing them on a string of relationship-related topics.

In one of the snippets, she responds to an NSFW question in a Southern accent: "Oh, you gotta give him that hawk tuah and spit on that thang! You get me?"

Since then, the 22-year-old began selling her own Hawk Tuah merchandise, gained millions of followers on social media, and launched her own podcast called "Talk Tuah".

But Welch has found herself in a cryptocurrency controversy as of late, after her meme coin $HAWK token was publicised heavily and quickly rose to a $490 million market cap when launched on 4 December. However, it absolutely tanked within hours and lost around 95 per cent of its value, so those who bought the cryptocurrency collectively lost millions.

Raygun's breakdancing

B-Girl Raygun of Team Australia competes during the B-Girls Round Robin - Group B on day fourteen of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 at Place de la Concorde on August 09, 2024 in Paris, France. Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images

It was the Paris Olympics this year and it was marked by breaking (AKA break dancing) making its debut at the Games - and there was one particular athlete who stole the show.

Team Australia's Raygun, who competed in the B-Girls Round Robin went viral with her interesting dance moves which included the sprinkler and a kangaroo hop, and ultimately lost all three rounds and scored zero points.

Moo Deng the baby pygmy hippo

Moo Deng, a two-month-old female pygmy hippo who has recently become a viral internet sensation, is showered by a zookeeper at Khao Kheow Open Zoo in Chonburi province on September 15, 2024.Photo by LILLIAN SUWANRUMPHA/AFP via Getty Images

It wouldn't be the internet without there being a new animal going viral and in 2024 everyone fell in love with Moo Deng, a baby pygmy hippo.

The attention around Moo Deng began when Thailand’s Khao Kheow Open Zoo in Chonburi started sharing content about her life.

The hippo even made it to headlines across the world, with Vulture describing her as having "little teeny, tiny baby chompers, she’s perpetually wet, and her name means bouncy pork. It’s the ultimate recipe for internet cuteness."

The Associated Press described Moo Deng as having "the kind of face that launches a thousand memes".

Pesto the giant baby penguin

After Moo Deng came Pesto the giant penguin, who is the heaviest penguin chick the Sea Life Melbourne Aquarium has ever had, weighing in at a whopping 22 kilograms (49 pounds) at 9 months old, born at the start of this year.

To put this in perspective, Pesto's parents Hudson and Tango each weigh 11 kilograms (24 pounds) and the average Adult king penguins weigh between 9.5kg and 18kg, as per the Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition.

People have been visiting Pesto at the aquarium and posting videos of the penguin online - and he's even had celebrity guests such as Olivia Rodrigo and Katy Perry come to visit him.

Celebrity lookalike contests

A selection of entrants waits in line ahead of a Harry Styles lookalike competition in Soho Square on November 09, 2024 in London, England. After a Timothee Chalamet lookalike contest in New York went viral after the star gatecrashed the event, similar events have occurred with a Paul Mescal contest in Dublin and today, a Harry Styles event in London's Soho Square. Photo by Leon Neal/Getty Images

If you happened to look like an A-lister, then 2024 was your year, as fans randomly decided to host lookalike contests of their favourite celebrities.

It began in New York where there was a Timothee Chalamet lookalike contest which saw the actor himself turned up. From then, lookalike contests were hosted all over the world with a Harry Styles one taking place in London, a Paul Mescal one hosted in Dublin, and a Dev Patel lookalike contest in San Francisco, just to name a few.

Holding space for Wicked

Wicked was one of 2024's biggest film releases and stars Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo went viral for their intense press interviews about their roles.

But there was one particular interview conducted by Out’s Tracy E Gilchrist who made a viral comment about "holding space".

“I've seen this week that people are taking the lyrics of 'Defying Gravity' and really holding space with that and feeling power in that," she told the actors.

"Would you touch on that moment in the film Elphaba has been banished and yet she comes into her full power at that moment of the worst time?"

Erivo replied: "I didn't know that that was happening... that's really powerful. That's what I wanted."

Grande then squeezed Erivo's finger as the British actor added: "I think it's really important in that moment to not allow the things that have hurt her, that have stripped her of her humanity, to keep her down."

While there was confusion as to what "holding space" means everyone online has since been "holding space" for a lot of things in their life.

Elsewhere, here are nine stories from 2024 you've probably already forgotten about.

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