In the ever-evolving world of social media, trends tend to come and go at the speed of sound causing them to often not stay or stick around for long but this new year there has been an abnormality. In 2025, Tiktok remains one of the dominant social media platforms, with trends popular in 2020 rapidly making a resurgence in 2025 social media from dance videos, anime TikTok, and nostalgia videos with fresh twists of the original 2020 content and changes for the new 2025 audience.
In 2020, Tikok’s hallmark trend was its dance challenges. These viral dance routines often combine catchy music with easy-to-follow choreography, allowing users to quickly participate and put their spend on these catchy and entertaining trends. By 2025, TikTok dance culture will have grown, but the growing uses for the app will be insignificant compared to the original dominant use of the app. This isn’t to say it’s not still a large part of the app’s culture. But in the past few weeks on fyp or For You pages many of the app users have found they’ve seen people in 2025 dancing to iconic 2020 dance routines with nostalgic captions and hashtags.
Beyond dance, anime culture has emerged again as another key element of the app communities in 2025 often following the original popularity found in 2020 which in 2022- 2024 had somewhat lost popularity. In 2020, anime was undergoing a cultural resurgence and Tiktok was a hub for anime fandom. Today, anime-themed videos have remained seen and have exploded since the turn of the year. Tikok in the past and present has also helped elevate anime as a more mainstream cultural phenomenon, making it a space for discussions about favorite shows, characters, and new releases. Creators have found innovative ways to merge anime with common pop culture. One of the standout trends is the use of AMVs ( animated music videos), where users edit scenes together of their favorite animes to popular music and audio. This video often goes viral and connects to the ever-growing popularity of the media.
In 2025, TikTok algorithm and user preferences have further reinforced the platform’s role as a space for the diverse expression of identity and fandom. While things from dance videos to edits were groundbreaking then and still are now we all know TikTok will continue to evolve, and change over the years will always reflect its roots in creative and entertaining media.
