Feeling nostalgic? What about now?
Graduation is quickly approaching, which means the end of nearly a lifelong student career for many seniors. If you aren’t already getting emotional about this great monumental moment, I thought I’d put together a list of trends from all our years of schooling so we can laugh and grumble about our fading youth.
2001:
- People were listening to “Drops of Jupiter,” “Bootylicious” and “Fallin’”
- “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,” “Shrek” and “Monsters Inc.” hit the theaters
- “Fairly Odd Parents” premiered on Nickelodeon
- Britney and Justin wore all denim to the AMA’s
- The first iPod was released
- The first juicy tracksuit was made for Madonna
2002:
- People were listening to “A Thousand Miles,” “Dilemma” and Avril Lavigne’s debut album
- “Lilo and Stitch,” “Spiderman” and “The Bourne Identity” hit the theaters
- Kelly Clarkson won season one of “American Idol”
- Sanyo SCP-5300 was the first phone with built-in camera
- People were wearing Crocs and Heelys
2003:
- People were listening to “Lose Yourself,” “In Da Club,” “Crazy in Love” and “Hey Ya!”
- “Finding Nemo,” “Holes” and “Love Actually” hit the theaters
- “The Lizzie McGuire Movie” and “The Cheetah Girls” premiered
- Tyra introduced the world to “America’s Next Top Model”
- Trucker hats, low rise jeans, yoga pants, cargo pants and shorts, light-wash bootcut jeans and tube tops were all the latest fashion
- Crazy Frog was created
- Myspace was founded
2004:
- “This Love” made Maroon 5 big, and American Idiot was released
- “Anchorman,” “Napoleon Dynamite” and “Mean Girls” gained cult followings
- Rachel got off the plane, and “Friends” ended
- “Drake and Josh” premiered on Nickelodeon
- Ashlee Simpson lip-synced on SNL
- thefacebook.com went live at Harvard
- Livestrong bracelets kickstarted the wearing rubber bands to show support for causes trend
2005:
- People were listening to “Don’t Cha,” “Gold Digger,” “My Humps” and “Sugar, We’re Going Down”
- “Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe,” Batman Begins” and Madagascar” hit the theaters
- “The Office,” “How I Met Your Mother” and “The Suite Life of Zack and Cody” premiered
- YouTube was founded
- Guitar Hero hit the shelves
- Carrie Underwood won season four of “American Idol”
- Ties with regular clothes, Ugg boots, shrugs and tennis visors were all the latest fashion
- “Twilight” hit the shelves
- Webkinz and Club Penguin kept us busy online
2006:
- People were listening to “SexyBack,” “Chasing Cars” and “S.O.S.”
- “Little Miss Sunshine,” “Cars” and “Borat” hit the theaters
- “Hannah Montana,” “30 Rock,” “Dexter” and “Ugly Betty” premiered
- “High School Musical” premiered on Disney Channel
- Facebook became available for anyone 13+
- Twitter launched
- Steve Irwin died
- Blu-ray players, the Nintendo DS and the Nintendo Wii were invented
2007:
- People were listening to “Crank That (Soulja Boy) [and learning the dance],” “Umbrella,” “Apologize” and “Beautiful Girls”
- “Juno,” “Ratatouille,” “Bee Movie” and “SuperBad” hit the theaters
- “Keeping Up with the Kardashians” premiered
- Netflix announced their streaming service
- Britney shaved her head
- Beyoncé released the B-Phone with Samsung
- Ripstiks were invented
2008:
- People were listening to “I am…Sasha Fierce” [and dancing to “Single Ladies”], “I Kissed a Girl,” “Burnin’ Up” and “Viva la Vida”
- “Iron Man,” “WALL-E,” “Twilight,” “ Step Brothers” and “Slumdog Millionaire” hit the theaters
- Heath Ledger died after the premiere of “The Dark Night”
- “The Hunger Games” hit the shelves
- Leggings became pants
- Wayfarer glasses and shutter shades hid everyone’s eyes
- Obama became the first African American president of the United States
2009:
- People were listening to Lady Gaga’s new album “The Fame,” “Boom Boom Pow,” “FireFlies” and “Party in the U.S.A.”
- “Avatar,” “The Hangover,” “Up” and “The Blind Side” hit the theaters
- Tiana became the first black Disney princess in “The Princess and the Frog”
- “Glee,” “Modern Family” and “Jersey Shore”
- Kanye dissed Taylor at the VMAs
- Miley Cyrus pole-danced at the Teen Choice Awards
- Pepe the frog made his way across MySpace
2010:
- People were listening to “Airplanes,” “Forget You,” “Just the Way You Are” and “California Gurls”
- “Inception,” “Toy Story 3,” “How to Train Your Dragon” and “True Grit” hit the theaters
- “The Walking Dead” premiered satisfying everyone’s zombie craze
- The Angry Birds app launched
- Dabbing started
- Dubstep came to the U.S.
- Silly Bandz were life
- Nike elite socks and pink yoga pants were all the fashion
2011:
- People were listening to “Rolling in the Deep,” “Superbass,” “Country Girls (Shake it for Me)” and “Love on Top”
- “The Help,” “Captain America: The First Avenger,” “Bridesmaids” and “Midnight in Paris” hit the theaters
- “Game of Thrones” premiered
- “Fifty Shades of Grey” hit the shelves
- The Harry Potter series met its end with “Deathly Hallows Part 2”
- The Oprah Winfrey Show ended
- People started planking and twerking everywhere for no reason
- Will and Kate got married
- The world met Siri
- Snapchat launched
2012:
- People were listening to “Radioactive,” “Call Me Maybe,” “Gangnam Style” [horrendous dance included], “Ho Hey” and “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together”
- “The Avengers,” “Lincoln,” “The Hunger Games,” “Brave” and “Wreck-It Ralph” hit the theaters
- Tebowing was a thing
- Instagram launched
- Memes and GIFs exploded on the internet
- The world was supposed to end
2013:
- People were listening to “Blurred Lines,” “Wrecking Ball,” “Royals” and “Story of My Life”
- “12 Years a Slave,” “The Great Gatsby,” “Frozen” and “The Wolf of Wall Street” hit the theaters
- People were crazy about the Harlem shake and nae naeing
- Vine launched
- Athleisure took to the streets
- “Orange is the New Black” premiered, kicking off Netflix’s original content
- Blockbuster closed
2014:
- People were listening to “Fancy,” “Habits (Stay High),” “Uptown Funk,” “Thinking Out Loud” and “Blank Space”
- “Boyhood,” “The Lego Movie,” “Unbroken,” “The Fault in Our Stars” and “Big Hero Six” hit the theaters
- The Ice Bucket Challenge, Alex from Target and selfie sticks swept the nation
- Bae and turnt up unironically pierced our vocabularies
- Man buns graced our fine country
- Amazon Alexa launched
2015:
- People were listening to “Hello,” “What Do You Mean,” “Trap Queen” and “The Hills”
- “Inside Out,” “The Martian,” “The Revenant,” “The Force Awakens,” “Room” and “Trainwreck” hit the theaters
- “Empire” and “The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” premiered
- 1989 brought us new Taylor music and a new celeb girl squad
- “Girl on the Train” hit the shelves
- Hamilton premiered on Broadway with glowing reviews that swept across the world
- Misty Copeland became the first African American female named principal dancer at the American Ballet Theatre
- Jon Snow died
- Caitlyn Jenner introduced herself
- Netflix and chill became a thing
- One Direction broke up
- The blue and black/white and gold dress infuriated the internet
2016:
- People were listening to “Closer,” “Hotline Bling,” “Can’t Stop the Feeling,” “Formation” and “Cheap Thrills”
- “La La Land,” “Moonlight,” “Moana” and “Hidden Figures” hit the theaters
- “Stranger Things” and “This is Us” premiered
- “Full House” and “Gilmore Girls” got revivals
- People were doing the mannequin challenge and flipping water bottles to go viral
- Pokémon Go distracted us all
- Lemonade broke the internet
- Leo got his Oscar
- #oscarssowhite happened
- Bradgelina broke up
- Avocado toast broke Instagram
2017:
- People were listening to “HUMBLE,” “Sign of the Times,” “Perfect” and “Green Light”
- “Get Out,” “Coco,” “Wonder Woman,” “Lady Bird” and “Shape of Water” hit the theaters
- Taylor Swift broke her hiatus to drop “Reputation”
- “The Handmaid’s Tale” premiered
- #metoo resurged
- Women’s marches took to the streets across the nation
- There was unicorn everything
- “Fake news” made life hard for everyone
2018:
- People were listening to “This Is America,” “Girls Like You,” “God’s Plan,” “Havana” and “High Hopes”
- “Black Panther,” “A Star is Born,” “Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse,” “Incredibles 2,” “Bohemian Rhapsody” and “Crazy Rich Asians” hit the theaters
- “Queer Eye” got its fabulous revival
- The #inmyfeelings challenge went viral
- Harry and Meghan got married
- Liam and Miley got married in secret
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