Internet trends move fast these days, and the memes from 2025 started out strong and didn’t stop throughout the year. At Bark, our team stays attuned to the ever-changing memes, sounds, and snippets, and last year was a pretty good year for online hilarity.
Take a trip down memory lane with us as we reveal our favorite memes of 2025 — you’re sure to recognize a few!
The Bark 2025 Meme Hall of Fame
Lizard, lizard
Where it comes from: This cute green animated lizard appeared at the end of the 2025 Disney film Elio to promote the 2026 film Hoppers. The clip shows the lizard pressing a button repeatedly to throw lizard emojis up on an animated screen. Each time he presses it, a robotic voice utters “lizard.”
What it means: Repeating “lizard, lizard” over and over again quickly became a sort of shorthand used for annoying or repetitive tasks. It also, like so many other memes, doesn’t have to mean anything in particular.
Jet2holiday
Where it comes from: This earworm actually comes from a British commercial for Jet2, a travel agency. The viral snippet includes part of a song called “Hold My Hand” by Jess Glynne overlaid with the lines “Nothing beats a Jet2 holiday, and right now you can save £50 per person. That's £200 off for a family of four.”
What it means: In addition to being insanely catchy, the sound was usually used over videos of people experiencing a stressful, chaotic, or unplanned event on trips. Think jet ski mishaps, flooded buses, and airplane misadventures. It’s not a trending sound anymore, but for a while, every video on the internet seemed to be cashing in on it.
Italian brainrot
Where it comes from: The origins of Italian brainrot are a little obscure, like many forms of brainrot — they’re mainly just nonsense words. Skibidi was a big one for a while, you may remember. Italian brainrot started with nonsense animals like tralalero tralala, a shark wearing Nike shoes, and Bombardiro Crocodilo, a military bomber plane with a crocodile face. Soon, countless other animal creations with Italian-sounding names appeared.
What it means: Sadly, these don’t really mean anything. They’re just funny to say and spoken with a catchy, faux Italian accent that spread like wildfire across schools and the internet.
6-7
Where it comes from: 6-7, like many memes, has its origin in a soundbite from a song by Skrilla called “Doot Doot (6 7).” By December 2024, this clip was being used in edits of basketball player LaMelo Ball, who is 6’7” in height. Kids began saying “6-7” while also moving their hands up and down in a see-saw motion.
What it means: It’s a very popular inside joke that’s more like a wink. It’s not unlike “skibidi” in this sense, in that it's the utterance of it that matters, along with the knowing recognition from another person. You can take two kids of different ages and backgrounds who live across the country from each other, and if one says 6-7, the other will say it back with a smile and a nod.
Coldplay couple
Where it comes from: This was a quick video clip of Astronomer CEO Andy Byron hugging the company’s HR leader, Kristin Cabot, on a Coldplay concert jumbotron. When they realized everyone could see them, they tried to hide their faces, and singer Chris Martin joked that they were having an affair. It turns out they were — and that’s where the drama started!
What it means: Sometimes a meme is just a parody of a real-life event, which is exactly what happened here. Other people copied the pose of the two co-workers, spreading it even further. In response, Astronomer hired Gwyneth Paltrow to do a tongue-in-cheek reaction video to address the virality of the incident.
Katy Perry in space
Where it comes from: Back in April, Katy Perry, along with Gayle King and other celebrities, boarded a Blue Origin rocket and spent 11 minutes in space. The trip was meant to be a girl-power-fueled adventure, but Katy Perry was a bit extra in her reaction to the trip.
What it means: The internet quickly made fun of Katy’s over-the-top emotional response, from singing “What a Wonderful World” in zero gravity to kissing the earth once they landed. Many were a bit mean-spirited, commenting on the wasteful nature of a performative space journey that didn’t go anywhere.
Chicken jockey
Where it comes from: In the 2025 film A Minecraft Movie, Jack Black’s character Steve simply says, “chicken jockey.” In the scene, he’s referring to a baby zombie riding on a chicken, which is called a chicken jockey in Minecraft.
What it means: “Chicken jockey” is used online to call out anything small riding or tagging along on something bigger, usually in a funny way. Kids also just like to repeat in the same way as skibidi or Italian brainrot.
Little French fish
Where it comes from: In April 2025, a TikTok animation of an orange, two-legged fish with arms named Steve went viral, set to a catchy song sung in French.
What it means: This one gets points for being just plain weird. Steve is “le poisson” – the fish – and the entire short song is just French lyrics about how he has arms and legs. Most videos show variations of an orange fish, whether a real-life goldfish, another animated version, or even someone in costume.
Holy airball
Where it comes from: Holy airball! This TikTok trend set to Jeezy’s Soul Survivor went viral, with people sharing stories of someone totally messing up or misunderstanding something — aka, an airball (when you make a shot in basketball that doesn’t even get near the rim or basket).
What it means: Kids say “holy airball” when expressing an epic fail. It’s pretty straightforward and usually hilarious.
100 men vs 1 gorilla
Where it comes from: This phrase went viral online after a video and memes showed an image of a lone gorilla surrounded by 100 humans, inspiring absurd “versus” scenarios.
What it means: This one’s a little more abstract and is used to hype up an impossible or ridiculous challenge, usually joking about odds that make no sense.
Louvre robbed
Where it comes from: The world’s most famous museum was robbed by masked bandits in something out of a heist film, and the internet went absolutely wild.
What it means: It soon became a way to joke about chaos, wild plans, or over-the-top situations — usually not literal, just absurd humor.
We listen & we don't judge
Where it comes from: The “we listen & we don’t judge” challenge involves people taking turns revealing their secrets, with everyone repeating the phrase, "We listen & we don't judge," after each confession.
What it means: This one signals a judgment-free zone where people can spill the tea without fear of getting in trouble. The best ones are couples admitting to absolutely wild things the other person doesn’t know about, like when they say they’re running errands but are really eating Chipotle in the car.
Need Help Navigating Your Child’s Digital World?
Keeping up with your child’s digital world can feel overwhelming, especially when trends and slang move so rapidly. The good news is that you don’t have to know everything to stay involved in your child’s life. Being curious, asking questions, and keeping the conversation going can go a long way.
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