It may have been more than two weeks since the advent of the new year, but netizens are still reminiscing about the events that occurred a decade ago, with the ‘2026 is the new 2016’ trend having taken over the internet lately. The public on the internet seems to have given in to the nostalgia of a simpler time, with many effectively celebrating January 1, 2026, as the ten-year anniversary of an era that passed.
Here’s why 2016 throwback trend is all over the internet
On the first day of 2026, many took to social media to share their fondness for the year 2016, all the while attempting to revive the culture that held relevance back then. In accordance, users have posted ten-year-old snapshots of themselves, draped in Instagram’s once viral Rio de Janeiro filter and tuned to songs that lit up the world a decade ago, in a bid to recapture the vibes of that period.
One such TikTok user, who goes by the handle @taybrafang, curated a montage of a host of viral moments and clips from 2016 and posted on the video-sharing platform with Justin Bieber’s ‘Sorry’ playing in the background. The snippet showcased pictures of the lip-syncing app Musical.ly (which has since merged into TikTok), images of girls wearing viral flower crowns, oversaturated clicks of palm trees, and snaps featuring the infamous dog filter, among other things.
Videos of a similar kind also highlighted several viral trends from the year, including the bottle flip challenge, the dab, and fidget spinners. Most of the posts that catered to the ‘2026 is the new 2016’ trend busted out hymns that dominated the music scene, such as Desiigner’s Panda, Rae Sremmurd’s Black Beatles, DJ Snake and Major Lazer’s Lean On, and more.
Even high-profile celebrities hopped on the frenzy to decorate 2026 with the vibes of 2016. Charlie Puth shared a video of himself lip-syncing to his and Selena Gomez’s decade-old hit ‘We Don’t Talk Anymore’ with the caption, “Heard it was 2016 again?” on Instagram. Hailey Bieber made a similar reference to 2016, posting a video of herself and her pals, Kendall Jenner and Justine Skye, lip-syncing to MadeinTYO’s ‘I Want’ on TikTok.
Notably, the hashtag #2016 has so far spawned over 1.7 million posts on TikTok, probably making 2026 the new 2016.
Originally reported by Apoorv Rastogi on Mandatory
The post Celebrities Make ‘2026 is the New 2016’ Trend Go Viral appeared first on Reality Tea.