Updated on December 10, 2021
Although it’s not even mid-December, Twitter’s decided it’s already time for a year in review of the events of 2015. As such, they’ve released a special wrap-up page, showing the various topics and hashtags that’ve been trending.
Twitter’s also listed the top memorable topics of the year as discussed on Twitter. Most of the topics are related to politics, or reflective of who uses Twitter. The topics (listed by hashtag):
- #ParisAttacks. The two terrorist attacks in Paris this year. The first attack was in January at the offices of “Charlie Hebdo” and its cartoonists, and the second attack was last month across the city.
- #BlackLivesMatter. The shootings of African-Americans in Ferguson, Charleston, and elsewhere, especially police-led shootings, have seen plenty of protests this year. I’ve written earlier this year about the influence of “Black Twitter” and its users.
- #MarriageEquality. The US Supreme Court on June 26 made history by legalizing same-sex marraige nationwide, resulting in much use of the “#LoveWins” hashtag and general celebrating. Same-sex marriage was also legalized in Ireland.
- #RefugeesWelcome. The Syrian refugee crisis became a prominent concern late this year, with debate by many countries over whether to accept the refugees. Hashtags similar to “#RefugeesWelcome” were used by those that felt refugees should be welcomed.
- #IStandWithAhmed. The teenage boy whose science project (a homemade clock) was thought to be a bomb by his clueless Texas school saw many online, including President Obama, side with him.
- National elections. National elections were held in several countries, including India, Singapore, Argentina, the UK, and Canada.
- #FIFAWWC. This year was the Women’s World Cup, which saw the United States become this year’s champions. Of course, this year also saw a lot of discussion about corruption in FIFA.
- #PlutoFlyBy. A space probe did a fly-by of Pluto in July, causing a big amount of buzz online. The probe left Earth in 2006, the same year Pluto was demoted to dwarf planet status.
- #TheDress. On a frivolous note was a debate over what color a dress (seen in different lighting) truly was.
- Caitlyn Jenner joined Twitter. Ms. Jenner broke Twitter records in becoming the fastest person to reach a million followers after joining Twitter. The previous record holder, not long earlier? President Obama.
On specific topics, here’s the top trending hashtags for technology in 2015:
If wondering, YouNow is basically an attempt to compete with Periscope in the live video streaming space.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any way to get data about comics-related hashtags used in 2015, though there’s some websites (mostly non-free ones, from what I found) that offered such specific information.
