As 2025 draws to a close and we look ahead to 2026, it’s time to reflect on what made the year memorable, both for RHS students and for people around the world.

This year was jam-packed in the pop culture department. Movies like “A Minecraft Movie” became blockbusters, Bad Bunny dominated global music charts and teachers everywhere may be forever haunted by two numbers: 6 and 7.

Rampage took a closer look at how RHS students compared to Americans and even global audiences when it came to pop culture preferences in 2025.

Movies

According to Box Office Mojo, this year’s highest-grossing domestic film was “A Minecraft Movie,” hauling in just under half a billion dollars. “Lilo & Stitch,” “Superman,” “Jurassic World: Rebirth” and “Wicked: For Good” rounded out the top five.

Nationwide, young fans who saw “A Minecraft Movie” in theaters said it was something special. Soon after its U.S. release in April, viral videos surfaced on social media showing audience members throwing popcorn into the air during the “Chicken Jockey” scene, leading to chaos and cleanup in theaters across America.

“When we watched the movie, almost from the first minute, people were screaming and causing issues,” RHS sophomore Scott Kerin said. “In fact, before we entered the theater, some guy working there asked us if we were going to cause problems because of how many issues they had with teenagers. Once the Chicken Jockey scene happened, I’d say like half the room threw up popcorn.”

RHS students seemed to take a one-two-skip-a-few approach to moviegoing in 2025. Of the students Rampage polled, 40% saw “A Minecraft Movie,” 30% saw “Superman” and 20% saw “Wicked: For Good,” which aligns with three of the top five most-seen films nationwide.

On the other hand, hardly any RHS students reported seeing “Lilo & Stitch” and “Jurassic World: Rebirth.” This makes sense, however, as Randolph students may be too old for “Lilo & Stitch” and too young to have grown up as “Jurassic Park” fans. 

RHS Students’ Favorite Films in 2025

Music

Spotify, which tracks worldwide data, named Bad Bunny as the most-streamed artist of 2025. This dethroned Taylor Swift, who finished at number two. Rounding out the top five were The Weeknd, Drake and Billie Eilish, according to Spotify’s 2025 Wrapped website.

“Bad Bunny being number 1 is really surprising,” sophomore Dean Lee said. “On social media, I feel like I am always hearing music from rappers like Drake or Playboi Carti.”

Randolph students were all over the place with their number ones. While there was no clear favorite, Drake topped 13% of RHS students’ top five most-streamed artists. Other picks included Tyler the Creator and Benson Boone, Rampage advisor Janice Finnell’s personal favorite. 

RHS Students’ Favorite Artists in 2025

Slang

There’s no need for a website to confirm what most Americans already know: 2025 belonged to the term “67.” The phrase took the world by storm this year, infiltrating the speech of nearly every age group. About 50% of Randolph students reported it as their most-used slang.  

Nationally, “67” became the most-used slang term of the year and was named Dictionary.com’s Word of the Year.

“I can’t wait for ‘67’ to be over,” Finnell said. “I look forward to saying ‘turn to page 67’ again without chaos erupting in my classroom.”