It’s a brand new year and we have our resolutions in place. But before we get into 2022, here’s a recap of all the pop culture and newsworthy content that happened in 2021. What a crazy year, huh?

January

On January 20, history was made as Joseph R. Biden Jr. was sworn in as the 46th President of the United States and Kamala Devi Harris was sworn in as the 49th Vice President of the United States. The inauguration called for unity across the country and included former presidents as well as a former vice president. And thanks to Bernie Sanders, we got some seriously high-quality memes.

February

On February 7, Super Bowl LV took place in Tampa, Florida, with the Kansas City Chiefs facing the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Bucs were crowned champions with a 31-9 victory, giving Tom Brady his seventh Super Bowl ring. Many viewers found everything about the game underwhelming, including The Weeknd’s Halftime Show as well as the ads that ran during the game. Wha whaaaa.

March

After being postponed in January, The 63rd Annual Grammy Awards were finally held on Sunday, March 14—and the ceremony did not disappoint. History was made with Beyoncé becoming the most Grammy-winning female artist ever and earning more awards than any performer—male or female. In addition, Taylor Swift became the first female to win Album of the Year three times. The night belonged to women as female musicians dominated by winning in nearly every category (with a few notable exceptions). From Megan Thee Stallion, Dua Lipa, Beyonce, Taylor Swift, H.E.R, Lady Gaga, and many others, the Grammys proved that women ruled the music industry in 2020.

April

Over the course of the month, the nation had its eyes on the Trial of Derek Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd last May. After hearing weeks of witness and expert testimony from both the prosecution and defense, a verdict was rendered on April 10, after 10-hours of deliberation. The jury found Derek Chauvin guilty on all three counts: Second-degree Unintentional Murder, Third-degree Murder, and Second-degree Manslaughter. Across the nation, people saw this as a historic day since many police officers have been acquitted rather than be held accountable for their actions.

May

You may or may not have heard a little song during the beginning of 2021 known as “Driver’s License” by Olivia Rodrigo—it dominated the charts for eight consecutive weeks. Well, after releasing three singles, the artist put out her debut album Sour to acclaim from critics and the public. As of now, Olivia is set to have her album debut at #1 and become the first female artist to have two songs from a debut album debut at number one on the Billboard Chart.

June

On Thursday, June 17, the United States Senate unanimously voted to recognize June 19th, otherwise known as Juneteenth, as a federal holiday. This day commemorates the emancipation of enslaved African Americans. While the Emancipation Proclamation was issued in 1863, it was not until 1865 when federal troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, to take control of the state and ensure that all enslaved people were freed. Juneteenth is an important day for the United States not just as a holiday, but as a remembrance that there is still work to be done to ensure everyone is treated equally.

July

After a tremendous season, the NBA season came to an end on July 20th with the Milwaukee Bucks defeating the Phoenix Suns 105-98 in Game 6. The Phoenix Suns now have a third Conference Title under their belts and while things might not have gone the way we wanted this season, there’s definitely hope for the future of the team.

August 

The 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics concluded on Sunday, August 8, and we are surprised they were able to pull it off with the Delta variant lingering over the games. Team USA ended up first in the medal count as American athletes came home with a total of 113 medals: 39 gold, 41 silver, and 33 bronze. Some highlights from the games included Allyson Felix becoming the most decorated U.S. Olympic track athlete ever, US Women’s basketball extending their winning streak to 55 games, US Women’s gymnastics rising to the occasion to win silver after Simone Biles pulled out due to “the twisties” and mental health concerns, and Caeleb Dressel & Katie Ledecky dominating the swimming events.

September

September 11, 2021, marked 20 years since the tragedy of 9/11. America and countries around the world took the time to remember those who were lost on that day and pay tribute to the many men and women who sacrificed their lives.

October

Facebook, Instagram, and the instant messaging service WhatsApp—all of which are owned by Facebook—suffered a worldwide outage on the morning of October 4 due to an apparent server configuration issue. Facebook updated its members by stating that, “Configuration changes on the backbone routers that coordinate network traffic between our data centers,” blocking their ability to communicate and setting off a cascade of network failures. However, some users felt like the platform went down after the 60 Minutes interview with the Facebook Whistleblower aired the night before. To read more about the shutdown, click here.

November

On November 3, the Atlanta Braves became World Series champions after defeating the Houston Astros in six games. This became the Braves’ first World Series title since 1995. In addition, this was the third World Series in five years for the Astros, who won the title in 2017.

December 

Spider-Man: No Way Home, the third installment in the MCU’s Spider-Man series, was released into theaters on December 17. Tickets for the movie went on sale on November 29, with ticketing websites crashing due to the high influx of users. By the time of the film’s release, the movie had received positive reviews from critics who highlighted the cast’s performance, screenplay, emotional weight, direction, action scenes, and the service it brought to fans. On its opening weekend, the film grossed over $260 million making it the second-biggest debut in Hollywood history behind only Avengers: Endgame.

Here’s to 2022 

Whatever the new year has in store, we’ll be here with our monthly updates from pop culture and news. Here’s to wishing you a Happy New Year!