Music
Gen Alpha: This song from the Encanto soundtrack went viral on TikTok in 2022.
We Don’t Talk About Bruno
Gen Alpha: This 2017 toy craze involved an object kids held between their fingers, claimed to help with focus.
Fidget Spinner
Gen Alpha: This global football star joined Inter Miami in 2023, bringing massive attention to Major League Soccer.
Lionel Messi
Gen Alpha: This Pixar movie from 2020 follows a jazz musician who gets stuck in "The Great Before."
Soul
Gen Alpha: This YouTube channel, famous for nursery songs like Baby Shark, has billions of views.
Cocomelon
Gen Z: This singer became the youngest artist to win all four major Grammy categories in 2020 with hits like Bad Guy.
Billie Eilish
Gen Z: These chunky shoes, originally popular in the 2000s, came back in style when teens started decorating them with charms called Jibbitz.
Crocs
Gen Z: This person became famous for gymnastics dominance and withdrew from events in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics for mental health concerns.
Simone Biles
Gen Z: This online game became hugely popular in 2017 for its battle royale mode.
Fortnite
Gen Z: This video app, launched in 2016, became the defining social platform for Gen Z.
TikTok
Millennials: This boy band’s 2000 hit Bye Bye Bye made them pop icons.
NSYNC
Millennials: In the late 1990s, these digital pets lived in a small handheld device that beeped constantly for attention.
Tamagotchis
Millennials: This team won their first World Cup in 1999.
The U.S. women's football team
Millennials: This fantasy movie series, based on books by J.K. Rowling, began in 2001.
Harry Potter
Millennials: This social media platform, launched in 2004, was originally exclusive to college students.
Gen X: This artist’s 1984 album Purple Rain produced hits like "When Doves Cry."
Prince
Gen X: This portable music player, introduced in the late 1970s, allowed kids and teens to make mixtapes and listen to music on the go with headphones.
the Walkman
Gen X: This Chicago Bulls player, often called the GOAT, led his team to six NBA championships in the 1990s.
Michael Jordan
Gen X: This 1980s arcade game featured a yellow character eating pellets and avoiding ghosts.
Pac-Man
Gen X: MTV, the first 24-hour music video channel, launched in this year.
1981
Baby Boomers: This British band released Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band in 1967.
The Beatles
Baby Boomers: This toy, introduced in the late 1950s, became a playground craze where kids spun it around their waist.
Hula Hoop
Baby Boomers: This boxer was nicknamed "The Greatest" and won the heavyweight title three times.
Muhammad Ali (Cassius Clay)
Baby Boomers: In the original Star Wars (1977), this actor played Luke Skywalker.
Mark Hamill
Baby Boomers: This TV show about a blended family with six kids and a housekeeper debuted in 1969.
The Brady Bunch