The end of another year brings another opportunity to survey how digital language and behavior have evolved over the past 12 months. Last year, the non-negotiable dislikes better known as “the ick” beat out “nepo baby” and “girl dinner” to be the most viral phrase of 2023. 2024 gave us a whole new collection of viral internet slang to assess for their impacts on digital culture and communication. This year, we used our social listening and analytics solution to analyze a new crop of viral phrases:
- Brainrot: This year, “brainrot” and “brain rot” became internet expressions referring to the often negative effects of being too steeped in social media and internet culture. It is also frequently used to describe absurdist, ironic digital content popular with young audiences.
- Brat: Following the release of pop artist Charli XCX’s hit album brat in June 2024, using the phrases “is brat” and “brat summer” became a trendy way of describing someone or something as carefree, confident, and, often, kind of messy.
- Demure: Thanks to content creator Jools Lebron, the phrase “very demure, very mindful” took the internet by storm this year. As a result, “demure” has become synonymous with quiet, unbothered sophistication.
- Rizz: Particularly popular among Gen-Zers, “rizz” is shorthand for “charisma”. Content creator Kai Cenat is often credited with popularizing the term online.
- Yap: In internet parlance, to yap is to chat at length, often about light-hearted or inconsequential topics. “Yap”, and its variations “yapper”, “yapping”, and “yapped”, became newly popular on social media in 2024.
Here’s how English-language usage of these viral terms across 21 sources — including social media platforms, digital media outlets, podcasts, broadcast programs, comments, and blogs — measured up against each other.
Learn more about the cultural shifts driving “brainrot”, “brat”, and other examples of today’s irreverent internet culture in the 2025 Webby Trend Report.
Shortcuts:
How popular was “brainrot” in 2024?
How popular was “brat” in 2024?
How popular was “demure” in 2024?
How popular was “rizz” in 2024?
How popular was “yap” in 2024?
What was the most viral slang term of 2024?
Takeaways for marketers
How popular was “brainrot” in 2024?
“Brainrot” (Oxford University Press’s Word of the Year) was mentioned 2.92 million times from January through November 2024. Its biggest day of usage was October 1 when mentions spiked five times higher than average. This was partly due to a viral post on X proclaiming, “they hate it when you serve internet brainrot along with critical thinking while also serving fits.”
This post on X helped the term “brainrot” go viral in October.
How popular was “brat” in 2024?
The phrases “is brat” and “brat summer” were used about 786,000 times from January through November. The biggest day for brat slang was September 3, 2024, just after Charli XCX declared “goodbye forever brat summer” in an X post. Far-reaching media outlets like BBC and The Independent reported on the post as the official end of brat summer.
Learn more about the ins and outs of hopping on social media trends with our Ultimate Guide to Trendjacking.
How popular was “demure” in 2024?
“Demure” (Dictionary.com’s Word of the Year) was mentioned more than 3.19 million times in 2024. Its biggest day for usage was August 17, 2024, when mentions spiked 165 times higher than average.
That day, the most common keyword mentioned along with “demure” was “vocabulary” thanks to a popular post on X praising viral slang for introducing people to new words.
How popular was “rizz” in 2024?
There were about 10,400 daily mentions of “rizz” from January to November 2024, or about 3.48 million total. Mentions soared 214% higher than average on February 22, 2024, after the release of a BuzzFeed interview in which actress Zendaya praised her boyfriend Tom Holland for having “rizz”.
How popular was “yap” in 2024?
“Yap” and its conjugations were mentioned about 6.63 million times across sources from January through November 2024.
It went most viral on March 9, 2024, when mentions were 120% higher than average due to a viral post on X that used the term with another viral slang phrase, “rizz”.
This post on X helped drive the highest spike in mentions of “yap” on March 9, 2024.
What was the most viral slang term of 2024?
Of the five slang words we analyzed, “Yap” was the most popular of 2024 by far. Social media users, journalists, bloggers, online commenters, and more used “yap” and its variations more than 6.63 million times.
However, “demure” was much more acutely viral due to how quickly and dramatically it caught on. Despite being a relatively rarely mentioned word for most of the year, “demure” had a spike in mentions in August that was higher and longer than that of any other word, illustrating its massive cultural impact. So while “yapping” will likely continue to be a new favorite conversational term for many around the world, no word will go on to scream “2024” quite like “demure”.
Takeaways for marketers
From big names like Kai Cenat and Jools Lebron to the lesser-known accounts behind viral social media posts, content creators are the driving forces behind evolutions in mainstream slang. And as these phrases and terms gain prominence, many youth- and digital culture-focused brands rely on them to signal that they are on the same wavelength as their target audiences. The creator economy is poised to grow even larger in 2025, meaning the relationship between marketers and influencers will become even more complex. Learn more about these and other industry shifts to watch out for in our 2025 Marketing Trends Guide.
