50 Fun Facts About 2017 Pop Culture

Which toy built around a ball bearing became a 2017 craze that schools banned as a distraction?

The fidget spinner was wrongly credited by newspapers to Catherine Hettinger, whose 1993 patent application for a spinning toy had no central bearing at all.

Which film was wrongly announced as Best Picture at the 2017 Oscars before Moonlight took the award?

La La Land's producers were mid-speech when the mistake emerged: presenter Warren Beatty had been handed the envelope for Best Actress, won by the film's Emma Stone.

Which Spanish-language hit by Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee spent 16 weeks atop the Hot 100 in 2017?

Despacito tied the Hot 100 record of the time after Justin Bieber heard it in a Colombian nightclub and asked to record a remix.

Which mythical creature named a color-changing Starbucks Frappuccino sold for five days in 2017?

The Unicorn Frappuccino started out purple and sweet, then turned pink and tart once drinkers stirred in its sour blue drizzle.

Which soda brand pulled a 2017 ad in which Kendall Jenner hands a can to a police officer?

Pepsi withdrew the ad after an online backlash accused the company and its star of trivializing Black Lives Matter and police brutality.

Which 2017 luxury music event in the Bahamas, co-organized by Ja Rule, housed guests in tents?

Fyre Festival promised gourmet meals and served cheese sandwiches in foam containers. Co-organizer Billy McFarland was sentenced to six years in prison in 2018.

Carter Wilkerson's 2017 plea to Wendy's for a year of which free food set a retweet record?

Chicken nuggets were promised if he reached 18 million retweets. The tweet became the most-retweeted of its day within 34 days, and Wendy's handed over the year's supply.

Which classroom staple is mixed with water and borax to make slime, a craze that peaked in 2017?

Glue maker Elmer's saw its sales jump 50 percent in December 2016, and its parent company raised production the following March to keep up with demand.

Which team lost Super Bowl LI in February 2017 after leading the New England Patriots 28–3?

The Atlanta Falcons suffered the largest comeback the Super Bowl had ever seen, in the first Super Bowl to be decided in overtime.

Which brunch dish did developer Tim Gurner say millennials should skip in 2017 to afford a home?

Avocado toast, or smashed avocado as the Australian called it, became shorthand for a generation's spending after his remark, which also took aim at four-dollar coffees.

Which Ed Sheeran single, first written with Little Mix in mind, was Billboard's top song of 2017?

Shape of You topped the charts in 34 countries and later became the first song to reach two billion streams on Spotify.

Whose Bodak Yellow made her the first female rapper to top the Hot 100 with a solo song since Lauryn Hill?

Cardi B named the song after Florida rapper Kodak Black, because its cadence reminded her of his 2015 track No Flockin.

Which animals starred in the silent clips Taylor Swift posted in 2017 to tease her album Reputation?

Snakes had been thrown at her as an insult by online detractors, so she made the creature the centerpiece of the album's promotional campaign and stadium tour.

Which rapper's 2017 album Damn, with the chart-topping single Humble, later won a Pulitzer Prize?

Kendrick Lamar became the first musician outside classical and jazz to receive the music prize, and the single gave him his first number one as a lead artist.

To which singer did Adele dedicate her Album of the Year Grammy on stage in February 2017?

Beyoncé had been nominated for Lemonade, and earlier that month her post announcing twins had become the most-liked image on Instagram up to that time.

Which singer opened her 2017 Super Bowl halftime show by leaping from the roof of NRG Stadium?

Lady Gaga's rooftop opening was prerecorded, with a fleet of 300 drones forming a US flag in the night sky behind her.

Which pop star organized One Love Manchester two weeks after a 2017 bombing followed her concert?

Ariana Grande's benefit brought the British Red Cross more than £10 million in donations within 12 hours, for a fund supporting the victims and their families.

Which artist's mixtape Coloring Book became the first streaming-only album to win a Grammy?

Chance the Rapper first released the mixtape exclusively on Apple Music, and on the same Grammy night in February 2017 he was also named Best New Artist.

Which rap group's Bad and Boujee hit number one after Donald Glover's 2017 Golden Globes shout-out?

Migos scored a first chart-topper with the song, which had already spread as a viral meme before Glover thanked the trio from the awards stage.

Which act became the first K-pop group to perform at the American Music Awards, in November 2017?

BTS had become the first K-pop group to win a Billboard award that May, taking Top Social Artist, a prize they kept winning in the years that followed.

Which former Miss Israel played Diana Prince in the 2017 superhero blockbuster Wonder Woman?

Gal Gadot's film became the highest-grossing movie by a solo female director up to that point, overtaking Mamma Mia! and Kung Fu Panda 2.

Which 2017 horror hit about a visit to a girlfriend's family was Jordan Peele's directorial debut?

Get Out won its writer-director the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay, making the former sketch comedian the first African-American winner of that award.

Which 2017 run-and-gun video game mimics the rubber hose style of 1930s Fleischer cartoons?

Cuphead was such a challenge for its small team that the brothers behind it, Chad and Jared Moldenhauer, remortgaged their house to finish it.

Which 2017 release became the first animated film ever to win the Razzie Award for Worst Picture?

The Emoji Movie took four Razzies in all, adding Worst Director, Worst Screenplay and Worst Screen Combo to its haul.

Which tiny hero voiced by Vin Diesel dances through the opening of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2?

Baby Groot stayed small because director James Gunn chose to keep him that way, one reason the 2017 sequel is set only a few months after the first film.

Which robot toy monkeys, modeled on the pygmy marmoset, did reseller bots snap up in late 2017?

Fingerlings wrap around a child's finger and react to touch and sound by blinking and blowing kisses, and they had reached US stores only that August.

Which Superman actor's mustache, grown for another film, was digitally erased from Justice League?

Henry Cavill was called back for 2017 reshoots while making a Mission: Impossible sequel for Paramount, whose executives refused to let him shave.

Which director reshot scenes of All the Money in the World to replace Kevin Spacey before release?

Ridley Scott reshot 22 scenes with Christopher Plummer about a month before the 2017 Christmas release, and Plummer's J. Paul Getty earned an Oscar nomination.

Which country won Eurovision for the first time in May 2017, after 53 years of trying?

Portugal ended what was then the longest wait for a victory in the contest's history, with a ballad that singer Salvador Sobral's sister Luísa wrote for him.

Which pop star became the first person to reach 100 million Twitter followers, in June 2017?

Katy Perry passed the milestone in the same month that she live-streamed herself on YouTube for four days to launch her album Witness.

Which Netflix series returned in October 2017 with a season set in Hawkins, Indiana, in 1984?

Stranger Things kept its original young cast for the sequel because its creators saw that the children's likability was the key to the show's success.

Which HBO series gave Ed Sheeran a much-criticized cameo as a singing soldier in July 2017?

Game of Thrones producers had spent years trying to book him as a surprise for Maisie Williams, who plays Arya Stark and is a fan of his music.

Which 2017 Netflix teen drama, produced by Selena Gomez, unfolds through a box of cassette tapes?

13 Reasons Why is based on Jay Asher's novel, which Universal first bought as a film in 2011 with Gomez herself cast in the lead role.

Which Hulu drama became the first streaming series to win the Emmy for Outstanding Drama Series?

The Handmaid's Tale, adapted from Margaret Atwood's novel, took the prize in September 2017 and was the first show its service produced to win any major award.

Which HBO series about five Monterey women in a homicide investigation won eight Emmys in 2017?

Big Little Lies was entered as a limited series, so when a second season was announced the Producers Guild restarted its awards voting and reclassified the show as a drama.

Which CW drama, launched in 2017, reimagined Archie Comics characters around a classmate's murder?

Riverdale's cast of comic-book regulars included Kevin Keller, the first openly gay character in the publisher's history.

Which Bridesmaids star made surprise Saturday Night Live appearances in 2017 as Sean Spicer?

Melissa McCarthy played the White House press secretary four times that year, and Spicer said he found the sketches funny but thought she could dial it back a bit.

Which Broadchurch actress was announced in July 2017 as the first woman to lead Doctor Who?

Jodie Whittaker had not grown up watching the show, and she gave up studying old episodes after a brief attempt during auditions made her panic.

Which fast-food chain revived its 1998 Szechuan sauce in October 2017 after a Rick and Morty joke?

McDonald's had first sold the dip as a tie-in with Disney's Mulan, and it came back to select restaurants after fans of the cartoon campaigned for its return.

Which David Lynch series returned in May 2017, picking up its story 25 years after the original?

Twin Peaks had built the gap into its own plot: the 1991 finale has Laura Palmer promise agent Dale Cooper a reunion a quarter of a century later.

Which meme went viral in August 2017 using a stock photo shot by a Spanish photographer?

Distracted boyfriend was shot in Girona in 2015 by Antonio Guillem, who admitted in 2017 that he had not known what a meme was until recently.

Which talk show made teenage guest Danielle Bregoli a meme before her 2017 rap debut as Bhad Bhabie?

Dr. Phil booked her at 13, and her 2017 debut single made her the youngest female rapper to have entered the Billboard Hot 100 up to that point.

Which open-world Zelda adventure, released in March 2017, won Game of the Year at The Game Awards?

Breath of the Wild also won the prizes for Best Game Direction and Best Action/Adventure Game, and it was the last game Nintendo published for the Wii U.

Which singer performed Total Eclipse of the Heart on a cruise ship during the 2017 solar eclipse?

Bonnie Tyler sang her 1983 hit as the Oasis of the Seas sailed into the path of totality east of the Bahamas that August, backed by the pop group DNCE.

Which retailer's 99-cent blue shopping bag was echoed by a $2,145 Balenciaga tote released in 2017?

IKEA replied that it was deeply flattered by the resemblance, though the designer version does add one thing the original lacks: a zipper.

Which Broadway musical about a high school senior with social anxiety won six Tonys in June 2017?

Dear Evan Hansen was named Best Musical and earned Ben Platt the Tony for Best Actor in the title role, and its cast album later won a Grammy.

Which publisher's 2017 defense of Star Wars Battlefront II became Reddit's most downvoted comment?

Electronic Arts was defending the long grind needed to unlock heroes such as Darth Vader, and it suspended the game's real-money purchases as Belgium's gambling regulator began an investigation.

Which author of The Remains of the Day and Never Let Me Go won the 2017 Nobel Prize in Literature?

Kazuo Ishiguro was born in Nagasaki and moved to Britain at the age of five, and he was the first British laureate in literature since Doris Lessing in 2007.

Which Girls Trip star became the first Black female stand-up to host Saturday Night Live, in 2017?

Tiffany Haddish later won an Emmy for the episode, and her breakthrough movie had grossed about $140 million worldwide that year.

Which 2017 podcast from the makers of Serial drew 10 million downloads in just four days?

S-Town began when one of the town's residents emailed the radio show This American Life, asking its staff to investigate an alleged murder in his Alabama hometown.