Top 10 Biggest Trends That Disappeared Overnight

We all know some trends are cyclical in nature, but no one could have predicted this unexpected throwback. Originating on TikTok in early 2021, the viral sea shanty trend saw TikTok users posting and dueting renditions of popular nineteenth century sailing folk songs, known as shanties, particularly the song “Wellerman.” While it might seem random at first, bear in mind sea shanties are community building songs, designed to foster unity and morale during laborious work. During the pandemic, when we were isolated and craving community, it weirdly makes sense that the internet would turn to music that harkens back to times of togetherness. This trend was short lived, but wholesome all the same.

Remember that time in the early 2010s when mustaches weren’t just for upper lips? People sported them on t-shirts, jewelry, coffee mugs, and, regrettably, finger tattoos. Specifically, the trend focused on handlebar mustaches with pointy, waxed ends. The vintage look tied in with other hipster fads at the time, but while trends like flannels and vintage records players live on, the handlebar mustache craze seems to have died off pretty quickly. Today, mustaches are once again enjoying a resurgence in popularity, this time just as facial hair, and the handlebar has been swapped for a 70s-style, Burt Reynolds inspired stache. Shout out to everyone still living with their 2010 mustache finger tattoo - let us know how your experience has been since this trend died down.

Early Covid lockdown was a difficult time for many of us. The isolation inspired many to turn to the internet, and particularly TikTok, as a source of entertainment, community, and apparently caffeination. Whipped coffee originated in a cafe in Macau, and was popularized by South Korean actor Jung Il-Woo, who noted the drink’s similarity in taste to dalgona candy. Made by whipping hot water, sugar, and instant coffee, videos showing the drink being made were mesmerising to watch, and it quickly went viral. So, without much else to do during lockdown, people started making their own whipped coffees and sharing them online. Today, whipped coffee reminds us of a time when we were all isolated, but unified in our collective boredom.

The trend of upturned polo shirt collars originated in the 80s among the preppy youth of New England, but experienced a surge in popularity in the early 2000s. Referred to as a popped collar, this trend swept through high schools and colleges across the nation. For some, just one popped collar wasn’t enough. It was popular for people to layer multiple polo shirts on top of one another in order to have multiple popped collars at the same time. For people that did this, we have questions. Primarily, why? And also, wouldn’t that get hot? Despite many early 2000s styles trending again today, this is one trend that seems to have fully died out.

We’ve seen fad foods like cronuts and cupcakes come and go, but none seemed to burn quite as bright as frozen yogurt. During the 2010s, it seemed like you were never more than a mile away from a self-serve frozen yogurt shop, and we were happy that way. Today, it’s not hard to find frozen yogurt in most places, but the dessert’s big cultural moment has definitely passed. It could be people realized this “healthy” alternative to ice cream wasn’t really all that healthy after all, or maybe everyone just started getting boba instead. Whatever the reason, the days of loading up your frozen yogurt cup with toppings after a long day of shopping at Forever 21 are now a relic of the past.

Probably the tamest offshoot of the extreme sports trend of the 90s and early 2000s, this sport involved stacking and unstacking specially designed plastic cups as fast as humanly possible. The first cup stacking tournament was held in Colorado in 1997, which gave the sport a boost in popularity that allowed it to become a full blown craze by the mid-2000s. Cup stacking was featured on talk shows, news programs, and children’s shows as a fast-growing sport, until its growth suddenly stalled. The sport does still exist, with the World Sport Stacking Association still holding tournaments around the world today, but it’s doubtful cup stacking will ever become as widespread as it once was.

The two-wheeled, self-balancing transportation device known as the Segway was talked up to be the next big thing in personal transportation. Months of speculation about the device during its secretive development phase led to massive hype leading up to the official launch in 2001. When the final product was unveiled, many were disappointed by the awkward design that seemed less than innovative. An early Segway employee described the product’s challenges saying, “There was a significant dork factor. It was never truly socially accepted.” The sudden drop from groundbreaking technology to television satire fodder ensured Segway would never be as ubiquitous as they once hoped, and now the device is typically relegated to mall cops and tour groups.

Social media’s growth throughout the 2010s gave rise to many viral internet trends, like the Harlem Shake in 2013 and the Mannequin Challenge in 2016, but who could forget the decade’s earlier big viral trend: planking. Also known as the “lying down game,” participants in this trend lie face down with their arms at their sides, often competing to find increasingly more outrageous locations to plank in. Planking ranged from totally harmless to, in one confirmed case, deadly. The fad was a much discussed topic from 2011 until 2012, when its popularity quickly dropped off.

While some internet trends are funny, strange, or idiotic, this one was downright terrifying. Beginning in 2016, social media users began reporting and posting sightings of creepy clowns near forests, neighborhoods, and schools. The first sighting occurred in Green Bay, Wisconsin, later revealed to be a marketing stunt for an upcoming horror film. From that first viral sighting, the trend caught on. Copycat clowns began popping up across the United States, Canada, Australia, and the U.K., leaving everyone on edge until the trend finally died down, hopefully never to return again. But we’ll still be watching our backs, just in case.

#1: Hand Axe


Gronk say hand axe is out and spear is in. I say nuh uh but he say uh huh. I strike Gronk with stone and now he mad but I still right.


Okay, now back to the 21st century!

3D film technology has been around for over a hundred years and experienced brief surges in popularity in the 1950s and 1980s, but none as big as the 3D craze of the early 2000s. James Cameron’s “Ghosts of the Abyss” debuted new, cutting edge 3D technology, kicking off the decade’s trend of 3D-ifying everything. Children’s movies and horror films especially caught on to the trend, notable examples being “Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over” and “The Final Destination.” The technology even expanded beyond films, including the short-lived 3D-TV fad and Nintendo’s 3DS. Then after some years, the novelty began to wear off. Moviegoers grew tired of the headache-inducing gimmick that commanded a significantly higher ticket price, and today 2D still reigns supreme.

Did you participate in any of these short-lived fads? Do you think they should come back? Let us know in the comments!