2021 has been another unique year to go down in the history books. In what has been a tough year with COVID, Australia has come together and overcome hardship through their love of entertainment and sport – and they shared it all on Twitter. From the Olympic Games to Squid Game, here’s what got Aussies through 2021!
Having a Laugh
While times have certainly been difficult, there remained over 3.6 million meme-related tweets in Australia, showing just how much we value our humour. In fact, August, the month Australia went back into lockdown, was the most meme’d month – which probably explains why the laughing emoji was the most used one of the bunch.
Sport
It’s no secret that we Aussies love our sport, and this year was no different.
Three of the top hashtags used on Twitter in Australia this year were sport-related:
1. #Tokyo2020
Everyone tuned into the action, supporting the green and gold doing us proud overseas. These were the most mentioned athletes from the competition:
@Patty_Mills, @AshBarty, @SamKerr1, @NickKyrios, and Boomers teammate, @JoeIngles7.
2. #NRL
In light of the State of Origin being played outside of Queensland or NSW for the first time ever, #NRL climbed the ranking, topping #AFL this time around.
3. #AusOpen
And of course, the tennis. Don’t expect this one to go away anytime soon with the next grand slam just around the corner in January.
Entertainment
From Olympic Games to Squid Game?
I’m sure at one point or another, we resorted to Netflix for our lockdown pastimes. Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ll know that the most-watched and tweeted about show was the Korean sensation, Squid Game. The hashtag #SquidGame was used at least 39,000 times in Australia since it first aired.
Activism and Culture
Australians aren’t the type to sit back and stay quiet, they’re passionate and highly engaged. 2021 really showed that. Australian of the year @TamePunk (AKA Grace Tame) was most mentioned, followed by @GretaTunberg.
#COP26 also rose to one of our most Tweeted about hashtags for the year.
Little Pockets of Joy
One of those pockets included @JoshJoshBegosh who started raising awareness for Cerebral Palsy. After two weeks, he had racked up a 10k following.
This wasn’t the only Josh making waves in 2021, as professional footballer Josh Cavello came out as the first openly gay male professional footballer. The support he was shown was extraordinary.
What this year has taught us is that even in the toughest times, people come together and make it work. 2021 was an exceptional show of compassion, humanity, and shared interest.
Bring on 2022!
