#ThisHappened 2019

Whether it’s breaking news, the antics of sport, politics and social causes, people come to Twitter to explore what’s happening. It's that time of the year again where we reflect on the cultural moments, trends, and movements that dominated 2019. 

Before we fully dive in, let's remind ourselves of a few of the key conversations that defined Australian culture on Twitter in 2019:

• #TaylaKickChallenge — The now famous photo of Tayla Harris’ kick earned the title of Australia’s most liked Tweet in 2019. Her Twitter challenge inspired people of all ages and genders to push for excellence and equality in sport.

• #SaveHakeem — The hashtag that united groups across to globe to free an innocent man. There were 1.7 million Tweets in support of securing Hakeem’s freedom, with the conversation trending in 81 cities around the world, everywhere from Sydney to Birmingham, Bangkok to Honolulu.  

• #GameofThrones — There were 100 million Tweets about Game of Thrones in 2019 alone and Battle of Winterfell became the most Tweeted about TV episode of ALL time. Whether you loved or hated the finale, this iconic show had us Tweeting up until the final moment. 

So moving into the rankings, and perhaps unsuprisingly given the 2019 federal election, #Auspol became the most-Tweeted Australian hashtag for the sixth year in a row. Countless Aussies joined the political conversation, sharing their views and campaigning about the issues that matter to them most:

On the topic of campaigning, the global #ClimateStrike movement won the support of thousands of Australians who Tweeted from the marches taking place all over the country, making it the third most used hashtag this year. Voices also united on Twitter to celebrate the achievements of women and campaign for gender equality with #IWD2019, the hashtag for conversation surrounding International Women’s Day:

It was a massive, defining year for women’s sport as #TaylaKickChallenge, #BartyParty and support for @TheMatildas drove conversations about excellence in sport, as well as equality on and off the playing field. But our national obsession with #AFL stayed strong, making it the most-Tweeted about sport topic in the nation:

@RealHughJackman managed to hold onto his title as the most followed Australian on Twitter:

Whilst @ArianaGrande was bumped from top spot as most Tweeted about artist this year — making way for everyone’s favourite cowboy @LilNasX:

Aussies also Tweeted up a storm about TV, movies, music and gaming, letting our fandom flags fly. It was a record year for entertainment conversation on Twitter as #GameofThrones, Battle of Winterfell became the Most-Tweeted-about scripted TV episode of all time, whilst #AvengersEndgame also earned the title of Most-Tweeted about film in history:

That's a wrap for this decade, but with #Olympics and so much more round the corner, we can't wait to see what gets Australia Tweeting in 2020 and beyond..