From that Oscars slap to Don't Worry Darling: The 14 biggest pop culture moments of 2022.

Pop culture is my favourite thing in the world (besides my family, and cats, I suppose).

It's fun and more important than most people give it credit for, often holding up a mirror to wider society and the attitudes within it. Plus, honestly, most of the time it's chocked full of ridiculousness.

As an entertainment writer, I'm usually consuming these things day in and day out. Not much surprises me anymore. Celebrities are absolutely wild. 

But I have to admit, Harry Styles being accused of spitting on Chris Pine wasn't on my 2022 bingo card.

As the year draws to a close, here are the pop culture moments that made the biggest splash in 2022:

The Oscars slap.

Image: Getty.

I mean... obviously. This was one of the biggest moments of the decade, full stop.

Will Smith surprised absolutely everyone when he slapped Chris Rock on stage at the 94th Academy Awards, following Rock making a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith. 

I will never forget where I was when it happened (at my laptop, recapping the event for Mamamia, jaw on the floor), and I feel like it's going to be one of those moments many of us remember forever, because of its complete and utter shock factor.

Slap discourse dominated the news cycle for weeks, especially as dozens of Smith's Hollywood colleagues shared their own thoughts and opinions.

Smith has apologised a number of times, including in a sombre YouTube video. He also laid low for months following, but his first film release post-slap recently happened with Emancipation on Apple TV+.

The death of Queen Elizabeth II.

The Queen in May 2022. Image: Getty.

No matter your thoughts on the royals, I think it's difficult to argue against the Queen's pop culture impact. From the constant news cycle around her family, to her always colourful outfits, to a show called The Crown. Maybe you've heard of it? 

Plus the James Bond Olympics bit, the Paddington skit, the viral videos of her getting excited over cows or questioning how easy it is to steal from self-serve check-outs... okay you get it.

The Queen died at Balmoral Castle in Scotland on September 8, aged 96. 

Immediately, it set off a series of formalities (that still aren't over!) that captured the world's attention, including a funeral watched by millions, and still has all of us stumbling over our words as we try to adjust our brains to saying 'the King'.

That whole Don't Worry Darling mess.

Image: Warner Bros.

Oh god.

Where to start?

Don't Worry Darling is a film. A perfectly fine film.

But no one really cared about the final product because its production and promotional tour gave us - take a deep breath - multiple cheating scandals, multiple rumoured feuds, Olivia Wilde being served on stage, leaked texts and videos, Shia LaBeouf calling Olivia a liar, MISS FLO, Chris Pine disassociating, a SPITTING scandal, Harry Styles saying he liked the movie "because it feels like a movie", the careful placement of supporting cast members between Harry, Olivia and Florence Pugh at all times, and an open letter from crew members.

And I'm sure I've forgotten something.

Then, just when we thought it was all over, BAM, a disgruntled nanny and a salad recipe take us all by surprise.

Is this the most cursed movie roll-out of all time?

Bennifer's engagement and marriage.

Image: On The JLo.

We are all suckers for a fairytale ending, and it really doesn't get anymore magical than the reconciliation of a Hollywood it-couple 20 years after their breakup, followed by the fancy wedding(s) they didn't get to have the first time around.

The Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez reunion happened in 2021, but this year those crazy love birds finally made it down the aisle - first with a low-key Vegas event followed by the practically mandatory big celeb wedding.

And in a year of major celeb weddings, the union of Bennifer is the most culturally significant. Sorry not sorry.

Kim K's Met Gala look.

Kim Kardashian at the Met Gala. Image: Getty.

I've tried to stick to only one Kardashian moment, because... well, there honestly could be a whole other Kardashian pop culture list each year and I don't want to be the one to write it.

So, sorry (again) to Kravis' 12 weddings as well as the 130th Tristan Thompson cheating scandal and Kylie's baby formally known as Wolf. I'm going to have to give the limited spot to Kimmy K, Marilyn Monroe and, by extension, Pete Davidson.

Because this damn dress spurred months of headlines, opinion pieces and angry tweets.

Kim wore the infamous glittering Jean-Louis crafted dress that Marilyn Monroe wore to serenade President John F. Kennedy on his 45th birthday in 1962 to the Met Gala in May, on loan from Ripley's Believe or Not.

Cue think pieces on everything from Marilyn's legacy, to Kim's audacity, to weight loss, to the protection of iconic historical looks, to anything else that could get people riled up.

The Kardashian kurrency is attention, so in the end, Kim couldn't lose.

Top Gun: Maverick.

Image: Paramount Pictures.

The movie theatre is one of my favourite places in the world (popcorn! Forced no screen time! Comfy seats!), but it's no surprise that cinemas have been struggling in recent years with the rise in streaming and the pandemic.

But Tom Cruise heard 'cinemas are dying?' and came flying in on a fighter jet to inject some much needed cash into the industry.

Not only is Maverick the highest grossing film of 2022, but it's also already the highest-grossing film of Cruise's stacked career.

Plus, it's just really f***ing good.

The 2022 Super Bowl performance.

Image: Getty.

This year's Super Bowl halftime show was jam-packed with 90s and 2000s nostalgia, which made me and many other viewers feel very old.

But once you get past that, it's hard not to consider this one of the most fun, iconic Super Bowl halftime shows of all time.

The 15-minute performance took us on a journey through about 15 years of hip-hop, from 'California Love' to 'Lose Yourself' to 'In Da Club' to 'm.A.A.d City'.

My MVP though: Mary J Blige (DUH), who performed 'Family Affair' and 'No More Drama' in the greatest mirrored leopard print boots you'll ever damn see.

Good luck for 2023, Riri, the bar is high!!!

The end of Neighbours.

Charlene and Scott. Image: Network 10.

In 2022, we said goodbye to Neighbours after 37 years and almost 9000 episodes.

It ended just as you'd expect, with Toadie getting married, Kylie and Jason rolling back into town, and the final words uttered by none other than Karl and Susan.

"Susan? Where were you just then?" Karl asked his wife while she stared into the crowd of people on Ramsay Street.

"I was home," she replied.

SOBBING.

...Or well, I was, until a couple of months later when it was announced the Aussie icon had already been revived by Prime Video. 

So did Kylie come back for nothing? Geez!

The return of Beyoncé.

Image: Parkwood/Columbia.

Six years after her last solo album, Bey came back this year, and my oh myyy was it worth the wait.

In July, Beyoncé dropped Renaissance to widespread critical acclaim. The album, a cohesive celebration of Black dance music, became an instant classic - and I swear that's not just my opinion based on 'Virgo's Groove' being one of my favourite songs of the 2020s so far. 

She still hasn't dropped any visuals, but releasing one of the best albums of the year and then going completely silent on it is such a Beyoncé-level power move, we have to forgive her.

The rise of Julia Fox.

Image: Getty.

Julia Fox has been an actor for a while, but let's not pretend that most of us didn't learn about her existence thanks to her short-lived but very fascinating six-week relationship with Kanye West.

And boy oh boy, has she used that exposure well.

Julia Fox is, perhaps, the greatest celebrity we have right now. Because she knows what we want - wacky fashion, funny soundbites, hot takes and low-stakes drama - and she leans into it.

Image: Instagram.

Fox knows all we really want is a spectacle and something to talk about, so she walks the streets of New York with her whole torso out and tells us she's her own muse, while doing a red carpet interviews very high.

Plus, her pivot to wise TikTok agony aunt and commentator discussing feminism and sexism was iconic.

Stranger Things and Running Up That Hill.

Image: Netflix.

The amount of TV available to us in the year 2022 is almost infinite, which means it's really, really difficult for a TV show to dominate the cultural zeitgeist like they used to.

But Netflix's juggernaut Stranger Things returned for its fourth season and completely took over the world.

In fact, it was so impactful that it had Top 40 radio stations around the world playing Kate Bush's 'Running Up That Hill', a song from 1985, multiple times an hour, after the song was featured heavily in episode four during Max's escape from Vecna.

'Running Up That Hill' saw an increase of more than 8700 per cent on streaming. It reached number one on the charts in the UK, Australia and New Zealand, and peaked at number three on the US Billboard Hot 100.

Also, it spurned one of the most important pop culture questions of the year: what would your Vecna song be?

House of the Dragon revives the Game of Thrones universe.

Image: HBO.

Now for the second major TV moment: House of the Dragon.

The final season of Game of Thrones had thrown away so much of the goodwill and overshadowed pretty much any talk about the near-perfect earlier seasons, making viewers wary of stepping back into the universe. Plus, HBO had planned another prequel, but scrapped it after spending US$30 million on its pilot.

So, the stakes were high for House of the Dragon.

And, almost immediately, it became apparent that they'd pulled it off.

Listen: Mamamia's entertainment podcast The Spill dissects House of the Dragon. Post continues below audio.

The tale of the Targaryens and their dragons became a phenomenon - with viewers live reacting online, viral moments (negroni sbagliato, anyone?) and some truly mindboggling streaming numbers. Plus, I'd argue it is the closest we've come to 'appointment television' in a long time.

Swifties vs Ticketmaster.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME. Image: Getty.

Complete cultural saturation is almost impossible now, with the internet providing absolutely everyone with their own lil' personalised, niche environments to hang out in.

With the release of Midnights, her record-shattering 10th studio album, Taylor Swift came pretty close.

Then, when the US tickets for her corresponding tour went on sale and the entire 'verified fan' pre-sale process was f***ed by Ticketmaster, she got even closer.

Without getting too deep into the hows and whys of it all, the flawed ticketing model drew the ire of millions of fans who missed out, or spent hours upon hours in virtual queues to get them.

Their vocal irritation shone a light on the monopoly of Live Nation/Ticketmaster in the American market and saw anger from politicians, industry and Swift herself.

The Tennessee Attorney General began an investigation into "consumer complaints about chaos during the presale of tickets" to the tour, and more than 30 members of the U.S. House of Representatives petitioned the U.S. Department of Justice to open a formal investigation into the lack of competition in the American ticketing market.

Following this, the US Department of Justice shared publicly that it was investigating whether Live Nation is abusing its market dominance in the ticket industry. 

Besides the very real impact this investigation could have on the ticketing of events, it also goes to show the collective power of a well-mobilised fanbase.

What issue should we direct the Swifties to next?

The White Lotus season two.

Image: HBO/Binge.

Just as we were all winding down for the year - compiling and reading all those 'best of 2022' lists (like this one) - came one last cultural phenomenon. And it came in the shape of Jennifer Coolidge, in an all pink outfit, falling to an untimely death after going full Rambo on a yacht to prevent herself being murdered by a group of "high-end gays".

Oops.

Mike White's pandemic series The White Lotus returned for a second season in late October, running across seven weeks till early December. And it felt like absolutely everyone was completely glued to their screens throughout.

From social commentary, dissecting clues, fan theories and the many, many memes, it felt impossible to exist in late 2022 without discussing the series, all about terrible rich people doing terrible rich people things at a fancy Sicilian resort.

When the finale aired, ending the show in a way that... well, almost no one saw coming, the discussion reached a fever pitch.

It's only been a couple of weeks, but I miss it already.

Chelsea McLaughlin is Mamamia's Senior Entertainment Writer and co-host of The Spill. For more pop culture takes, recommendations and sarcasm, you can follow her on Instagram.

Feature image: Getty.