Fueled by TikTok trends and relatable angst, Rodrigo’s Sour became the definitive album of the year. Her "Drivers License" debut showed how a single viral moment could translate into sustained, global superstardom.

However, the landscape of 2021 entertainment was not solely dictated by billion-dollar corporations. A significant portion of "popular media" was generated by users themselves, specifically through the meteoric rise of TikTok. By 2021, TikTok had evolved from a dancing app for teenagers into a primary news source, a music discovery platform, and a driver of economic trends. The phenomenon of "whale investing" and cryptocurrency found a home on the platform, as did trends like "cottagecore" and "dark academia," which offered romanticized aesthetic escapes from the drudgery of quarantine. TikTok democratized fame, allowing unknown creators to reach millions overnight and challenging the traditional celebrity industrial complex. The algorithm replaced the television executive as the curator of what was popular, creating a culture where trends moved at breakneck speed.

Music in 2021 was defined by breakthrough stars and the power of short-form video to dictate chart success.

Here is the definitive look back at the entertainment that defined 2021.

In 2021, streaming services were no longer just an alternative; they became the primary engine of the entertainment industry. The global home and mobile entertainment market reached , a 14% increase from 2020, driven almost entirely by digital growth.