Beyond Politics: X Reveals the Most Discussed Topics of 2025

Music, TV shows, and sports dominated conversations on X in 2025, with K-pop sensation Stray Kids generating a staggering 45.7 million posts, far outpacing political discussions that often seem to capture the spotlight. The platform's recently published trend overview offers revealing insights into user interests and engagement patterns.

Global Conversation Trends Highlight Platform Diversity

Despite Elon Musk's prominent political presence on the platform, X's 2025 data demonstrates that everyday users continue to engage across diverse topics unrelated to politics. This trend analysis provides marketers and social media managers valuable intelligence about what truly drives engagement among X's more than 500 million active users.

The platform's evolution continues to reflect broader digital communication shifts, with engagement metrics increasingly prioritized by brands seeking authentic connections with audiences.

Music and entertainment lead the conversation

The music category showcased the immense global popularity of K-pop, with Stray Kids generating four times more mentions than nearest competitors Justin Bieber (11.2 million posts) and Cardi B (10.1 million). This disparity highlights both K-pop's dominant cultural influence and X's strong international user base.

Netflix dominated the television discussion space, with "Stranger Things" garnering 12.4 million mentions and "Squid Game" close behind with 10.9 million. The upcoming final episodes of "Stranger Things" are expected to create another significant surge in platform activity before year's end.

Sports conversations maintained their traditional stronghold on X, with the Premier League generating 582.7 million posts—making it the most discussed sports league on the platform. Other leagues, including the NBA, also drove substantial engagement, continuing X's legacy as a primary destination for sports discussions enhanced by 5G connectivity and AI.

Fashion events like the Met Gala sparked significant conversation volumes as well, showing how cultural moments translate into social media engagement.

Platform insights and practical applications

X's trend analysis provides valuable context when considering that these major topics represent only fractions of overall engagement. For perspective, last year's sports-related discussions generated 1.4 trillion impressions on the platform, making the Premier League's impressive numbers just a portion of total sports conversation.

"These insights help demystify who's actually using X and what they're discussing beyond the political noise that often dominates headlines," notes Andrew Hutchinson in the report.

The platform has also reintroduced its Global Trends feature in the Explore section, giving users real-time access to trending topics and conversations. This tool offers brands and content creators a practical way to identify emerging discussions and potentially tap into viral moments.

Social media strategists can leverage these insights to develop more targeted content strategies that align with audience interests, rather than assuming political content drives the most engagement. Understanding the various advantages and limitations of marketing on X helps organizations maximize their return on platform investment.

Leveraging X's Trend Data for Marketing Strategy

Understanding these conversation patterns can significantly impact marketing approaches for brands active on X. The dominance of entertainment topics suggests content strategies should consider cultural touchpoints rather than focusing exclusively on divisive political themes.

"While political content might seem omnipresent on X, these statistics show entertainment, sports, and cultural moments actually drive more consistent engagement," the report observes.

For marketers, this data provides three key strategic insights:

1. Entertainment partnerships with musicians, sports leagues, or streaming content may yield better engagement than politicized messaging
2. International audiences, particularly those interested in K-pop and global sports, represent significant but often overlooked user segments
3. Real-time trend monitoring through X's restored Global Trends feature offers opportunities for timely content creation

The emoji usage data included in the report might seem trivial, but it potentially signals audience sentiment patterns that savvy marketers could incorporate into their content strategies.

Demographic insights and targeting opportunities

The trend data reveals important demographic patterns that marketers should consider when planning their X strategies. Generation Z users show particularly strong engagement with entertainment content, while sports discussions tend to attract a broader age range across multiple demographics.

Understanding these demographic nuances can substantially improve targeting precision and content relevance. Brands seeking to connect with younger audiences might benefit from entertainment-focused campaigns, while those targeting diverse age groups could find sports content more effective.

Organizations leveraging big data and AI for consumer insights can integrate X's trend information with their existing analytics to develop more comprehensive audience profiles and content strategies.

What This Means for Social Media Managers

The platform's trend report reveals that despite X's controversial reputation, it maintains robust conversation ecosystems around entertainment, sports, and cultural events. This information challenges assumptions about X being solely dominated by political discourse.

For social media professionals, these insights could help refine content calendars, targeting strategies, and campaign planning for 2026. Understanding which topics genuinely resonate with X's audience allows for more effective resource allocation and content development.

As brands finalize their 2026 social strategies, X's trend data suggests maintaining presence on the platform for certain industries—particularly those related to entertainment, sports, and global cultural phenomena—remains worthwhile despite the platform's controversial evolution under Musk's leadership.

Social media managers can use this information to better understand audience interests, create more engaging content aligned with popular topics, and potentially tap into trending conversations at optimal moments using the revamped Global Trends feature.

Content optimization opportunities

The data highlights specific content formats that perform exceptionally well on X. Video content related to entertainment topics generates significantly higher engagement rates compared to static images or text-only posts. Short-form video clips from sports events, music performances, and television shows consistently outperform other content types.

Content creators should prioritize video-first approaches when developing X strategies, particularly for entertainment and sports-related campaigns. The platform's algorithm appears to favor this format, potentially increasing organic reach and engagement.