u/Bright-Implement-959

Overrated: 2007, 2010, 2016, 2017, 2024, 2025

Underrated: 2005, 2011, 2014, 2015, 2019, 2021

1: 2008 (Worldwide super shift)

2: 2001 (Super shift)

3: 2003 (Major shift)

4: 2009 (Very transitional)

5: 2005 (Transitional)

6: 2004 (Semi-transitional)

7: 2000 (Borderline transitional)

8: 2006 (Filler)

9: 2002 (Very filler)

10: 2007 (Complete filler)

1. 2020
2. 2008
3. 2001
4. 2022
5. 2011
6. 2003
7. 2016
8. 2009
9. 2015
10. 2021
11. 2025
12. 2005
13. 2004
14. 2017
15. 2007
16. 2013
17. 2023
18. 2019
19. 2000
20. 2010
21. 2014
22. 2006
23. 2024
24. 2012
25. 2002
26. 2018

IMO 2002, mainly because of the euro.

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Usually the most eventful months of the year, from most eventful to least, mostly politically:

1: September (Super shift)

2: March (Super shift/Shift)

3: October (Very transitional)

4: November (Very transitional)

5: January (Notably transitional)

6: April (Notably Transitional/Transitional)

7: February (Semi-Transitional)

8: August (Borderline transitional)

9: December (Borderline transitional/filler)

10: June (Borderline Filler)

11: July (Filler)

12: May (Very filler/filler)

September and March are undoubtedly the most eventful months, while May and July are the least eventful months by far, being far away from even June and December.

Literally everything that happens in a year either happens in the early part (Jan-Apr) or the late part (Sep-Dec). Almost nothing happens in the middle part, its by far the most filler part of years for some reason. Though for the last two years, 2025 at least had the twelve day war in June and 2024's July was pretty eventful, but even then, the middle part of those years weren't the most eventful.

Were even seeing it happen with 2026. Jan-Apr were all considerably more eventful than May, at least so far. It seems like the world wants a break during the Summer or something.

IMO yes.

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IMO 2022 wins in all aspects (politically, socially, technologically, etc) except in pop culture, and takes the win.

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Regarding all factors:

1. 2020
2. 2008
3. 2001
4. 2022
5. 2011
6. 2003
7. 2016
8. 2009
9. 2015
10. 2021/2025

2026 so far has had the super Mario galaxy movie and the finale of the boys, and is scheduled to have the GTA 6 launch, FIFA World Cup, The US’s 250th anniversary, dunesday, and whatever other shit happens to happen.

IMO it has potential to be a 5/10, best case scenario 6/10. I don’t see it being a 7/10 or higher.

Im rating it a 5/10. Above years like 2023 and 2024 for sure and maybe 2021 and 2025, but not 2022 and 2020.

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2008 is the clear winner but I feel like 2016 will win this because of how overrated that year is.

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Both somewhat filler, but I’d give the edge to 2025.

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From most eventful to least, pop culturally only:

1: 2020 (Notably transitional)
2: 2022 (Notably transitional)
3: 2025 (Semi-Transitional to borderline transitional)
4: 2021 (Borderline transitional)
5: 2023 (Filler)
6: 2024 (Filler)
7: 2026 (so far) (Complete filler)

2026 so far has been a complete cultural wasteland year and the weakest monoculture by a complete landslide, I believe it was destined to be part of the bottom 5 of most culturally filler years of the 21st century. It has not overtaken any other year in the slightest

But 2026 is most likely gonna get saved by GTA 6 getting delayed, so 2026 might just become more pop culturally eventful than 2025, but not 2020 or 2022 because it most likely will have literally nothing else going for it.

I still predict that 2026 will be a shift because of its political significance and will either be a major or even super shift in that aspect, but it simply won’t be anything pop culturally.

2014 I'd say is an underrated year politically. Here are the events:

2014 had the Euromaiden toppling Ukraine's government replacing it with a pro-western one, in response Russia invaded Crimea and annexed it, leading to Russia getting kicked out of the G8 and placed under international sanctions. The war in Donbass (Eastern Ukraine) also started when Russian sepratists began an uprising and seized territory, marking the start of the Russo-Ukranian war and hostile relations between Russia and the West.

Elsewhere, 2014 also had the start of the war in Iraq, with ISIS occupying huge swaths of lands in both Iraq and Syria including major cities like Mosul and Raqqa, committing multiple genocides as well, and declaring a caliphate. This caused a geopolitical crisis with the US leading a coalition of countries that militarily intervened in Iraq in June 2014, and launched a military intervention in Syria in September. This would mark the start of the European migrant crisis though it only had it's peak in 2015.

2014 also had the start of the Second Libyan civil war, the Yemeni civil war with the Houthi takeover of Yemen, the Ebola crisis, Scottish independence referendum, Malaysia air, Chibok kidnapping (#BringBackOurGirls), 2014 Gaza war, Umbrella Movement, and a military coup in Thailand.

In the United States, the killing of Michael Brown sparked the Ferguson riots, there was also the start of the Flint water crisis and Obama's tan suit controversy.

GamerGate is sometimes considered a political event though I consider that to be more of a general culture thing, alongside #MeToo.

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2021 was pretty filler culturally/socially, and technologically, but politically I’d say it was pretty eventful. The biggest case for 2021 being a shift is the relaxing of the Covid lockdowns and restrictions alongside the vaccine deployment, while still being quite eventful geopolitically like the Afghan withdrawal and Jan 6th.

Though a lot of people say that it was a boring and expected recovery year, and geopolitically it was still the least eventful of the 2020s.

I’d say it it could very well be a shift politically but not in any other factor

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Which year do you think is the 4th biggest shift year of the 21st century outside the obvious top three?

IMO, 2022 > 2011 > 2003 > 2016. Main weakness of 2016 is that there was no cultural or social shift while being technologically filler, and imo its political eventfulness is overrated.

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A lot of people mention the release dates of apps/sites when the proliferation dates are very well more significant.

Here's a comprehensive list of each app/site that I'd say is notable/popular, or at least was, and when they got launched. I might have missed a couple of them. Since 2001:

2001: Wikipedia

2002: No launches

2003: MySpace, Friendster, Steam, LinkedIn, Skype, 4chan, Friendster

2004: Facebook, Gmail, Flickr

2005: YouTube, Reddit, Google maps

2006: Twitter, Roblox

2007: Tumblr, Hulu

2008: 9Gag, Spotify, Soundcloud

2009: Whatsapp

2010: Instagram, Quora, Pinterest

2011: Snapchat, Twitch, Uber, Keek, Google+

2012: Tinder

2013: Telegram, Vine

2014: Musically

2015: Discord

2016-2017: No launches, except games like pokemon go and fortnite

2018: Tiktok

2019-present: ChatGPT launched in 2022, alongside many AI chatbots in 2023, and stuff like Threads and Bluesky.

Both are very balanced shift years and are among the biggest shift years of the 21st century. Imo 2011 takes the edge.

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From most eventful to least, politically ONLY:

Tier 1: 2020, 2008

Tier 2: 2001, 2022, 2011

Tier 3: 2016, 2003, 2026 (prediction)

Tier 4: 2021, 2025, 2015

Tier 5: 2009, 2024, 2014, 2023

Tier 6: 2005, 2017

Tier 7: 2019, 2000, 2004

Tier 8: 2012, 2013, 2006, 2010

Tier 9: 2002, 2018

Tier 10: 2007

Tier 1 are worldwide super shifts, tier 2 are super shifts, tier 3 are major shifts, tier 4 are shifts to borderline shifts, tier 5 are very transitional to notably transitional, tier 6 are transitional, tier 7 are semi-transitional to borderline transitional, tier 8 are filler, tier 9 are very filler, and tier 10 is complete filler.

Each year is ranked in successive order from most eventful to least.

Technologically ONLY, not politically, culturally, socially, etc

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