For years, society has observed the growing trend of “Celebrity Culture”; an idea loosely defined as the heavy influence that the personal lives of celebrities have over the interests and consumption of the public. Looking back on 2024, this influence has certainly been present and has affected the American public’s choices of entertainment media. Most notably, the spring and summer of 2024 brought a series of “diss tracks” released by influential rappers Drake and Kendrick Lamar; culminating in the May 4th release of Kendrick’s “Not Like Us”, which ended the year as the second most streamed track in the US on Spotify. The year’s other top hits included Shaboozey’s “Tipsy”, which ranked #3, and Sabrina Carpenter’s “Espresso”, which topped the chart. The nation’s favorite artist, however, was unsurprisingly the long-time star Taylor Swift, who released her latest album The Tortured Poets Department and continued her iconic Eras tour this year.

While these influential artists took the spotlight of 2024’s entertainment industry, they formed only one layer of the developments that occupied American consumers this year. Elsewhere in the industry, the release of new additions to existing fan favorites revealed feelings of nostalgia among consumers. Disney’s Moana 2 and Paramount’s Sonic the Hedgehog 3 introduced  sequels to the popular corresponding originals, and Universal’s Wicked similarly created a film adaption of the previously known musical. This trend of remakes and sequels, while not unique to 2024, also embodies the entertainment industry’s trend of Celebrity Culture, as these latest releases seem littered with celebrity castings — for example, pop singer Ariana Grande’s role in Wicked.