TikTok trends: week of 19 October 2026

People use AI to recreate Mesut Özil's famous 2016 Champions League goal with absurd characters (Shrek, SpongeBob, a Minecraft villager, Walter White, etc.), usually set to a cinematic remix of an underground song. The joke is watching characters who've never played football pull off the exact same play.

An edit format that takes footage from Sean O'Pry's 2015 Paco Rabanne '1 Million' perfume ad — his intense stares and finger snaps — and syncs the snaps to the TRNDSTTR (Black Coast, Lucian remix) beat. People use the edit as a punchline to make anything seem epic and legendary, even something completely absurd.

A trending audio (the song 'Angel of My Dreams') that people use for fit checks, dancing, or hype videos, boosted after being featured at the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show with Kylie Jenner.

An on-screen hook where creators or brands show their handbag or makeup bag overflowing with products they love, framed as 'options are essential.'

People apply a shake filter to someone (often a coworker) so they appear to be dancing while they're actually just working, catching them unaware.

A meme originating in the Dragon Ball Legends community where AI-generated animations show Jiren and other powerful Dragon Ball characters performing absurd dances, often set to the song "It's Like I Am Not Even Here." It started with a user named DBL Jizman animating Jiren dancing in a peculiar way, and spread as others added music and made their own versions.

A meme where users apply a Despicable Me/Gru filter that glitches out (e.g., walking through the brown minion), and people jokingly claim the filter has "code rot" — treating a simple software bug as an apocalyptic, terrifying event with creepy audio and end-of-the-world framing.

A meme format where people jokingly demand that random celebrities, spouses, or acquaintances publicly 'disavow the Muslim Brotherhood,' mocking the Islamophobic heckling of Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed at a Michigan town hall.

A wholesome autumnal format where the filmer holds a pumpkin in front of someone's face while that person does a little shimmy or dance to show off their outfit, often posted before Halloween.

A text-hook format where the on-screen text reads 'reasons why' followed by something you'd literally never do (e.g. 'stop buying clothes'), paired with a muffled audio of someone speaking into a mini mic.

A recurring seasonal audio trend using Mariah Carey's 'All I Want for Christmas Is You' with an on-screen countdown of how many weekdays (e.g. Mondays or Fridays) remain until Christmas.

A South Park meme using an image of an adult Kyle Broflovski gazing longingly at a photo of his childhood friends, paired with Google searches showing the origin dates of recent memes to make viewers feel nostalgic about how long ago they happened.

Users cut out Randy Marsh from South Park in his arms-open 'bro down' stance and place him facing off against any character (Bane, Minecraft Steve, etc.) while the original audio of him saying 'What's up, brah?' plays, mocking the absurd confidence of a normal dad challenging anyone.

A viral Death Battle episode pitting One Punch Man's Saitama against Dragon Ball's Goku, which sparked massive fandom debate because Goku won despite Saitama's canon one-punch invincibility. Fans flooded social media with arguments, fan art, and memes about who really should have won.

A meme where people cosplay as Piccolo from Dragon Ball and stand completely still with arms crossed or back to the camera while someone waves a cape behind them, recreating the character's stoic, imposing poses to 'farm aura' (look effortlessly epic). It spread from anime clips and TikTok live performances to real-world appearances, including during the French protests.