Internatinal Review: The pop culture moments that went viral in 2014

January: Pharrell Williams made everyone Happy - 

Pharrell's Happy was originally written for the 2013 Dreamworks sequel Despicable Me 2, for which it received an Oscar nomination. However, it became a viral hit this year. The video alone has been viewed 531 million times on YouTube, then in September Happy became the most downloaded song of all time in the UK. It was also the fourth single to be declared triple platinum in 20 years with more than 25 million streams. 

February: Ellen Page came out on Valentine's Day - 

The Juno actress gave a ground-breaking speech at a Human Rights Campaign for LGBT youth in February, announcing that “I’m here today because I am gay.” The video of the speech, which was watched globally, showed Page talking about the pain of hiding her sexuality and telling her audience: "We deserve to experience love fully, equally, without shame and without compromise."

March: Ellen Degeneres' Oscar selfie - 

An unrivalled collection of the Hollywood elite (and Lupita Nyong'o's brother) Oscars host Ellen Degeneres's selfie was retweeted over three million times. Twitter collapsed briefly because of the snap, which included Brad Pitt, Jennifer Lawrence and Channing Tatum. It is reportedly valued at around $1 billion dollars to Samsung, the manufacturer of Degeneres's phone.

May: The wedding that that broke the internet -

Kim Kardashian's cover shoot for Paper magazine was one of the more controversial celebrity events of 2014, it was her wedding to Kanye West in May that proved the most shareable. Her Instagram snap of the big day, which showed the newlyweds kissing in Florence, was the most liked photo on

the platform in 2014, with 2.4 million likes. Just as well - the couple spent four days tweaking the photo.

June: The Queen ruled Westeros -

Game of Thrones fans watched with trepidation as the Queen eyed the Iron Throne while visiting the hit TV show's set in Belfast in June. They may have been disappointed that the monarch decided

against sitting on the iconic seat, but the popular HBO series was referenced in Her Majesty's speech on Christmas Day.

August: Chris Pratt became an online hit -

As if being the highest grossing actor of 2014 wasn't enough, Guardians of the Galaxy star Chris Pratt also became an internet sensation. Whether he was meticulously rapping Eminem's Forgot About Dre on American radio station Shade45 or demonstrating how to do the perfect French braid in July for an Entertainment Weekly correspondent, the star peaked in August, with more content generated about him than ever before according to Google's search trends. 

August: Beyoncé continued to champion gender equality -

It was successful year for feminism in pop culture, with Beyoncé championing the cause throughout the year. Performing at the MTV Video Music Awards to a TV audience of 8.3 million, the singer quite literally put gender inequality into the spotlight, bringing the debate to a younger generation by sampling Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s TED talk into her single ***Flawless

August: Taylor Swift surpassed pop stardom -

Once the video for Shake It Off (currently clocking 422,139,663 views on YouTube) came online, Taylor Swift moved beyond the status of country starlet and became think piece fodder among the blogosphere. Feminism, racial stereotypes and Swift's new musical direction were all picked apart after the surprise launch of the debut single from 1989.

September: Emma Watson and #HeForShe -

The British actress was appointed UN Women Goodwill Ambassador in July, and in September she used her role to launch the #HeForShe campaign encouraging men and boys to join the gender equality cause.
Following her speech, male celebrities including Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Simon Pegg and Tom Hiddlestone showed their support by using the hashtag #HeForShe on Twitter and Instagram. Encouraging men to pledge to gender equality via social media, the campaign has thus gained a movement of over 200,000 followers online. 

October: Daniel Radcliffe showed the world he can rap -

The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon, the Harry Potter actor left Hogwarts firmly in the past as he delivered a seamless version of Blackalicious 'Alphabet aerobic. The video of the challenge currently has 32 million views, making it the show's third most popular video to date.

November: Russell Brand went Brit Pop -

After it was suggested on Twitter that every one of Brand's political rants could be concluded by tweeting "Parklife" in response, the actor turned activist responded with his own version of the Blur
Brit Popclassic. The Twitter trend, which saw thousands responding to Brand's tweets with the phrase, began in November and the video has since passed a million views.

November : The new lightsaber divided fans -

The first trailer for JJ Abrams' Star Wars sequel The Force Awakens has reached over 51 million views on YouTube, making it the most watched teaser trailer ever. But, the 91-second trailer caused controversy as well as excitement. The double-hilted lightsaber wielded by the Kylo Ren divided
fans. While some embraced it, others created memes of other unnecessary alterations to the weapon.