the summer of

What it was like to be 15 in 2020 in Britain

To be fifteen in Britain in 2020 was to have “Blinding Lights” by The Weeknd everywhere, Tenet on every screen, and Normal People on after school. That year, gas cost £1.13/L and Zoom quizzes and home schooling was the new thing. Born in 2005? You turned 15 in 2020 — a teenager from 2018 to 2024, right in the window a soundtrack bonds to you for life.

Compiled by the Original Lore archive from period charts, box-office and price records. How we build these · sources noted throughout.

▶ Play your 2020 reel with sounda 30-second video of your year — the song, the screen, the turn.

the mixtape of 2020

Blinding Lights — The Weeknd

  1. Blinding Lights — The WeekndThe synthwave pulse of the lockdown, played on empty-street runs while the whole world held its breath.
  2. Dance Monkey — Tones and IThat relentless earworm ambushing you from every advert and clapped-for-carers Thursday of a year nobody will forget.
  3. Rockstar — DaBaby feat. Roddy RicchDaBaby and Roddy Ricch's swagger blasting through headphones on daily-exercise walks around the same tired block.
  4. Watermelon Sugar — Harry StylesHarry Styles bottling summer sunshine when we couldn't have any, three minutes of taste and touch and freedom.
  5. Savage Love (Laxed – Siren Beat) — Jawsh 685 & Jason DeruloThe TikTok dance that got a locked-down teenage bedroom nation moving, learned religiously between the day's grim headlines.

▶ Play your 2020 reel

why this one mattered

The synth-pop rush that soundtracked the strangest year of anyone's life — released just before lockdown, it became the sound of empty streets, TikTok dances and clapping for the NHS. Neon nostalgia for a world you couldn't go out into. Being 15 in 2020 meant this, on repeat, at home.

the year-end #1 was the UK's best-selling single of 2020.

the movies you are watching in 2020

  • Tenet
  • 1917
  • Sonic the Hedgehog
  • Birds of Prey
  • Soul

the tv shows you are binging in 2020

  • Normal People
  • Tiger King
  • The Crown (series 4)
  • Gavin & Stacey (repeats)
  • I May Destroy You

the games you are playing in 2020

  • Animal Crossing: New Horizons
  • Among Us
  • Fall Guys
  • FIFA 21
  • Fortnite
  • The Last of Us Part II

what things cost in 2020

What things cost in 2020
a pint of lager£3.94
a Nando's (via Eat Out to Help Out)half price, up to £10 off
a litre of petrol£1.13
a gallon of gas£1.13/L
minimum wage£8.72/hr
a movie ticket£7.00
a first-class stamp£0.76
the average income£31,400

trending this year

Zoom
Wikimedia Commons, source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Zoom_Video_screenshot.png · Public domain
Zoom
Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Jon Sullivan · Public Domain
Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Among Us
NASA · Public Domain (NASA)
Among Us
The NHS Test and Trace app
Photo by Crookesmoor (Wikimedia Commons), source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:NHS_COVID-19_QR_code_poster.jpg · CC BY-SA 4.0
The NHS Test and Trace app
PlayStation 5
Osh33m, via Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
PlayStation 5

the gadgets you just got

PlayStation 5
Osh33m, via Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
PlayStation 5
Xbox Series X
Der. Bellemer, via Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 4.0
Xbox Series X
Nintendo Switch
Liam Dawe / GamingOnLinux; PNG by VulcanSphere, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Nintendo Switch
Oculus Quest 2
Photo by KKPCW (Wikimedia Commons), source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Oculus_Quest_2_-_1.jpg · CC BY-SA 4.0
Oculus Quest 2
Ring light & webcam
Wikimedia Commons, source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ring_Light_25280737679.jpg · CC0
Ring light & webcam

what everyone is snacking on

Banana bread
Photo by Shisma (Wikimedia Commons), source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Banana_bread_unsliced.jpg · CC BY 4.0
Banana bread
Cadbury Dairy Milk
Photo by NINXIVI (Wikimedia Commons), source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cadbury_Dairy_Milk_-Mini_Bar-_(3951105262).jpg · CC BY 2.0
Cadbury Dairy Milk
Pot Noodle
Photo by Nema Evin (Wikimedia Commons), source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pot_Noodle_before_water_added_(King_size_Chicken_%26_Mushroom).jpg · CC BY-SA 4.0
Pot Noodle
Percy Pig
Photo by Leigh Harries (Wikimedia Commons), source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Percy_Pig_(6050229631).jpg · CC BY-SA 2.0
Percy Pig
Dalgona / whipped coffee
Photo by SvnnyBvnny (Wikimedia Commons), source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dalgona_Coffee.jpg · CC BY-SA 4.0
Dalgona / whipped coffee

what everyone is drinking

Whipped (Dalgona) coffee
Photo by Kguirnela (Wikimedia Commons), source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dalgona_coffee.jpg · CC BY-SA 4.0
Whipped (Dalgona) coffee
Aldi Gin
AI-generated illustration
Aldi Gin
Monster Energy
Bxxiaolin, edited by Pittigrilli, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Can_of_Monster_Energy_drink_sold_in_China_(0.33_l),_on_white_background.jpg · CC BY-SA 4.0
Monster Energy
Oatly
AI-generated illustration
Oatly
Prosecco
AI-generated illustration
Prosecco

what made the news in 2020

  • The Covid-19 pandemic puts the UK into national lockdown from March; clap for carers begins
  • Captain Tom Moore raises nearly £33m for the NHS by walking laps of his garden aged 99
  • Black Lives Matter protests sweep the UK after the killing of George Floyd
  • The UK formally leaves the EU on 31 January, with the transition ending in December
Covid-19 forces the UK into lockdown from March; the nation claps for carers
Photo by Kwh1050 (Wikimedia Commons), source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bond_St_Station_on_Oxford_Street_London_UK_Lockdown_COVID_19.jpg · CC BY-SA 4.0
Covid-19 forces the UK into lockdown from March; the nation claps for carers
Captain Tom Moore raises nearly £33m for the NHS walking his garden aged 99
Photo by British Army (Wikimedia Commons), source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tom_Moore_(soldier).jpg · Public domain
Captain Tom Moore raises nearly £33m for the NHS walking his garden aged 99
Black Lives Matter protests sweep the UK after the killing of George Floyd
Photo by Katie Crampton (WMUK) (Wikimedia Commons), source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Black_Lives_Matter,_Hyde_Park_London_protest_3.6.26.jpg · CC BY-SA 4.0
Black Lives Matter protests sweep the UK after the killing of George Floyd
The UK formally leaves the EU on 31 January
Photo by Andrew Davidson (Wikimedia Commons), source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Brexit_crowds_in_Parliament_Square.jpg · CC BY-SA 4.0
The UK formally leaves the EU on 31 January
A-level results chaos as an algorithm downgrades students before a U-turn
AI-generated illustration
A-level results chaos as an algorithm downgrades students before a U-turn

what everyone is saying

  • "You're on mute"the catchphrase of every video call
  • "Unprecedented times"the phrase in every email and advert
  • "Social distancing"the two-metre rule of everyday life
  • "Doing a Cummings"slang for flouting the rules, after the Barnard Castle trip
  • "Quarantine and chill"the locked-down twist on staying in

the summer of 2020.

the best of it still feels like it's coming.

…and then it cools. Play the reel to feel where 2020 goes.

Turn 2020 into a 30-second reel →

▶ Play your 2020 reel with sound