The guide · timeline
Most memes die in two weeks. This one got a Guinness record, a merch shelf and a court case. The full timeline of the brainrot universe, with the dates that actually matter.
2023
A Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson clip saying "tralalero tralala" circulates — later cited as a pre-meme ancestor of the phrase. Separately, "brain rot" enters everyday internet slang.
2024
Oxford University Press names "brain rot" Word of the Year. The stage is set — the word is mainstream just before the genre arrives.
Jan 2025
The three-legged shark in sneakers is posted to TikTok, credited to @eZburger401. Accounts like @amoamimandy.1a spread it; one Jan 13 video hits ~7M views. The formula — hybrid creature + rhyming name + Italian AI voice — is born.
Feb 2025
Indonesian creator @noxaasht posts Tung Tung Tung Sahur, fusing the genre style with the real Ramadan sahur-drumming tradition. It becomes the biggest character of the wave (31M+ documented views).
Mar–Apr 2025
TTTS search interest and TikTok virality explode around Ramadan. Media outlets (Economic Times and others) cover the phenomenon in April. Bombardiro Crocodilo, Ballerina Cappuccina, Brr Brr Patapim and friends fill out the canon.
Jun 2025
Skifidol brainrot trading cards go on sale in Italian newsstands; a Panini sticker album follows. The meme now has a physical merch economy.
Oct 2025
Roblox's Steal a Brainrot reaches 25,868,678 concurrent players on Oct 11 — a Guinness World Record for any Roblox game — and later passes 74 billion total visits.
Late 2025
A copyright lawsuit between Mementum Lab and Do Big Studios over Tung Tung Tung Sahur ownership becomes a real test case for who owns AI-generated characters.
Apr 2026
TTTS and Ballerina Cappuccina become Fortnite skins. Ballerina Cappuccina promptly becomes the lowest-rated skin in Fortnite history — a rare case of a meme "failing upward" into more fame.
2026
Trend coverage describes brainrot as a persistent canon: new characters still enter weekly, cousin trends appear ("Soviet brainrot"), quizzes/generators/games keep the search demand alive — including on this very site.
Brainrot is the first meme genre born from AI video tools to reach record-breaking mainstream scale — that's why media scholars, copyright lawyers and parents are all suddenly very interested in a wooden log. The timeline keeps updating: we review this page quarterly and when big events land. For the deeper story of the main character, read what TTTS means; for the game behind the record, see Steal a Brainrot, explained.