1. After months of speculation, Robert Pattinson finally confirmed he was dating Kristen Stewart in February. "It is extremely difficult, but we are together, yes," he told The Sun about his Twilight co-star at the BAFTA Film Awards. "We can't arrive [anywhere] at the same time because of the fans. It goes crazy. This was supposed to be a public appearance as a couple but it's impossible. We are here together and it's a public event but it's not easy."

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2. The Last Song hit theaters in March. Miley Cyrus and Liam Hemsworth met and fell in love on the set of the movie the previous year.

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3. Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, Niall Horan, Liam Payne, and Louis Tomlinson all auditioned for The X Factor UK. They auditioned separately and were nearly cut from the show altogether, before the judges put them together as One Direction.

4. Selena Gomez called Justin Bieber her "little brother." This actually happened.

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5. Relationship rumors began to swirl when Justin and Selena were spotted kissing at midnight on New Year's Eve. We all know how this one ended.

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6. Kylie Jenner, then 12, worried that 14-year-old Kendall's modeling dreams would make her "the coolest one in the family." Kylie turned out just fine, obv.

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7. Taylor Swift drank Starbucks with Jake Gyllenhaal. Which is why everyone assumed that "Blank Space" lyric was really about "Starbucks lovers."

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8. Jennifer Lawrence had her breakout role in Winter's Bone. Previously, her biggest gigs were My Super Sweet Sixteen and an Abercrombie campaign. 

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9. Ke$ha's "Tik Tok" was the number one song of the year. And yes, she still used the $ back then.

10. Katy Perry's "California Gurls" was the unofficial song of summer. "Fine, fresh, fierce, we got it on lock" would have been the perfect Instagram caption for a squad pic if Instagram existed in 2010... or if you called your friends your squad back then... nevermind.

11. The most talked-about music video of the year was OK Go's "This Too Shall Pass," which featured a Rube Goldberg machine. It racked up 52 million views.

12. Good Luck Charlie aired its first episode on the Disney Channel. It was called "Study Date." When Bob has an accident, the kids had to take care of him and Charlie.

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Disney Channel

13. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 hit theaters. This marked the beginning of the end of an era for a generation of Potterheads.

14. Toy Story 3 was the highest-grossing movie of the year. It earned $1,063,171,911 at the box office.

15. Flash mobs were a thing. Remember Artie's dream of performing in a flash mob without his wheelchair on Glee?

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16. Veronica Roth wrote the first draft of Divergent in 40 days over winter break of her senior year at Northwestern. She landed a book deal just days before graduation.

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17. Lady Gaga wore that meat dress. It hangs in a museum today.

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18. Taylor Momsen started wearing her eyeliner like this. Right around the same time little Jenny Humphrey traded her headbands and pleated skirts in for ripped tights and leather jackets on Gossip Girl.

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19. Everyone was obsessed with Facebook. The Social Network, the movie depicting the founding of Facebook, won the Oscar for Best Picture that year. 

20. Apple released the first iPad. "It's like a really big iPod Touch!" you explained to your grandparents. 

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21. Angry Birds was your favorite app. It debuted in the App Store in December 2009; by October 2010, it had been downloaded 42 million times. This year, it hit theaters as a movie and out-performed Captain America at the box office. Yes, that's right — an animated movie inspired by an app beat a superhero. 

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Hannah Orenstein

Hannah Orenstein is the author of several novels, including Meant to Be Mine (out June 7, 2022), Head Over Heels, Love at First Like, and Playing with Matches. She's also the Deputy Editor of Dating at Elite Daily. She lives in Brooklyn.