Plan Your 2026 Content Calendar Around These Viral Events and Hashtag Holidays
By Justin Cox | January 9, 2026
Hashtag holidays and viral moments are a go-to resource for staying ahead of the curve when creating social media content. They’re a great way to reach wider audiences, encourage engagement, and tie your brand to specific themes. Social media is moving faster than ever, which means you need to stay timely and relevant with everything you post. It’s crucial to plan not only for traditional holidays, but also to prepare for potential viral moments and memes.
As a team that works on social media content month-by-month, we’ve compiled a list of key hashtag holidays to inspire your 2026 calendar. However, keep in mind that the way we use these tools is evolving. Instagram has shifted its focus away from massive “hashtag clouds.” To maximize your reach in 2026, the current best practice is to be highly intentional—platforms now recommend using only 3-5 highly relevant hashtags per post to ensure your content is categorized correctly without looking like spam.
Check out the key dates below to get your 2026 planning started!
January 2026
VIRAL MOMENTS AND EVENTS:
January 11: Golden Globe Awards
Daily Hashtag Holidays:
January 1: New Year’s Day #NewYearsDay
January 4: National Trivia Day #NationalTriviaDay
January 16: Get to Know Your Customers Day #GetToKnowYourCustomersDay
January 17: Ditch Your Resolution Day #DitchYourResolutionDay
January 19: National Popcorn Day #NationalPopcornDay
January 19: Martin Luther King Jr. Day #MLKDay
January 24: International Education Day #InternationalDayofEducation
February 2026
VIRAL MOMENTS AND EVENTS:
February 1: Grammy Awards
February 6–22: Winter Olympic Games
February 11: Super Bowl (Football)
Monthly Themes and Holidays:
Black History Month
Daily Hashtag Holidays:
February 9: National Pizza Day #NationalPizzaDay
February 11: International Day of Women and Girls in Science #WomenInScience
February 13: Galentine’s Day #Galentines
February 14: Valentine’s Day #ValentinesDay
February 16: Presidents’ Day #PresidentsDay
February 17: Chinese New Year #LunarNewYear #ChineseNewYear
February 17: Random Acts of Kindness Day #RandomActsOfKindnessDay
February 20: Love Your Pet Day #LoveYourPetDay
February 29: Leap Day #LeapDay #LeapYear
March 2026
VIRAL MOMENTS AND EVENTS:
March 15: Academy Awards (Oscars)
March Madness (College Basketball)
Monthly Themes and Holidays:
Women’s History Month
Daily Hashtag Holidays:
March 7: National Employee Appreciation Day #EmployeeAppreciationDay
March 8: International Women’s Day #BeBoldForChange
March 9: Daylight Savings #DaylightSavings
March 13: Popcorn Lover’s Day #PopcornLoversDay
March 14: Pi Day #PiDay
March 17: St. Patrick’s Day #StPatricksDay
March 20: First Day of Spring #FirstDayofSpring
March 23: National Puppy Day #NationalPuppyDay
March 31: Transgender Day of Visibility #TDOV
April 2026
VIRAL MOMENTS AND EVENTS:
April 9–12: The Master’s (Golf)
Monthly Themes and Holidays:
Asian American Pacific Islander Month
Daily Hashtag Holidays:
April 1: April Fools’ Day #AprilFools #AprilFoolsDay
April 6: Easter #Easter
April 7: World Health Day #WorldHealthDay
April 10: Siblings Day #NationalSiblingsDay
April 11: National Pet Day #NationalPetDay
April 22: Earth Day #EarthDay
May 2026
VIRAL MOMENTS AND EVENTS:
May 4: Met Gala
Daily Hashtag Holidays:
May 4: Star Wars Day #StarWarsDay #Maythe4thBeWithYou
May 5: Cinco de Mayo #CincoDeMayo
May 10: Mother’s Day #MothersDay
May 12: International Nurses Day #InternationalNursesDay
May 15: International Day of Families #FamilyDay
May 16: National Bike to Work Day #BTWD
May 25: National Wine Day #NationalWineDay
June 2026
VIRAL MOMENTS AND EVENTS:
June 11–July 19: FIFA World Cup (Soccer)
Stanley Cup Finals (Hockey)
NBA Finals (Basketball)
June 29–July 12: Wimbledon (Tennis)
Monthly Themes and Holidays:
Pride Month
Daily Hashtag Holidays:
June 1. International Children’s Day #WorldChildrensDay
June 1: Global Day of Parents #GlobalDayOfParents
June 6: National Donut Day #NationalDonutDay
June 8: National Best Friends Day #BestFriendsDay
June 21: Father’s Day #FathersDay
June 21: First Day of Summer #FirstDayofSummer
June 21: International Yoga Day #InternationalYogaDay
June 21: National Selfie Day #NationalSelfieDay
June 21: World Music Day #WorldMusicDay
June 27: National Sunglasses Day #NationalSunglassesDay
June 30: Social Media Day #SMDay
July 2026
VIRAL MOMENTS AND EVENTS:
June 11–July 19: FIFA World Cup (Soccer)
June 29–July 12: Wimbledon (Tennis)
Daily Hashtag Holidays:
July 1: International Joke Day #InternationalJokeDay
July 4: Independence Day (United States) #IndependenceDay
July 17: World Emoji Day #WorldEmojiDay
July 20: National Ice Cream Day #NationalIceCreamDay
July 30: International Day of Friendship #DayOfFriendship
August 2026
VIRAL MOMENTS AND EVENTS:
June 11–July 19: FIFA World Cup (Soccer)
Daily Hashtag Holidays:
August 8: International Cat Day #InternationalCatDay
August 9: National Book Lovers Day #NationalBookLoversDay
August 10: National Lazy Day #LazyDay
August 11: National Sons and Daughters Day #SonsAndDaughtersDay
August 15: National Relaxation Day #NationalRelaxationDay
August 19: World Humanitarian Day #WorldHumanitarianDay
August 20: National Lemonade Day #NationalLemonadeDay
August 26: National Dog Day #NationalDogDay
August 26: National Women’s Equality Day #WomensEqualityDay
September 2026
VIRAL MOMENTS AND EVENTS:
September 19–October 4: Oktoberfest
Monthly Themes and Holidays:
Hispanic Heritage Month
Daily Hashtag Holidays:
September 6: Read a Book Day #ReadABookDay
September 7: Labor Day #LaborDay
September 11: National Day of Service and Remembrance #PatriotDay
September 12: National Video Games Day #NationalVideoGamesDay
September 21: International Day of Peace #PeaceDay
September 22: First Day of Fall #FirstDayOfFall
September 30: International Podcast Day #InternationalPodcastDay
OCTOBER 2026
VIRAL MOMENTS AND EVENTS:
September 19–October 4: Oktoberfest
World Series (Baseball)
Monthly Themes and Holidays:
Breast Cancer Awareness Month
Domestic Violence Awareness Month
Daily Hashtag Holidays:
October 1: International Coffee Day #CoffeeDay #InternationalCoffeeDay
October 4: National Taco Day #NationalTacoDay
October 5: World Teachers’ Day #WorldTeachersDay
October 10: World Mental Health Day #WorldMentalHealthDay
October 14: National Dessert Day #DessertDay
October 16: Boss’s Day #BossesDay
October 31: Halloween #Halloween
NOVEMBER 2026
Monthly Themes and Holidays:
Men’s Health Awareness Month (Movember)
Daily Hashtag Holidays:
November 1: National Authors Day #NationalAuthorsDay
November 4: National Candy Day #NationalCandyDay
November 13: World Kindness Day #WKD
November 17: International Students Day #InternationalStudentsDay
November 19: National Entrepreneurs Day #EntrepreneursDay
November 26: Thanksgiving Day #Thanksgiving
November 27: Black Friday #BlackFriday
November 29: Small Business Saturday #ShopSmall
November 30: Cyber Monday #CyberMonday
DECEMBER 2026
VIRAL MOMENTS AND EVENTS:
Spotify Wrapped
Daily Hashtag Holidays:
December 1: World AIDS Day #WorldAIDSDay
December 3: International Day of Persons with Disabilities #IDPWD
December 4: National Cookie Day #NationalCookieDay
December 4: Hanukkah Begins #Hanukkah #Chanukah
December 5: International Ninja Day #InternationalNinjaDay
December 21: First Day of Winter #WinterSolstice
December 23: Festivus #Festivus #AiringOfGrievances
December 24: Christmas Eve #ChristmasEve #MerryChristmas
December 25: Christmas Day #Christmas #MerryChristmas
December 31: New Year’s Eve #NYE #NewYearsEve
This is only a small sampling of the hashtag holidays and viral events you can expect to see trending on social media for the year, but we hope this gives you a head start on your 2026 strategy! Be sure to bookmark this page to reference all year long as you build your content calendar.
Justin Cox
Justin Cox is the Design Manager at AMR Digital. Justin has a background in graphic design and is passionate about all things design and content creation. When he’s not busy pushing pixels, you can find Justin outside in Denver with his three (yes, three!) dogs or watching a hockey game that he may or may not be a little too emotionally invested in.