Stacker Wrapped: Data dives, cultural coverage and other trends from the Stacker wire in 2025

The Stacker Connect newswire reached escape velocity in 2025, rocketing to more than 300 stories syndicated per month to the thousands of publishers in our network, 3x the number from the beginning of the year and 10x the number from only a year earlier.

Publisher engagement grew along with our story volume, thanks to a mix of high-quality content from some of the nation’s finest nonprofit media outlets and increasingly professional brand newsrooms delivering articles that consistently meet Stacker editorial standards designed to give readers useful information they can trust.

All of which adds up to a bounty of great Stacker Connect stories throughout the year, with several interesting trends popping up in the steady stream of content. Let’s take a look.

Useful data for days

In addition to drawing on third-party data and exclusive surveys, many of Stacker’s brand partners leverage large proprietary datasets to tell important stories in unique ways.

Here are a few of the year’s best examples from the Connect wire:

• Anti-hustle culture 2026: Gen Z's rebellion against burnout
• Made in the USA: American artists rule Spotify at home and abroad
• Flight delays by airport: Will you get there on time?
• Move over, turkey: Americans embrace new holiday centerpieces
• Credit card debt hits $1.2T and shows no signs of stopping
• Cuffing season isn’t fading, it’s evolving, DoorDash data reveals
• What property records reveal about the most renovated neighborhoods
• Cities where fast food is cheaper than cooking
• 2025's most popular back-to-school products, according to Shopify data
• The Brine Boom: Pickles are popping off in grocery aisles

Compelling cultural insights

From “fun recessions” to the birth of the “6-7” craze, Stacker partners stayed close to the cultural pulse this year.

Some highlights include:

• From e-cards to virtual worlds: 30 years of digital Christmas
• Surf’s up — in the desert? Inside southern Utah’s $25M human-made paradise.
• 'The White Lotus' effect: How HBO's hit series is redefining travel, style, and brand strategy
• Top 10 historic hotels leading 2026 global travel searches
• America’s ‘fun recession’: Most say life is too boring to ever make it on reality TV
• What it takes to keep Black-led farms alive
• Therapist explains why ‘6-7’ went viral, and what it reveals about today’s kids
• Modular, but make it art: How Italian design transformed the living room
• From coast to coast: LGBTQ-friendly places to visit this summer
• Sustainable fashion trends at the Oscars

Leaning into Local

We have significantly expanded our data-rich Connect Local coverage, which includes stories tailored for readers in specific cities and states, adding recurring series, new one-off features, and updates to high-performing series.

These included high-impact topics such as housing affordability, coat drives and motorcycle fatalities, as well as engaging reader favorites including weather records, cheapest gas stations, car insurance rates, billionaires, and even most popular Halloween candy by state.

Exclusive Stacker newsroom coverage

Beyond Connect, Stacker continued to produce Stacker Originals in 2025 as well as stories written for brand clients under the Stacker Studio banner.

As Senior Copy Editor Paris Close writes, This year, we published national Stacker Originals that demonstrated the breadth and depth of Stacker’s commitment to data-driven storytelling on the issues shaping America today. These in-depth features combined original reporting, expert interviews, and comprehensive data analysis to explore critical topics ranging from economic opportunity and social connection to civic engagement.

Three stories stand out:

• Writer Jazmin Goodwin’s Beyond Tulsa: Uncovering America's forgotten Black Wall Streets and their legacies today, with data work by former Data Editor Elena Cox, traced the rise, destruction, and modern resurgence of Black business districts across America. Among the success stories: Atlanta's Village Market has generated $8.8 million in direct sales for Black-owned businesses since 2016, while initiatives like the Center for Black Entrepreneurship work to close persistent wealth gaps.
• Writer Jessica Reyes’ Must be accompanied by an adult: Why teens are turning to online gaming for social connection revealed how the disappearance of malls and the rise of chaperone requirements at public spaces have pushed young people into digital worlds to find connection, with 7 in 10 Gen Z teen gamers saying games help them stay connected to others.
• Meanwhile, writer Martin Slagter’s Americans today are as divided on the value of public education as they are along party lines, also featuring data work by Cox, used Pew Research data to map the stark partisan divide over K-12 schools—3 in 4 Democrats view them positively compared to just one-third of Republicans—as debates over the Department of Education's future intensified.

Diana Shiskina, Senior Lead, Content Operations, notes, “Stacker’s Studio product continued to be a reliable way for clients without content teams to receive data-driven and service journalism articles that were fit for our newswire but still fit with the clients' industries.

Another exciting update: We started producing recurring local series for one of our auto insurance clients. These two series are delivered to the client consistently each week and are published the same day as the data updates. Adding Local to Studio allows for more pickup and readership potential, as we are able to target publishers that are only interested in content for their metro or state. It's an exciting add-on we hope to offer to more clients.

Our Studio topic coverage in 2025 ranged from small businesses to AI to generational healthcare to unique trends within baby names.

Highlights included:

• Where will the next new NFL team find a home?
• Every state's nickname and where it comes from
• Businesses are increasingly turning to AI to ensure accessibility for people with disabilities. Is it working?
• What your first phone says about you and your generation
• Financing higher education: Scholarships, grants, and financial aid
• How gas prices have changed in the US in the last week (a recurring Local Studio series)

This small sampling of stories Stacker has syndicated this year offers a taste of the impressive breadth and depth of our content. We promise the Stacker Connect wire will be even broader and deeper in 2026 as we provide North America’s resource-challenged newsrooms with a steady stream of articles they can publish at no charge to supplement their coverage and better meet readers’ needs.

We wish you happy holidays and an information-rich new year.

Frank Sennett is the Head of Connect Editorial at Stacker. Before joining Stacker, Frank served as the Vice President of Outlook Marketing, Director of Custom Content and Digital Product & Strategy for Crain’s Chicago Business, President/Editor-in-Chief of Time Out Chicago, and Managing Editor for Newcity. Frank received his B.S. in journalism from Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism and an MFA in creative writing from the University of Montana.

Contributions from Rob Powell, Paris Close and Diana Shiskina. Featured Image Credit: Photo Illustration by Stacker // Canva