The Budget tops our list, although most of the top ten are international, rather than UK, news events
Key takeaways
- Every week over the course of 2025 YouGov asked the public what news story they had heard most about
- The 2025 Budget came top, peaking at 64%
- Seven of the top ten stories were international stories
- Immigration, Gaza, and Ukraine were consistently cited by small numbers for much of the year, alongside notable peaks in response to events
- The actions of Donald Trump were consistently brought up as a top story by Britons over the course of the year
Over the course of 2025, approximately once a week YouGov has asked the British public to tell us the single news story they had heard most about in recent days. Respondents answered in their own words, which our AI-powered language model sorted into categories.*
As the year draws to a close, we have compiled these results into a timeline to examine those stories and topics that achieved the most cut-through with the public.
It is worth noting that asking this question every seven days or so inherently presents an incomplete snapshot, with news stories inevitably having waxed and waned in between survey waves.
Additionally, in instances where there are multiple major stories in a given week, the single-story methodology ultimately serves to ‘divide the vote’, potentially giving the appearance that such stories were not noticed as much as those in other survey waves conducted on weeks that contained only one dominant news story.
However, while our study is subject to these limitations, it should nevertheless have captured the very biggest stories of the year.
The single most dominant news story this year was the 2025 Budget, not least because of Rachel Reeves’s initial ill-fated attempts to lay the groundwork for tax rises. The Budget story peaked at 64% in the survey wave following the fiscal event, having also been the top story (at much lower rates) in survey waves to either side of this.
While the top story of the year was decidedly UK focused, it is worth noting that seven of the top ten news story peaks this year were all international stories.
- 64% 2025 Budget, 30 Nov-1 Dec
- 63% US/Israel vs Iran bombings and missile strikes, 22-23 Jun
- 62% LA wildfires, 13-14 Jan
- 56% US tariffs, 6-7 Apr
- 55% Pope Francis death, 27-28 Apr
- 51% Trump on Ukraine war, 4-5 Mar
- 50% Trump inauguration, 20-21 Jan
- 45% Angela Rayner resignation, 7-8 Sep
- 42% Ukraine peace talks, 17-18 Aug
- 40% Immigration to UK, 31 Aug-1 Sep
Some stories were consistently given as answers over the course of the year, the nature of which perhaps suggest a hardcore of people for whom these are personally important topics that they are seeking out news on, rather than being more passive receivers. These include the conflict in Gaza, the Ukraine war, and immigration to the UK.
Each of these topics receive wider cut-through at different points in the year, however. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s acrimonious meeting with Donald Trump at the White House in February sent an already prominent topic spiking to 51%, with peace talks in August (42% peak) and to a lesser extent November (10% peak) also gaining attention.
Intensified fighting in Gaza caused mentions of the conflict to spike in July and August (a peak of 34% in late July), while peace talks and the subsequent agreement in October likewise cut through (peak of 35% in the middle of the month).
Record-breaking small boat crossings and the ‘one in, one out’ deal with France contributed to a significant increase in focus on immigration in August and September, with our news category for ‘immigration to the UK’ peaking at 40% in early September, with a peak of 9% separately mentioning the immigration protests later that month.
Also getting consistent mentions over the course of the year, although perhaps not in quite the same category as the above trio, was news surrounding Donald Trump, who is never far from the headlines, even in the UK.
While our Donald Trump (general/other) category is often hard to unpick, given the number of respondents who simply give answers like “Trump”, notable incidents include the US president’s January inauguration (50% at its peak), his public falling out with Elon Musk in June (29% peak) and his state visit to the UK in September (34% peak).
The related issue of Donald Trump’s imposition of new tariffs on trading partners was also a significant story for weeks, particularly in April, when it peaked at 56%.
When it comes to UK domestic issues, after the Budget the next highest news peak was the row surrounding Angela Rayner’s housing arrangements and her subsequent resignation in September (45%), while the gradual removal of the former Prince Andrew’s honours and titles topped out at 38% in early November.
This year’s local elections also received significant cut-through in May, with 21% citing Reform’s success and a further 14% saying the elections in general or other aspects of the elections were the news story they noticed most that week.
And the beginning of the year saw many Britons citing the connected issues of Elon Musk’s interventions in UK politics (13%) and child grooming gangs (17%).
In other topics, this year saw some notable deaths, particularly that of Pope Francis in April, which 55% of Britons at the time said was the news story they noticed most.
The assassination of Charlie Kirk was also noticed by many, reaching a ‘top story’ peak of 38% in September.
A handful of major crime and terror attacks also received significant cut-through, including the Manchester synagogue stabbing in October (36% peak), the Liverpool FC victory parade car ramming in May (25%), the recent shootings at Bondi Beach in Sydney (26%), and the LNER train stabbings in November (14%).
Other miscellaneous international stories that received a lot of attention include the Los Angeles wildfires in January (62% peak), and the Air India crash in June that left a solitary survivor (32% peak).
The data compiled here provides a unique insight into the topics and nature of stories which commanded public attention in 2025. Much of what really did cut through can be pinned down to specific events in time, for example the Budget, high-profile deaths, and high-octane political moments such as Rayner's resignation and the Zelenskyy-Trump White House row. But a portion is also made up of wider issues or even significant individuals that stick in the public mindset, such as immigration, the Gaza conflict, and Donald Trump.
* Category titles in this compilation may not match those assigned in individual survey waves published elsewhere on this website, as we have renamed some of them with the benefit of hindsight to better reflect the full direction that the news story eventually took.
See the full results in the table below
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