📆 Our year in review

Plus: Our most popular stories, episodes, and GIFs. [View Online]( [The Hustle] It’s been a big year for The Hustle; we launched a podcast and a YouTube series! We couldn’t have done it without you, and we thank you for reading. Today, we’re revisiting the year’s top stories, episodes, and GIFs. In today’s email: - GIFs: Our faves of 2022 - The most popular Sunday stories - The most-clicked email subject lines - The Hustle Daily Show’s top episodes 🎧 On the go? [Listen to today’s podcast]( to hear a “best of” episode, where we’ll be discussing how millennials are changing sales and rom coms. The big idea Our favorite GIFs from 2022 In case you haven’t noticed, we like making GIFs. We like how they tell stories just like the words underneath them, and hopefully, some mornings, they get you to do a [nose laugh](. Here are some of our favorites. Celebrity jet tracking became a popular (and controversial) internet pastime in 2022. In July, Kylie Jenner got panned [especially hard]( when it was discovered her private plane takes 17-minute flights. As did Taylor Swift — and [the memes]( were *chef’s kiss*. It was a rough year for Meta. Investors lost confidence in Zuckerberg’s pivot to the metaverse and the company conducted significant layoffs. Since this GIF aired in February, Meta stock has dropped another ~50%. Amazon’s media empire had a landmark year in 2022 between airing the [most expensive TV show ever](, streaming Thursday Night Football, and [acquiring MGM](. “Wanna watch James Bond? Oh look — toilet paper!” TikTok struck the right chord in 2022, cementing itself as the challenger to Instagram, YouTube, and Netflix, and in [some ways]( Spotify and Google Search — so long as it isn’t banned in 2023. Influencers have had a great run. But with the economy slowing and ad spend dropping, [we wondered]( — What happens to them in a recession? Hopefully not a shark attack, though that may actually be good for business. GOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL. Maybe the craziest moment at this year’s World Cup — aside from pretty much every moment in the final game — was Qatar declaring its stadiums [alcohol-free]( on the eve of the tournament. 2022 was a year of nostalgia. Sure, we had some futuristic mindfucks like ChatGPT, but Claire’s is mounting a comeback, people are wearing Crocs, and there’s lots of recessionary talk… What are we, living in 2009? CHART [Ikea impulse buying] Zachary Crockett Most popular Sunday stories This year, to bring you fresh long-form reads every Sunday, we visited the OG [ballpark nacho business]( and a convent of nuns who challenged an [altar bread monopoly](. We talked with a [real-life castaway]( and a real estate agent who sells [more homes]( in a day than an average agent sells in a year. These were our top 10 most popular stories based on page views: - Would you take free land in rural America? ([link]() - The surprising afterlife of used hotel soap ([link]() - How Ikea tricks you into buying more stuff ([link]() - Meet the woman who builds the world’s most unique Airbnbs ([link]() - The millionaire who lost it all and became a castaway ([link]() - The con artist who sold rich investors a fake country ([link]() - The strange business of hole-in-one insurance ([link]() - America’s favorite family outings are increasingly out of reach ([link]() - The quiet disappearance of the safe box ([link]() - The people making millions off Listerine royalties ([link]() Free Resource Why start a killer business blog? It’s a space to showcase insights, skills, and little windows into the greatness of your operation. Also, to take back the reams of leads you’ve been handing to competitors: B2B marketers who blog gain 67% more leads than those who don’t. To get started, watch this informative [intro to blogging](. The business blog trifecta: - Target audience - Content curation - Product promotion Jamal from HubSpot breaks down the airtight framework. [Launch a blog →]( Recs [bumping heads in VR] The most-clicked email subject lines We covered a lot this year, from celebrity private jets to Linkedinfluencers to inflation to dating apps, using four subject lines for each email as part of an A/B test. That led to hundreds of different subject lines. These 10 had the highest open rates. (Note: The headline on the linked version of the email may appear different than the popular subject line): 🕗 Sorry, we’re closed ([link]() 🦣 WTF is Mastodon? ([link]() 🦁 MrBeast goes beast mode ([link]() ⚔️ Spotify has had it with Apple ([link]() 🚘 EVs have a problem ([link]() 🚗 The fall of Carvana ([link]() 🎭 Amazon’s layoff plan, explained ([link]() 🎅 Inflation vs. Santa Claus ([link]() 👓 Microsoft’s woulda coulda shoulda ([link]() 🎃 Pumpkinomics ([link]() [playing football] Most popular episodes of The Hustle Daily Show We launched The Hustle Daily Show this year and have been releasing five episodes pretty much every week since February. These episodes had the most downloads. - What’s driving the debt crisis? With Ray Dalio ([link]() - A new bill to protect your data? ([link]() - College athletes are making bank ([link]() - Claire’s makes a comeback ([link]() - Google’s got competish ([link]() - TikTok’s pink sauce sounds the FDA alarms ([link]() - Netflix chooses Microsoft ([link]() - The big business of Margaritaville ([link]() - Disney goes full throttle ([link]() - Why the founder of Patagonia gave away his company ([link]() TWEET [Slack meme tweet] Follow us on [Twitter](. TELL FRIENDS → GET PRIZES Help your friends aboard our growing pirate ship. Share The Hustle Daily to start winning loot. [all prizes]( [Share The Hustle 🤠→]( Or copy this custom referral link: [ Your referral count: 0 How did you like today’s email? [Love It]( [Meh]( [Hate It]( Today's email was brought to you by [Jacob Cohen](, [Juliet Bennett Rylah](, and [Rob Litterst](. Editing by: Mark “New year, same me” Dent. Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up [here](. 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