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Jon Bon Jovi is taking fans back in time. The rocker joined the viral 2016 throwback trend with a nostalgic Instagram post shared on Jan. 15.
“Heard we were taking it back to 2016,” Bon Jovi writes in his caption. The post tapped into the internet-wide trend that has social media users posting throwback photos from a decade ago.
The first photo showed Bon Jovi posing in front of a PEOPLE magazine cover featuring him in November 2016. From there, he kept the throwback energy going with more shots of himself posing in the carousel.
As the post continued, the singer brought a familiar face into the mix. The final images feature him with David Bryan, ending with a photo of Bryan playing the piano.
Bon Jovi is the latest star to jump in on the viral moment, as more and more celebrities such as Travis and Jason Kelce embrace the nostalgia wave. The trend began around Jan. 1, 2026, when users started declaring that 2026 is the “new 2016.”
The 2016 trend is all about revisiting a specific era of internet culture and personal memories. People online are sharing throwback photos and videos from 2016, often leaning into that unmistakable filtered look from the time.
It’s turned into a full-on pop culture flashback, with social media users posting compilation-style content full of classic 2016 visuals.
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At the heart of it, the trend is rooted in nostalgia. Many users say they’re longing for what they describe as a simpler time, and they’re using throwback posts as a way to bring it back.
Bon Jovi’s carousel fits right into that mood with a PEOPLE cover in the first slide and a music-filled ending.
