How Kendrick Lamar's Diamond Pendant Broke the Internet

(IDEX Online) - Rapper Kendrick Lamar and the huge diamond-encrusted "a" pendant he wore at his 2025 Super Bowl performance has been ranked as social media's "most impactful diamond moment" of last year.

It came ahead of Rihanna's 24.5-carat Bulgari double diamond brooches at the Met Gala, Kate Middleton's stacked diamond rings and Taylor Swift's diamond engagement ring, according to the "Jewels that Broke the Internet Index" compiled for De Beers.

Lamar's lowercase "a" pendant was set with 515 natural diamonds and valued at $1.2m.

It sparked a frenzied online debate last February. Some saw it as reference to the letter "a" as stylized in the logo of his creative communications company pgLang.

Others insisted it was a veiled reference to an accusation that he'd leveled against rival Drake in the Grammy-winning diss track "Not Like Us".

Whatever it meant, Lamar's "jewelry moment" achieved the highest overall score for impact, based on 10 performance indicators - including total mentions across media and social platforms, reaction, media prominence and "buzz longevity".

"With 16,456,900 total mentions in the past year, including more than 12.6 million across social platforms and 196,300 in earned media, Lamar's diamond necklace dominated conversation at scale," according to A Diamond Is Forever, the campaign run by De Beers Group to promote natural diamonds.

Lamar's performance landed at the peak of cultural conversation, it said, and the pendant became one of the most dissected pieces of celebrity jewelry of the year. 

Screengrab of Kendrick Lamar with his "a" diamond pendant.