A bottle, a loose cap and a carefully timed kick became an unlikely recipe for internet fame in the summer of 2019. The Bottle Cap Challenge spread from martial artists to musicians and movie stars, with each participant inviting someone else to try it.
The appeal was easy to understand: a short video, a clear target and an outcome viewers could judge immediately. The challenge was to send the cap spinning while leaving the bottle upright. It was a different stunt from the bottle-flipping trend, which involved landing a tossed bottle on its base.
The celebrity challenge chain
TIME’s July 2, 2019 coverage traced a chain of challenges through martial artist Farabi Davletchin, designer Errolson Hugh and UFC fighter Max Holloway. Holloway passed the challenge to John Mayer, whose participation helped carry it beyond the sports world.
Mayer’s June 29 Instagram post challenged Jason Statham. The actor responded with his own attempt, turning an action-movie skill into a social-media moment.
Mariah Carey changed the punchline
Carey’s version traded the kick for one of her signature high notes. Her clip presented the bottle cap flying off as she sang, a comic variation on the challenge rather than a demonstration of vocal physics. Good Morning America covered the video on July 8, 2019.
The contrast captured what made the format so adaptable. Statham could play it as a display of precision; Carey could turn it into a joke about the very thing that made her famous. Both versions worked within a few seconds.
Editor’s note: This article was revised on October 24, 2026, to focus on the documented 2019 trend. Explicit material and links from the earlier version have been removed.
