A computer-implemented method is presented for caching content. The method includes storing content received from a data stream, employing a cache array and a retrieval data structure to process the content, determining, by the processor, if the content is popular content which appears frequently, a position in the cache array holding a strong reference to the content, determining, by the processor, if the content is unpopular content which appears infrequently, an arbitrary position in the cache array holding a strong reference to the unpopular content, the retrieval data structure holding a weak reference to the content, and issuing cached content to a cache data storage device accessed by a user interface of a computing device communicating with the data processing system.