The ability to efficiently control topological magnetism is crucial for advancing technological applications and deepening our understanding of magnetic systems. Although emerging van der Waals (vdW) multiferroics present a promising frontier for energy-efficient spin manipulation, the control of topological magnetism remains challenging due to its scarcity in multiferroics. Here, we demonstrate that highly tunable merons and antimerons emerge in monolayer multiferroic CuCrP₂S₆ (CCPS). The antiferroelectric-to-ferroelectric (AFE-FE) transition enhances exchange couplings, notably reducing meron density and increasing meron size during cooling. Merons exhibit unique dynamics, characterized by nontrivial attraction and annihilation processes, which generates distinct long-lived spin waves and reduces meron number difference between AFE and FE phases until they vanish. Importantly, ultrafast laser pulses can induce ferroelectricity-tunable merons from a uniform in-plane magnetization, re-leading to a large difference in meron density between the AFE and FE phases. These findings enhance our understanding of topological magnetism and open up exciting avenues for controlling the properties and dynamics of topological states through electrical and optical methods.

Charge-density waves (CDWs) in layered transition-metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) emerge from the coupled evolution of lattice vibrations and electronic states. In 2H-TaS$_2$, however, the microscopic origin of the CDW transition has remained unsettled. Here we combine inelastic X-ray scattering (IXS), angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES), and density-functional theory (DFT) to uncover a mechanism that deviates from the canonical soft-mode scenario. IXS reveals a momentum-localized Kohn anomaly at $q_{\mathrm{CDW}}$ that softens strongly but saturates at $\sim 4$~meV, defining a narrow precursor regime $\sim 3$~K above $T_{\mathrm{CDW}} = 77$~K. In contrast, ARPES shows a sharp electronic response at the transition: a sizeable CDW gap of $\Delta = 95 \pm 9$~meV opens abruptly below $T_{\mathrm{CDW}}$, while no pseudogap is detected above. Harmonic calculations reproduce the ordering vector but overestimate the transition scale, highlighting the importance of anharmonic fluctuations, phonon mode mixing, and electronic feedback in truncating the phonon collapse. Together, these results identify 2H-TaS$_2$ as a distinct archetype of CDW order, where an incomplete lattice softening coexists with a strong-coupling electronic gap, in sharp contrast to the complete phonon collapse recently reported in 2H-TaSe$_2$. More broadly, they demonstrate how electron–phonon coupling and lattice dynamics cooperate to generate diverse CDW pathways in TMDs.