The static keyword in Java is used for memory management and can be applied to variables, methods, blocks, and nested classes. Static variables and methods belong to the class rather than objects. A static variable is loaded when the class is loaded and there is only one copy per class, while instance variables are loaded each time an object is created. The main method must be static since it is called before any objects are created to start the program execution. Static blocks are used to initialize static variables and are executed when the class is loaded.