List of Year in Search top searches

Year in Search (formerly Google Zeitgeist) is an annual list compiled and published by Google since 2001. ^{[1] [2]} The report highlights the most popular online search trends of the year, based on aggregate data from searches conducted worldwide, as tracked by Google Trends. ^{[3] [4]} It includes top search queries in various categories, both at a global level and for individual countries. ^[5]

Year in Search lists

2000s

Year	Category	Top Search	Note
2001	Male celebrities	"Nostradamus"
	Female celebrities	"Britney Spears"
	Consumer brands	"Nokia"
	Movies	"Harry Potter"
	TV shows	"Loft Story"
	Music services	"Morpheus"
	Musicians	"Beatles"
	New products	"Windows XP"
	News outlets	"CNN"
	Retailers	"Amazon"
	Games	"Counterstrike"
	Sports	"Anna Kournikova"
2002 [6]	Male celebrities	"Eminem"
	Female celebrities	"Britney Spears"
	Consumer brands	"Ferrari"
	Movies	"Spiderman"
	TV shows	"The Simpsons"
	Fictional characters	"The Simpsons"
	Musicians	"Eminem"
	News	"World Cup"
	Retailers	"IKEA"
	Technology	"MP3"
	Travel destination	"Paris"
	Games	"The Sims"
	Sports	"David Beckham"
2003	Male celebrities	"Eminem"	"Britney Spears", the most searched term of the year. [7]
	Female celebrities	"Britney Spears"
	Consumer brands	"Ferrari"
	Fictional characters	"The Simpsons"
	News	"Iraq"
2004	Public figures	"George W. Bush"	"Britney Spears", the most searched term of the year. [8]
	Male celebrities	"Orlando Bloom"
	Female celebrities	"Britney Spears"
	Passings	"Nicholas Berg"
	Consumer brands	"eBay"
	Companies	"SCO"
	Entertainment	"Spa"
	TV shows	"The Simpsons"
	Fictional characters	"The Simpsons"
	News outlets	"CNN"
	Retailers	"Walmart"
	Hotel chains	"Holiday Inn"
	Foods	"Pizza"
	Technology	"Wallpaper"
	Sports	"David Beckham"
2005	Not published	N/A	"Janet Jackson", the most searched term of the year. [9]
2006	Passings	"Aaron Spelling"	"Bebo", the most searched term of the year. [10]
	News	"Paris Hilton"
2007	News	"American Idol"	[11]
2008 [12]	Passings	"Heath Ledger"
	News outlets	"Fox"
	Social networks	"Facebook"
	Movie trailers	"Dark Knight"
	TV shows	"American Idol"
	Olympic sports	"Gymnastics"
2009 [13]	Entertainment	"Michael Jackson"
	Food & Drink	"Acai Berry"
	Sports	"Real Madrid"

2010s

Year	Category	Top Search	Note
2010	Entertainment	"Justin Bieber"	Justin Bieber, the most searched person of the year. [14]
	Electronics	"iPad"
	Food & Drink	"MasterChef"
	Health	"HCG Diet"
	Sports	"Mundial 2010"
2011 [15] [16]	Entertainment	"Rebecca Black"	Big Meech, the most searched person of the year.
	Electronics	"Amazon Kindle Fire"
	Food & Drink	"Wendy's"
	Sports	"Mayweather vs. Ortiz"
2012 [17] [18]	Artists	"Whitney Houston"	"Whitney Houston", the most searched term of the year.
	Events	"Hurricane Sandy"
	Airlines	"Southwest Airlines"
	Electronics	"iPad 3"
	Feature films	"The Hunger Games"
	TV shows	"BBB12"
	Videos	"Gangnam Style"
	Images	"One Direction"
	Athletes	"Jeremy Lin"
2013 [19] [20]	Artists	"Cory Monteith"	Nelson Mandela, the most searched person of the year. [21]
	Events	"Boston Marathon"
	Electronics	"iPhone 5s"
	Movies	"Man of Steel"
	TV shows	"Under the Dome"
	Videos	"The Fox"
	Athletes	"Oscar Pistorius"
2014 [22]	Passings	"Robin Williams"	Jennifer Lawrence, the most searched person of the year. [23] "Robin Williams", the most searched term of the year. [24]
	News	"Ebola"
	Electronics	"iPhone 6"
	Videos	"Mutant Giant Spider Dog"
	Athletes	"James Rodriguez"
2015 [25]	Artists	"Adele"	"Lamar Odom", the most searched term of the year. [26]
	Passings	"Bobbi Kristina"
	Technology	"iPhone 6s"
	News	"Charlie Hebdo"
	Movies	"Jurassic World
	TV shows	"Big Brother Brazil"
	Sports events	"Copa America"
2016 [27] [28]	Artists	"Celine Dion"	Donald Trump, the most searched person of the year. "Pokemon Go", the most searched term of the year.
	Passings	"Prince"
	Technology	"iPhone 7"
	News	"US Election"
	Movies	"Deadpool
	TV shows	"Stranger Things"
	Sports events	"Rio Olympics"
2017 [29] [30]	Actors	"Meghan Markle"	Matt Lauer, the most searched person of the year. [31] "Hurricane Irma", the most searched term of the year.
	Musicians	"Ariana Grande"
	Passings	"Tom Petty"
	Technology	"iPhone 8"
	News	"Hurricane Irma"
	Food recipes	"Chicken Breast"
	Movies	"IT"
	TV shows	"Stranger Things"
	Songs	"Despacito"
	Sports events	"Wimbledon"
2018	Actors	"Sylvester Stallone"	Meghan Markle, the most searched person of the year. "World Cup", the most searched term of the year.
	Musicians	"Demi Lovato"
	Passings	"Avicii"
	News	"World Cup"
	Movies	"Black Panther"
	TV shows	"延禧攻略"
	Athletes	"Tristan Thompson"
2019 [32] [33]	Actors	"Jussie Smollett"	Antonio Brown, the most searched person of the year. "India vs South Africa", the most searched term of the year.
	Passings	"Cameron Boyce"
	News	"Copa America"
	Movies	"Avengers: Endgame"
	TV shows	"Game of Thrones"
	Songs	"Old Town Road"
	Athletes	"Antonio Brown"

2020s

Year	Category	Top Search	Note
2020 [34]	Actors	"Tom Hanks"	Joe Biden, the most searched person of the year. [35] "Coronavirus", the most searched term of the year. [36]
	Passings	"Kobe Bryant"
	News	"Coronavirus"
	Food recipes	"Dalgona Coffee"
	Concert	"Together at Home"
	Movies	"Parasite"
	TV shows	"Tiger King"
	Songs	"WAP"
	Games	"Among Us"
	Athletes	"Ryan Newman"
2021 [37] [38]	Actors	"Alec Baldwin"	Alec Baldwin, the most searched person of the year. [39] "Australia vs India", the most searched term of the year.
	Passings	"DMX"
	News	"Afghanistan"
	Foods	"Birria Tacos"
	Movies	"Eternals"
	TV shows	"Squid Game"
	Songs	"drivers license"
	Games	"PopCat"
	Athletes	"Christian Eriksen"
	Sports teams	"Real Madrid CF"
2022	Actors	"Johnny Depp"	Johnny Depp, the most searched person of the year. [40] "Wordle", the most searched term of the year. [41]
	Passings	"Queen Elizabeth"
	News	"Ukraine"
	Food recipes	"पनीर पसंदा"
	Movies	"Thor: Love and Thunder"
	TV shows	"Euphoria"
	Songs	"Tak Ingin Usai"
	Sports	"World Cup"
	Athletes	"Novak Djokovic"
2023 [42] [43]	Actors	"Jeremy Renner"	Damar Hamlin, the most searched person of the year. [44]
	Passings	"Matthew Perry"
	News	"War in Israel and Gaza"
	Food recipes	"Bibimbap"
	Movies	"Barbie"
	TV shows	"The Last of Us"
	Musicians	"Shakira"
	Songs	"アイドル"
	Games	"Hogwarts Legacy"
	Athletes	"Damar Hamlin"
	Sports teams	"Inter Miami CF"
2024	Actors	"Katt Williams"	Donald Trump, the most searched person of the Year. "Copa América", the most searched term of the Year.
	Passings	"Liam Payne"
	News	"U.S Election"
	Food recipes	"Olympic chocolate muffins"
	Movies	"Inside Out 2"
	TV shows	"Baby Reindeer"
	Musicians	"Diddy"
	Songs	"Not Like Us"
	Games	"Connections"
	Athletes	"Imane Khelif"
	Sports teams	"New York Yankees"

References

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2. Kiss, Jemima (10 December 2008). "And lo, for Google did pass down its Zeitgeist of the most-searched terms of 2008". the Guardian. Retrieved 17 November 2024.
3. "Google turns 25: A look at the world's top performing searches". Al Jazeera. 4 September 2023. Retrieved 17 November 2024.
4. Mendoza, Jordan (7 December 2022). "Google's top trending actor, movie, song and TV show searches of 2022". USA TODAY. Retrieved 17 November 2024.
5. "Google Year in Search 2022: Cricket dominates India list, Wordle tops overall global search". The Indian Express. 7 December 2022. Retrieved 17 November 2024.
6. Bhattacharya, Chandrima S. (14 December 2002). "Spiderman climbs, Osama slips in year-end ratings". Telegraph India. Retrieved 18 November 2024.
7. MacInnes, Paul (5 January 2004). "After 55bn web hits, Britney is world No 1". the Guardian. Retrieved 18 November 2024.
8. "Our faves: Britney, eBay and tablets, says Google". CNET. 23 December 2004. Retrieved 18 November 2024.
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34. Duffy, Clare (9 December 2020). "Here's what people Googled this year as they tried to make sense of 2020". CNN. Retrieved 18 November 2024.
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37. "Google Year in Search 2021: This is what the world Googled the most for during the year". The Times of India. 8 December 2021. Retrieved 18 November 2024.
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41. Valinsky, Jordan (7 December 2022). "Wordle is the most-searched term on Google in 2022". CNN. Retrieved 18 November 2024.
42. Hauari, Gabe (11 December 2023). "Israel-Hamas war, Damar Hamlin: Top trending Google searches for 2023". USA TODAY. Retrieved 18 November 2024.
43. Kaur, Harmeet (11 December 2023). "Google's 2023 Year in Search: Damar Hamlin and Israel-Hamas war among top trends". CNN. Retrieved 18 November 2024.
44. "Damar Hamlin was 2023's most-searched athlete, leaving behind Ronaldo, Messi, Djokovic and LeBron. But who is he?". The Indian Express. 13 December 2023. Retrieved 18 November 2024.