Remember the Australia wildfires? What about Hurricane Laura? The blast in Beirut? No? That might be because it was a jam-packed year, as Google's Year in Search report shows. Per the Verge, Google combed through US search results to find terms that experienced spikes in traffic over a prolonged period compared to 2019, then sorted the top trending searches into categories, among them, overall searches, news, how to make, movies, lyrics, and loss. A sampling of the results:
Overall:
- Election results
- Coronavirus
- Kobe Bryant
- Coronavirus update
- Coronavirus symptoms
- Zoom
- Who is winning the election
- Naya Rivera
- Chadwick Boseman
- PlayStation 5
News:
- Election results
- Coronavirus
- Stimulus checks
- Unemployment
- Iran
- Hurricane Laura
- Super Tuesday
- Stock market
- Murder hornet
- Australia fires
Why...: - Why were chainsaws invented
- Why is there a coin shortage
- Why was George Floyd arrested
- Why is Nevada taking so long
- Why is TikTok getting banned
- Why did Kobe have 2 numbers
- Why is everyone buying toilet paper
- Why is it called COVID-19
- Why is it called Juneteeth
- Why is Australia on fire
People:
- Joe Biden
- Kim Jong Un
- Kamala Harris
- Jacob Blake
- Ryan Newman
- Tom Hanks
- Shakira
- Tom Brady
- Kanye West
- Vanessa Bryant
Where is...: - Where is my stimulus money
- Where is my refunds
- Where is Kansas City
- Where is Beirut
- Where is Shakira from
- Where is toilet paper made
- Where is the coronavirus
- Where is Lebanon
- Where is Minneapolis
- Where is Joe Biden from
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Definitions:
- WAP
- Entanglement
- Antebellum
- Pandemic
- Asymptomatic
- Juneteenth
- BIPOC
- Quarantine
- Simp
- Furlough
Loss: - Kobe Bryant
- Naya Rivera
- Chadwick Boseman
- George Floyd
- Ruth Bader Ginsburg
- Eddie Van Halen
- King Von
- Kelly Preston
- Pop Smoke
- Ahmaud Arbery
Read Google's full Year in Search report
here. (More
Google stories.)