Tag Archives: Trends

The High Five: prom gets cheesy, pollen makes you sneezy

Whether you’re on the hunt for a flower crown or a corsage, here’s what that ol’ internet has been up to this week …


People are searching for Coachella—specifically, “what is Coachella”? It’s a music festival in the middle of the desert in California where bandanas are worn, parasols are twirled and selfies are taken (other Coachella items trending on Search are dust masks and earplugs… not as cute.) If you’re looking to see “who is performing?” you’ll be pleased to learn that two of the top-searched artists at Coachella are Beyonce and Cardi B (but Cardi was searched 3,200 percent more than Bey this week).


For those who have to wait a few years to bask in the sweet sun of the Coachella Valley, the fluorescent light of a high school gym will have to suffice. That’s because it’s prom season, and the kids are wondering “is prom worth it?” and searching for creative promposals (prom + proposal) like “Fornite promposal” and “The Office promposal.” It’s not prom without a corsage and boutonniere (but who can spell that?). Amidst the prom-mania, “How to spell boutonniere” was a trending question this week.  


If you thought your prom was cheesy, it’s got nothing on the next trend. On Thursday, sandwich enthusiasts celebrated National Grilled Cheese Day, and they took to Google to learn new ways to make the delicious treat—searches for grilled cheese were up 300 percent. Trending types of grilled cheese were “Taco grilled cheese,” “Keto grilled cheese” and “garlic bread grilled cheese.”


Spring comes, snow melts, and people search for pollen. Is that the saying? Whatever. The next trend is pollen. Probably because there’s a lot of it in the air. People were more interested in “pollen allergy” than “food allergy” this week, and a top trending question was “how does pollen cause allergies?” ?


Illinois Senator Tammy Duckworth welcomed her second child into the world this week, making her the first U.S. Senator to give birth while in office. The announcement of her new baby had some people searching ”How old is Tammy Duckworth?” and brought up questions about maternity leave—“how long is maternity leave?” and “when to take maternity leave?” were trending questions this week.


Source: Search


The High Five: gathering around the table and in the stands

Whether celebrating Easter or Passover with friends and family, or cheering on your favorite team, there’s a lot to look forward to this weekend. Here’s a look at some of the top searches from this week, with data from Google News Lab.

Cracking open Easter trends

This weekend, families across the country will gather to celebrate Easter and the beginning of Passover. As this week’s trends show, nothing brings people together like food. Scalloped potatoes and pie top the most-searched recipes for Easter Sunday, and some people are planning for Mass on Saturday: “How long is Easter Vigil Mass?” was one of the top trending Easter-related queries. People are also getting crafty at home in preparation for egg hunts, asking: “how to boil eggs for Easter?”

As for Passover preparations, charoset and brisket were the most popular “Passover Seder recipes,” while search interest in “passover greetings in English” went up 450 percent. Chag sameach!

Taking it to the hole

The NCAA Final Four games are upon us, and Kansas, Kentucky, Nebraska, Michigan and Indiana are the top states searching for “March Madness.” Meanwhile in Illinois, Loyola-Chicago isn’t the only breakout star of the tournament—search interest in their holy good luck charm Sister Jean rose over 1,000 percent this week. People are even wondering “what did Sister Jean give up for Lent?”

Call it a comeback

Search interest in Roseanne Barr spiked over 300 percent on Tuesday, as the 2018 reboot of the popular television series premiered on ABC. Top questions about the show included “who is Jerry on Roseanne?” and “how many people watched Roseanne?” (somewhere in the ballpark of 18 million viewers).

Snap, crackle, pop

“Why are my knuckles cracking?” was a trending question this week. And it was answered by researchers in the U.S. and France who found out it’s caused by tiny bubbles collapsing in the fluid of the joint as the pressure changes. It looks like the three M’s—Minnesota, Michigan and Maryland—are among the top regions searching for “knuckles cracking.” Attempt at your own risk.

Swing batter, batter, swing

Just in time for Major League Baseball’s Opening Day, search interest in “top MLB  prospects for 2018” spiked over 400 percent this week. Top trending teams included the Chicago Cubs, Detroit Tigers and New York Yankees, and Scott Kingery, Salvador Pérez and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. rounded the bases as some of the top trending players.

The High Five: Springing for search trends

Springtime means new beginnings, and that seems to be the case for Ringo Starr and Cynthia Nixon who made their foray into knighthood and state politics this week. But they’re not the only ones who captured people’s attention in Search this week. Here’s a look at the top trends, thanks to data from Google News Lab.


Finding answers in Austin

The question on many people’s minds—“who was the Austin bomber?”—was answered early Wednesday morning when law enforcement identified Mark Conditt as the man behind the string of exploding  packages. San Antonio, Waco-Temple-Bryan, Victoria and San Angelo were among the top metros looking for more information on the Austin bomber.


It’s finally spring...kinda

“Is today the first day of spring?” was the top trending question across the east coast this week as residents braced for a not-so-warm welcome to the new season. Storm Toby brought a wintery mix of snow, sleet and gusty winds on Wednesday and had people in DC, Maryland, New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts searching for information on flight cancellations. Spring officially sprung on Tuesday, in case you didn’t know!


Starry Knight

“Don’t pass me by”—Sir Richard “Ringo Starr” Starkey is the latest member of the Beatles to be knighted. Prince William performed the ceremony on Tuesday, 21 years after the other surviving Beatle, Paul McCartney, was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II. Despite search interest in “Ringo Starr” spiking 400+ percent higher than “Paul McCartney,” John Lennon was the most searched band member of the week. It’s a battle of the Beatles!


Politics in the City

Miranda Hobbes fans unite: Cynthia Nixon is running for Governor of New York. Best known for her role in the hit HBO series “Sex in the City,” Nixon is taking her talents off screen and into the ballot box. She’ll challenge current New York Governor Andrew Cuomo for the seat—and is already off to the races, with search interest in “Cynthia Nixon” spiking over 1,300 percent of “Andrew Cuomo” on Monday. Guess Carrie Bradshaw isn’t the only leading lady in town!


The boy with the phoenix tattoo

Elephants, flowers, lions and butterflies were among the most searched tattoo designs this week, but it’s Ben Affleck’s colorful ink that has everyone talking. The actor was caught showing off his back tattoo while on a beach in Hawaii. Fans and tattoo artists alike have their opinions about the massive phoenix rising from the ashes, so much so that search interest “Ben Affleck tattoo” was more than 1,200 percent higher than interest in “Ben Affleck movie.” But the top trending question remains, “is Ben Affleck’s tattoo real?” Dun, dun, dun.

The High Five: “A Brief History” of this week’s searches

Sifting through the week’s news can feel like sinking into a black hole. Luckily, we have some standout trends this week, gathered with data from Google News Lab. They start with a tribute to legendary physicist and black hole escape artist Stephen Hawking, who passed away Wednesday at age 76.

“Look up”
Stephen Hawking’s intelligence was a cut above the rest, in life and in Search: interest in “Stephen Hawking IQ” was 170 percent higher than “Stephen Hawking quote” over the past week. But of his many memorable quotes, here’s the most searched: “Look up at the stars and not down at your feet. Be curious. And however difficult life may seem, there is always something you can do and succeed at.”

Turbulent times
“What happened on United Airlines?” was a trending question this week. The company faced scrutiny after a French bulldog—the second most searched dog breed this week—suffocated in an overhead compartment and a pet German Shepherd was accidentally shipped to Japan. For those searching for canine breeds this week, Rhodesian Ridgebacks were top dog.

A cue from teens
Search interest in “walkout” has reached an all-time high in the U.S. this month. On Wednesday, students around the country participated in a walkout to call on elected officials to take action on gun laws—the top cities searching for “walkout” were Charlottesville, VA, Fort Smith, AR, and Madison, WI.

It’s bracket season 
March Madness is in full swing, especially for North Carolina, Duke and Kentucky fans, whose teams have been the most searched in the past week. The top-searched celebrity brackets are from basketball commentator Jay Bilas, former President Barack Obama, and Warren Buffett. And the winner is anyone’s guess: Michigan State, favored by both Bilas and Obama, wasn’t among the top 10 teams being searched this week.

Go green
Saturday marks St. Patrick’s Day and, in true spirit, corned beef and cabbage is the top trending St. Patrick’s Day recipe this week, followed by … jello shots ?. If you’re feeling lucky, you might be among those searching for lucky horseshoes, lucky cats and lucky clovers (the top searched “lucky” items in the past week). And although New York has the biggest parade and Boston the biggest reputation, the top states searching for the holiday are Connecticut, Kansas, and Delaware. Illinois, where Chicagoans annually dye their river green, comes in at number four.

The High Five: new words light up in Search

The world learned about new words—whether from Merriam-Webster or Frances McDormand— this week. Here are a few of the week’s top-searched trends (with data from the Google News Lab):

The words of our generation:“Dumpster fire,” once relegated to internet-speak, has made it into the official lexicon—one of 850 new words that Merriam-Webster added to the dictionary—and was up 3,200 percent in Search. Embiggen (a word invented by “The Simpsons,” that means “to get bigger”) embiggened with a 2,000 percent spike in search interest, while mansplain went up 500 percent.

First woman to…“land a triple axel” and “go to MIT.” These are the top two rising searches over the past year for women who have broken barriers, and with International Women’s Day this week, searches about women continued. Frances McDormand, Jennifer Lawrence and Tiffany Haddish were the leading ladies in Search, and across the world, top searches for “gender equality” came from Nicaragua, Mexico and Sweden.

Say that one more time:After Frances McDormand’s speech at the Oscars, “inclusion rider” became a breakout search term (meaning there was a tremendous increase in search interest, possibly reflecting a term that had few, if any, prior searches). Since the term was relatively unknown, some people heard “inclusion writer,” which also saw a search increase (only 450 percent less than the correct term, “inclusion rider”).

Sweet tooth: M&M’s are mixing it up with new flavors—Crunchy Espresso, Crunchy Raspberry, and Crunchy Mint. Despite these new additions, “Neapolitan”—another limited-edition flavor—was the top-searched M&M flavor this week, and M&M-thusiasts are searching for recipes for M&M cookie, M&M cookie with peanut butter, and M&M cake.

Putting Nikumaroro on the map:Search interest for “Pacific Island of Nikumaroro” soared 4,600 percent after new forensic analysis of bones found there belong to Amelia Earhart.

The High Five: give a dog a clone

This week, Barbra Streisand revealed that two of her canine companions are actually clones of her beloved dog Samantha, who died last year. People took to Search to find out “How much does it cost to clone a dog?” and “How does dog cloning work?” In fact, people unleashed their curiosity for “cloned dog” 1,900 percent more than “cloned sheep,” which was the first-ever cloned mammal. (Coincidentally, the sheep was named after another music legend in the news this week, Dolly Parton.)


Here’s a peek at a few other top searches from this week, with data from Google News Lab.


Weight in gold:Leading up to the Oscars this weekend, a top-searched question was “How much does an Oscar weigh?” (We’ll save you the search—it’s 8.5 pounds!). Margot Robbie leads searches for Lead Actress nominees, and Timothée Chalamet is most searched among the Lead Actor nominees. And before the ceremony, go back a few decades with the top-searched Oscar movies of all time.


Not so Golden:Search interest in “California quality of life” was searched 700 percent more than “California cost of living after “U.S. News and World Report” deemed California the state with the worst quality of life.


Listen to this: When Spotify filed to go public this week, search interest in Spotify IPO went up 4,800 percent and people want to know, “Where can I buy Spotify stock?” and “How to invest in Spotify.”


Reading 9 to 5:After donating  its 100 millionth book, search interest in Dolly Parton’s nonprofit “Imagination Library” went up by 270 percent. As a singer and philanthropist, Parton wears many hats—and her most-searched song is “Coat of Many Colors.”

Source: Search


The High Five: cheer(s)ing for red wine and women’s hockey

When a recent study revealed that red wine can be good for oral hygiene, the searches for “red wine health benefits” poured in (it was searched 400 percent more than “white wine health benefits”). And while we’re at it, is red wine good for other things? Two of the top health-related searches for red wine were “How many carbs in red wine?” and “Which red wine makes you lose weight?” Other than red wine, the most searches for “Is [insert food] healthy?” were sparkling water, trail mix and cottage cheese.


Here’s a peek at a few other top searches from this week, with data from Google News Lab.


Olympics-mania: The U.S. Hockey team won the gold this week and people went puck-wild for Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson (search interest in Jocelyne increased more than 7,000 percent) after she scored the winning goal. Women’s Super Combined, Ice Dancing, Women’s Downhill Skiing and Women’s Figure Skating were the top searched Olympic events this week.


At the box office: “Black Panther” has been a roaring success, and people are so engrossed in its fictional world that a top-searched question was “Is Wakanda real?” Michael B. Jordan has been searched the most of all the Black Panther cast members, while Nakia is the top-searched character.


Tote-ally fashion:A $590 grocery bag-style tote from the French brand Céline was a top-searched trend that emerged from Fashion Week. Anna Wintour, who sat with Queen Elizabeth at Fashion Week, was also top of mind—search interest in the fashion icon went up 500 percent.


Missed a beat: After Fergie’s sultry rendition of the national anthem at the NBA All Star Game, search interest in the singer-songwriter increased 1300 percent. Though Fergie was in the spotlight this week, Lady Gaga is the top-searched “Star Spangled Banner” singer in recent years (she sang at Super Bowl 50).

The High Five: roses are red, violets are blue, five top searches for you

Roses are red,
Violets are blue.
Here are this week's top searches for you:
The Dow is down, but a rocket went up to the skies
We're staring deeply into our valentines' eyes
While the world’s best athletes go for the gold
We met the new Gerber baby, just one year old.
Now on to the trends, before my rhyme becomes drab—
All the data we use comes from Google News Lab.

Valentine’s Day

Between flowers, a big teddy bear, a beef jerky bouquet, Valentine’s Jordans and chocolate-covered strawberries, there’s something for everyone on the list of top-searched Valentine’s Day gifts.

New spokesbaby

One-year-old Lucas Warren became a celebrity this week when it was announced that he’s the first Gerber baby with Down Syndrome. Meanwhile, another baby made her debut in the limelight: Kylie Jenner’s daughter, Stormi. Other top searched babies this week were Nick Foles’ baby, Janet Jackson’s baby, and Khloe Kardashian’s baby.

All eyes on Pyeongchang

Figure skating is the most searched Olympic sport in 48 states. The outliers are Alaska and Montana (where snowboarding’s at the top), Nebraska (where curling reigns) and Minnesota (where ice hockey wins all).

Falcon Heavy

After his foray into space this week, search interest in “Elon Musk rocket” took off, and was 350 percent higher than interest in “Elon Musk car.” People searched for famous rockets—other than Falcon Heavy—this week, too: Flat-earther rocket, Saturn V rocket, Sea Dragon rocket and Soyuz rocket.

Ups and (Dow)ns

As the markets went on a rollercoaster, search interest in Dow Jones Industrial Average was 1,700 percent higher than search interest in NASDAQ, and people were searching for “stock market” 1,400 percent more than “economy.”

We’ve got your playbook for football Sunday

Just in time for the coin toss, we’re here with some ways your Google Assistant can help you prep for game day, as well as some trending recipes state by state.


“Hey Google, let’s make buffalo wings”

The Google Assistant's recipe feature, available on speakers like Google Home, is a host’s best friend: you can send a recipe straight from mobile search or the Assistant on your phone (iPhone and Android) to your speaker. From there, just say “Hey Google, start recipe,” and you can follow hands-free step-by-step directions as you go. You can also ask questions like “what’s a substitute for chipotle chili powder?” or “how many grams of cornmeal in a cup?” and then go right back to the recipe by saying “Hey Google, next step.” Set multiple timers at once and even name them (cornbread, simmer); listen to music and podcasts to get your game face on.


You can also try one of these questions with your Google Assistant to get game day details, highlights and a few surprises:


  • “Hey Google, give me a game prediction” 
  • “Hey Google, coach me”
  • “Hey Google, let’s play Lucky Trivia Sports” 
  • “Hey Google, touchdown!” 

And since the Google Assistant is available across devices, you can keep up with the game no matter where you are. If you’re running late to the party, ask the Google Assistant in your Android Auto car for the score. Walking to the corner store to stock up on snacks? Your Assistant on your phone or headphones will have the latest. And if you’re at home looking to fill the time between plays, ask the Assistant on your speaker to play sports trivia.


Now we’re cooking

Whether you’re a Philly fan, a New England diehard or just there for the commercials, good food is non-negotiable. With data from the Google News Lab, here’s a look at the most uniquely-searched game day recipes by state. Turns out the two rival teams’ home states are both chowing down on chili, but from “bacon shrimp” in Montana to “calzone” in Kansas to “crab dip” in South Carolina, maybe these unique searches will inspire you to go beyond chips and dip! You can check out more on Google Trends.
game day recipes 2018

BRB, game’s almost starting.

The High Five: a peacock and other trends that showed off this week

When a woman’s attempt to board a United Airlines flight with her emotional support peacock was thwarted this week, the internet was up in feathers. Search interest in “emotional support peacock” flew 450 percent over “emotional support dog,” and people were also curious about whether they can bring hairspray, alcohol, batteries, perfume and candy on to a flight. And don’t exclude the other supportive animals—besides dog and peacock, top searched emotional support animals were duck, turkey and cat.  


Here are more top searches in this week's menagerie, with data from Google News Lab:

  • Black History Month:As Black History Month kicked off this week, Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, Frederick Douglass, Jackie Robinson and Malcolm X were the most searched Black historical figures. 
  • Super Bowl (of chili): Bostonians and Philadelphians will cheer on opposite sides of the stadium, but their home states have one thing in common: chili is the most popular Super Bowl recipe. And you might expect that searches for “Super Bowl ad” spike every February, but the fast-typers among us also cause searches for “Superb Owl” to go up. What a hoot!
  • State of the Union:Taxes, jobs, MS-13, immigration and Mexico were the top searched terms during President Trump’s speech. On the day of the speech, searches for Joe Kennedy went up 2,100 percent, “longest State of the Union” went up 3,000 percent and and “fact check” went up 2,100 percent. 
  • Lie, cheat and Pass Go: Searches for “Monopoly Cheaters Edition release date” went up 350 percent after a new version of the game was announced, and it was searched 2,200 percent more than another popular edition: “Game of Thrones” Monopoly.