Tag Archives: Trends

Year in Search 2019: Of massive moonshots and mega movies

Recapping the many trends that stoked our users’ imagination in 2019, here are the standout moments in Search across news, sporting events, personalities, movies, songs and more -- presenting our 2019 Year in Search recap.


The top 10 overall list of trending search terms this year reflected the country's excitement around events like the Cricket World Cup, the Lok Sabha elections, and the buzzing interest that surrounded the launch of Chandrayaan 2. Movies like Kabir Singh, Joker, and a double entry of Marvel’s blockbusters -- Avengers: Endgame and Captain Marvel -- also featured in the overall list.


In movies, the ones that spiked this year included a mix of musicals and action flicks. The Indian movies here included Gully Boy, Mission Mangal, and War. On the international front the list included the critically-acclaimed Joker and the two Marvel movies, which also turned out to be among the most searched queries overall.


Personalities that stood out this year included Abhinandan Varthaman, Lata Mangeshkar, and Yuvraj Singh, and we even saw a unique entry with the singing sensation that is Ranu Mondal. Sporting searches were dominated by the Cricket World Cup followed by the Pro Kabaddi League. Other international sporting spectacles like the Wimbledon, Copa América, and the tennis tournaments (including the Australian, French and US Open) were also highly searched.


In general news queries, searches were understandably dominated by the Lok Sabha Elections, Chandrayaan 2, and Article 370. The Maharashtra and Haryana state assembly elections were also highly searched. Rounding up the list were a mix of both local and global news moments such as the Pulwama attack, Cyclone Fani, the Ayodhya verdict, and the Amazon forest fire.


Among our ‘How to…’ searches, we saw a wide variety of queries ranging from “How to vote“ to “How to get Fastag” and even “How to select channels as per TRAI”. When it came to users looking to learn more and asking ‘What is…’, the top query was “What is Article 370?’. Other trending searches also included “What is howdy Modi?”, “What is DLS method in cricket?”, and “What is Article 15?”. And on local searches around ‘Near me…’, the top query was “Dance classes near me” followed by “Salons near me”. Interestingly, a pertinent entry in this particular list in 2019 was “Air quality Index near me”.  

View the complete 2019 India-specific lists and global trends in detail; and check out over a thousand global top-ten lists across pop culture, sports, music, politics, news, and more, from more than 75 countries.

Animal crackers in my trends (and other searches out of the box this week)

Packing some animal crackers in your brand new lunch box? You might notice something different—read on for more about your favorite non-cookie, and for some of the week’s top Google searches (with data from the Google News Lab).

Animal crackers get a wild new look

This week, Nabisco announced that the animals on its famous packaging will no longer be depicted behind bars after PETA recommended that the company think ... outside the box. So we’ve agreed that the animals should roam free, but now for the ultimate head-scratcher (searched by many people this week): “Why aren’t animal crackers called cookies?” Political animals must love animal crackers because D.C. was the region with the most searches for animal crackers this week.

Any excuse for a new backpack

The kids are headed back to school, and their curious minds are searching for “How to sneak candy into school.” Clearly, everything’s going great so far. Calculators, backpacks and pens were the most-searched school supplies, and when it comes to prepping for school, the kids are wondering about “backpacks for school,” “outfits for school,” and “hairstyles for school.” I feel you—where can I get some advice on hairstyles for work?

Rounding the bases

The Little League World Series is underway, and the winner will be crowned (helmet-ed?) on Sunday. Search interest for certain teams shot up like a fly ball: searches for “Panama Little League World Series” were up 2,000 percent, ditto for “Little League World Series Japan vs. South Korea” (up 2,500 percent). From up in the nosebleeds, people less familiar with the Series wondered, “How many innings in Little League baseball?”

Hurricane Lane

The category two storm is getting closer to the Hawaiian Islands, causing excessive amounts of rainfall on the Big Island and a 3,500 percent increase in search interest for “Hurricane warning Hawaii.” To get ready for the storm, people are looking to the past: One of the top searched questions in Hawaii this week was “What category was Hurricane Iniki?” (one of the biggest hurricanes to hit Hawaii back in 1992).

My stars!

This week, a NASA intern took some profanity-laced language to the Twitter universe. It resulted in the loss of her internship—but there was a 3,350 percent spike in search interest for “NASA internship” so sounds like other people are interested in the job. Elsewhere in the search stratosphere, some are questioning the agency’s merch: “Why are NASA shirts popular?” was another one of this week’s trending questions about NASA.


Dog days, always: the most fetching trends for National Dog Day

For someone like me who barely asks permission to pet puppers passing by on the street, every day is a day to celebrate doggos. But then there are days like National Dog Day, where our favorite floofers get a little extra attention.

In honor of this most important day of puppreciation this Sunday, Dogust 26, we took at look at Google Trends to sniff out what people search for when it comes to canines.

If you’re like me, you probably have your own unique dog needs. Are you on the hunt for a hound dog pic? Do you feel like your bowwow-logical clock is ticking, and you’re hankering to bring a new BFF home with you from the shelter? Does your next weekend project involve turning your kitchen into a barkery for churning out homemade biscuits? No matter what you’re looking for, Search has it all.

Have a sploot, and let’s dig into some of the top queries and questions people in the U.S. have asked about dogs in the past 12 months.

Bowwow why?

Of all the canine curiosities that might cause your head to tilt, these are the top dog-related questions:

  1. How to draw a dog
  2. Why do dogs eat grass?
  3. How long are dogs pregnant for?
  4. Why do dogs eat poop?
  5. Why do dogs lick?

Decoding Doggos

Let’s admit it: we all talk to dogs, and I, for one, am convinced they understand us. But sometimes it’s clear we’re not speaking the same language. Here are the top “what does it mean” dog related searches we’ve seen:

  1. What does it mean when a dog licks you?
  2. What does it mean when a dog howls?
  3. What does it mean when a dog eats grass?
  4. What does it mean when a dog’s nose is dry?
  5. What does it mean when a dog shakes?

Teacher’s Pet

We all love to teach our dogs new tricks. Here are the top “how to teach my dog to” related searches:

  1. How to teach my dog to speak
  2. How to teach my dog to fetch
  3. How to teach my dog to roll over
  4. How to teach my dog to play dead
  5. How to teach my dog to shake
  6. How to teach my dog to come when called
  7. How to teach my dog to heel
  8. How to teach my dog to smile
  9. How to teach my dog to find things
  10. How to teach my dog to stay

Canine Cookin’
Especially on National Dog Day, all the good boys (and girls) out there deserve a treat. If you’re a DIY-inclined dog parent (or neighbor, or stranger who just loves dogs), give one of these top searched dog recipes a try:

  1. Dog treat recipes
  2. Dog food recipes
  3. Dog cake recipe
  4. Dog birthday cake recipe
  5. Dog biscuit recipe
  6. Dog ice cream recipe
  7. Dog cookie recipe
  8. Dog cupcake recipe
  9. Peanut butter dog treats recipe
  10. Dog shampoo recipe

Pupper Pics

Our furry friends come in all shapes, sizes and varieties of softness and fluff. Of all the perfect pooches out there, here are the breeds that saw the most Google Images searches:

  1. Siberian Husky
  2. Bulldog
  3. Pit bull
  4. German Shepherd
  5. Labrador Retriever
  6. Golden Retriever
  7. Pug
  8. Chihuahua
  9. Yorkshire Terrier
  10. Pembroke Welsh Corgi

Parting GIFs

If you’re having a ruff time expressing your love of labradoodles, leonbergers and lhasa apsos, nothing gets the message across like a GIF. Check out the top puppers on our GIF search engine, Tenor, so you can say “I love you” or “I need a belly rub” with the adorable canine of your choice.

Source: Search


The High Five: Put some R-E-S-P-E-C-T on it

Daydreaming and I’m thinking of Trends. This week, with a little help from the Google News Lab we honor the Queen of Soul, celebrate birthdays, shine some light on the left-handed among us and much more. Here’s a look at this week’s top trends.

Paying respect to a legend

On Thursday, we said goodbye to Aretha “Queen of Soul” Franklin who lost her battle with pancreatic cancer at 76. This musical legend gave the world iconic hits like “Respect,” “Natural Woman,” “Think,” “I Say A Little Prayer,” and “Chain of Fools,” all of which came in as the most-searched Aretha Franklin songs this week. She never shied away from the opportunity to flaunt her dramatic furs and show-stopping hats, all while reaching octaves and bravados that could make anyone drown in their own tears. Celebrities, world leaders and fans alike took time to pay their respects with folks in D.C., Michigan, Maryland, Georgia and Mississippi continuing to Rock Steady and search for details on the Queen of Soul. May we forever ride the midnight train of soul and take a drive down the Freeway of Love because that’s what Aretha would want us to do.

Dodging traffic in Los Angeles

Traffic is a way of life in Los Angeles and Elon Musk’s Boring Company is looking to make life a little bit easier, at least if you’re going to Dodger Stadium. The company is proposing a 3.6-mile underground tunnel in an effort to curb congestion on L.A. roads and people are intrigued. So much so that search interest in “boring company tunnel” spiked more than 60 percent over the past week in the U.S. Some people had tunnel vision, also searching for the North River Tunnels, Twin Peaks tunnel and Hezekiah’s Tunnel.

Sixty going on thirty

Madonna and Angela Bassett celebrated their sixtieth birthdays this week and people were in utter disbelief. Questions like “How old was Madonna when she had her daughter?” and “How does Angela Bassett stay looking so young?” were trending, as the mystery behind their fountain of youth glow remains unsolved. Washington D.C. was one of the top regions searching for both Madonna and Angela Bassett and the top search question on turning 60 was “What to say to someone turning 60?” Uhhh … Happy Birthday?  

Righty tighty, lefty loosey

Left-handers day was this past Monday and to celebrate, Oreo created a special left handers package and even sent a free package of cookies to all the residents of Left Hand, West Virginia. Lefties and righties alike took to Search to find out, “What percentage of people are left handed,” “Is there a left handers day club,” and “Is LeBron James left handed.” They also wanted to know if there were products and perks made especially for lefties such as “Best pens for lefties” and “Scholarships for lefties.” Looks like this week was the right week to be a left-handed.

Representation matters

Crazy Rich Asians, the first major studio production in 25 years to star an all-Asian cast, opened in theaters this week and is on track to net $30 million dollars by the end of the weekend. The top five states searching for the film include D.C., California, Hawaii, New York and Washington, and people searching for Crazy Rich Asians also searched for Geetha Govindam, Mile 22, and BlacKkKlansman over the past week in the U.S. Double-feature weekend at the theater anyone?

Search, Trends and fact checking during the Mexican elections

On July 1, more than 88 million Mexican citizens voted for over 16,000 candidates in the largest election in Mexican history. In the lead up to the Mexican national elections, we aimed to help people navigate election information.


In Search, we made it easier for people to find information about the democratic process: our search results helped find their local polling, in partnership with the National Electoral Institute (INE).

i54LbLO18TmhzzZASs38NgSi4_5MDtBBYi0jOwGJJ3lf5tU1xGUs0BP0NifoE1fRdGmBNsysL16oo6M6S1mBgcvkA_OxdpeLXtM60Fs4Lqkw-wdpkO9mG7fm_euvMWZPAh_hq8Lx (1).png

We also made it easier for people to explore the data around Google searches for candidates and key elections issues. The Google Trends team created the Election Trends Hub and partnered with news organizations like Animal Politico, to create election visualizations that helped synthesize and contextualize what people were searching in the lead up to the elections.

trendlecciones-linea-de-tiempo.png

As part of the Google News Initiaitive’s efforts to empower news organizations with technology, we supportedVerificado 2018 a joint effort across over 90 news organizations and NGOs to fact check claims and prevent the spread of misinformation. To assist with the fact checking efforts, over the past year we’ve trained over 1000 journalists across Mexico on  Google verification tools, such as reverse image Search. In three and a half months leading up to the election, the Verificado coalition identified over 180 false stories and reached more than 1.3 million people on their website and social media channels.

Verificado2018-1.JPG

Reporters who participated in Verificado 2018

With presidential elections in Costa Rica, Colombia, Mexico and Brazil, 2018 is an important year for politics in Latin America. As voters across the world prepare to vote, we’re building tools and partnerships helps users engage more seamlessly in their democratic processes.

You can learn more about our work at google.com/elections and about the Google News Initiative’s work to support the news industry to fight misinformation atg.co/newsinitiative.


Hot searches for summer entertainment

Ah, summer--the season of hot outdoor concerts and cool, air-conditioned movie theaters. Here’s a glimpse into the songs, artists, concerts and movies that have been heating up all summer, according to Google Trends insights from the past 3 months.


“What did they say?”

Half the fun of any song of the summer is singing along as you’re cruising with the windows down. These are the top trending lyrics people are searching for:

  1. Drake, “In My Feelings”

  2. Childish Gambino, “This is America”

  3. Kanye West, “Lift Yourself”

  4. Drake, Lil Baby “Yes Indeed”

  5. Pusha T, “Story of Adidon”

  6. Drake, “Emotionless”

  7. Drake, “Duppy Freestyle”

  8. The Carters, “APES**T”

  9. 6ix9ine ft. Nicki Minaj, “FEFE”

  10. Post Malone, “Rich & Sad”

Festival Fever

Music festivals have become a summer entertainment staple. Here’s how some of the remaining summer festivals stack up against each other:

  1. Vans Warped Tour

  2. Lollapalooza (Chicago, IL)

  3. Outside Lands (San Francisco, CA)

  4. Austin City Limits (Austin, TX)

  5. Made in America Festival (Los Angeles, CA)

  6. Electric Zoo (New York, NY)

  7. Bumbershoot (Seattle, WA)

  8. Lockn’ Festival (Arrington, VA)

  9. Hard Music Festival (Fontana, CA)

Favorite flicks

Franchise fans have plenty of reasons to head to the theater this summer with sequels topping the box office charts. Here’s how some of the biggest films rank in terms of search interest:

  1. Avengers: Infinity War

  2. The Incredibles 2

  3. Deadpool 2

  4. Ocean’s 8

  5. Ant-Man and the Wasp

  6. Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again

  7. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

  8. Solo: A Star Wars Story

  9. Mission: Impossible-- Fallout

  10. Sicario: Day of the Soldado


For those on the hunt for family-friendly flicks, here were this summer’s faves:

  1. The Incredibles 2

  2. Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation

  3. Teen Titans Go! To the Movies

  4. Disney’s Christopher Robin

  5. Show Dogs


If you’re looking to score tickets to an upcoming concert or purchase passes for a movie to round out your summer, try our new event search features, or check out showtimes and ticketing options for your local theater. Now, if you’ll excuse me,  I need to go to search for more Drake lyrics...

High Fry-ve: sundaes for everyone this weekend

I've been told I have a flair for the dramatic (see byline), but if I were you, I'd stay away from ladders and look out for black cats today. Friday the 13th inspired lots of searches this week, and here’s a look at a few of the other trending searches, with data from the Google News Lab.


It’s Fry Day Fry Day, gotta get down on Fry Day

Today is Friday but also National Fry Day, as if I need another excuse to shove fried potatoes down my throat. If search interest is any indication of America’s fav fry, McDonald’s would take the top spot, followed by Burger King, Wendy’s and Five Guys. If you’re waffling over the best type of fry, curly fries are a cut above—they’re searched 14 percent more than waffle fries. Oh but wait, there’s more healthy food to celebrate as Sunday (or shall I say Sundae) is National Ice Cream Day. Search interest in frozen treats always spikes each summer, but July 2018 has recorded the highest search interest ever for ice cream in the U.S., great work everyone! More of a fro-yo guy myself.

I’m not superstitious, but I’m a little stitious

The planets are in retrograde, plus it’s Friday the 13th which explains my wild hormonal swings this week. Looks like Nevada is the most intrigued by this spooky day as it holds the top spot for all-time search interest in Friday the 13th. You do you, Nevada. Looking further into the data, one of the top-searched questions around this trend is, “Is today Friday the 13th?” (Might be quicker to glance at a calendar). If you’re really into Friday the 13th and you live in Arizona, you can get inked for $13, and people have been flocking to Google to figure out where they can get those services.

All about that cash 

You know what they say, mo money, mo problems, but my life is already pretty problematic so might as well sprinkle a few million on top. We’ve got a massive lotto drawing coming up, and people from New Jersey, Maryland and Massachusetts are searching the most for that $340 million cash prize. One of the top-searched questions about the lottery was, “What to do when you win the lottery?” Glad you asked. I’d buy an island, and plant a bunch of bushes, then trim those bushes to depict scenes from my favorite “Friends” episodes and run around on the island drinking mimosas listening to Taylor Swift. Ugh, one can dream.

A miraculous rescue

The world watched with intrigue and optimism as the Thai soccer team, trapped in an ocean cave, were rescued in a three-day operation involving 19 divers. Search interest in Thailand is at an all-time high in the U.S., having spiked by 600 percent this month, but Singapore, New Zealand and Australia had the most searches worldwide. Everyone made it out safely through the maze of rock and rope, complete with plastic cocoons and floating stretchers.

Blessed be the fruit

It’s been said that we’re living in the golden age of television, lucky us! Emmy noms are hot off the press, and one of this week’s top-searched questions about the awards was, “Who won the most Emmys?” We’ll have to wait until September to find out, but here are the winners for the week’s most-searched shows: of the nominees for Outstanding Drama, it’s “Game of Thrones.” And for a comedy series, it’s “Atlanta.” And for best show of all time, “Friends.” Okay made that one up, but man, that show is great.

The High Five: two newborn babies and a “Cursed Child”

This week, babies were born and lettuce was thrown out. Here’s a look at some top Search trends from the week, with data from theGoogle News Lab.

What’s in a name?

A lot, if you’re a Royal. After Prince William and Kate Middleton welcomed a son into the world this week, searches for “name of new royal baby” went up more than 3,000 percent. The newly-named Prince Louis’s siblings were also of interest—searches for “Prince George full name” went up 1,000 percent, and “Who is Princess Charlotte named after?” was also a trending question.

Trying to conjure up some tickets

Muggles and wizards alike are wondering “How much are tickets to Harry Potter and the Cursed Child?” (we’re guessing it’ll be a lot of Galleons). They may be ditching Orlando for New York—the play was more popular in Search than the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, but not quite as popular as “Summer: The Donna Summer Musical,” which was the most searched Broadway play this week.

More baby news

An image of a shirtless Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson holding his newborn baby girl went viral this week, and people oooh-ed and aaah-ed all over Search (interest in “the rock new baby” went up 2,750 percent). This was after he got a heartfelt invitation to prom from a superfan in Minnesota, which caused searches for “the rock prom” to go up 1,850 percent. Quite the week!

Lettuce warn you

Search questions are a mixed bag, but here’s one that stood out this week: “Is it safe to eat romaine lettuce yet?” If you’d like some side trends with your salad, there’s been a 1,000 percent increase in searches for “ecoli virus,” and the most searches for “e. coli” are coming from Alaska, Montana and Idaho.

An ending to marvel at

“The Avengers: Infinity War” hit the big screen this week, and there’s one thing on everyone’s mind: “Who dies in Infinity War?” Searches for “infinity war spoilers who dies” went up nearly 1,000 percent this week. We won’t spoil anything, but according to one top Search question—”How many post-credit scenes are there in Infinity War?”—you should stick around until the very end.

Source: Search


The High Five: put your hands together for this week’s search trends

Every Friday, we look back at five trending topics in Search from that week, and then give ourselves a High Five for making it to the weekend. Today we’re putting our hands together for National High Five Day—so first, a few notable “high five” trends. Then on to our regularly scheduled programming.

High Fives all around
Turns out, searches for “high five” transcend all realms of culture: sports (“Why do NBA players high five after free throws?”) entertainment (“how to high five a Sim”), and pets (“How to teach a dog to high five”). As for virtual high fives, “Scrubs,” “Seinfeld” and Liz Lemon are high five famous—they’re the top trending “high five gifs.”

A First Lady, first a mother
When former First Lady Barbara Bush passed away on Tuesday at the age of 92, people remembered her role as matriarch, searching for “Barbara Bush children,” “Barbara Bush family,” and “Barbara Bush grandchildren.” She was the second woman to be the mother and wife of a president; and searches for the first woman to hold that title, Abigail Adams (wife of John and mother of John Quincy) went up by 1,150 percent this week.

What’s Swedish for robot?
Need an extra set of hands? A team of researchers built a robot to help with one of the most challenging tasks of the modern era—assembling Ikea furniture. In an ordinary week, people might search for Ikea lamp, but for now they’re more interested in “Ikea robot.” Though Swedish meatballs are always a favorite, this week’s trending Ikea furniture items were Ikea closets, plants and sofas.

Work it, Walmart
Walmart’s store aisles are turning into runways with the new employee dress code. They can now wear jeans and–brace yourselves–anysolid color top. As for bottoms, people want to know, “Are leggings included in Walmart’s new dress code?” We never (Arkan)saw this coming, but Arkansas topped the list of regions searching for “Walmart dress code” in the U.S. For people wondering about other dress code etiquette, a trending question was “what to wear to jury duty.”

Kendrick makes history
This week people asked “Why is Kendrick Lamar important?” Listen to this: he made music history by being the first non-classical or jazz musician to win the Pulitzer Prize for Music Composition (high five, Kendrick!). And people felt the pull to search for “Kendrick Lamar prize”—interest was 900 percent higher than “Kendrick Lamar song.”

Source: Search


Visualizing the #MeToo movement using Google Trends

The #MeToo movement has inspired growing, worldwide awareness of sexual violence and sexual assault. This is not only a significant moment in history; it’s a significant moment in internet history: #MeToo marks a time when sexual assault survivors everywhere turned the internet into a platform for their voices and perspectives to be heard and respected.

In recognition of Sexual Assault Awareness Month, we created Me Too Rising, a visualization of the global #MeToo movement through Google Trends data. On the site, you can look at global interest starting last fall and watch as consciousness spreads over time. In the past year, #MeToo has been searched in 195 countries—that's every country on earth. You can see the cities where it was trending on different dates and see what’s happening now at local levels with city-specific Google Search results for “Me Too.” And the sexual assault resources page has information for anyone who needs help or wants to learn more about sexual assault.

To make it easier for survivors to find support, Google.org is providing $500,000 in grants to the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN) and Girls for Gender Equity. The two grants will provide increased support to RAINN’s National Sexual Assault Hotline and help Girls for Gender Equity launch a digital community where survivors can access tools to craft their own healing journeys.

I recently had the honor of hearing from Tarana Burke, whose decade-long effort as the founder of the #MeToo Movement has given voice to the survivors of sexual assault. With Google Trends, we now have data to reflect the power of those collective voices—we can see how far-reaching this movement has become. 

Here’s a snippet of my conversation with Tarana Burke

Here’s a snippet of my conversation with Tarana Burke, founder of the #MeToo Movement and senior director at Girls for Gender Equity

Me Too Rising shows what it looks like when we all become a little more aware of sexual assault and violence. When enough survivors speak up, the world not only listens; it searches for answers.