Search giant Google has recently revealed what the most popular searches have been throughout 2016.
As the year draws to a close, the company has continued with its tradition of revealing what internet users have been searching for during the last 12 months. This year has seen some big news stories breaking, from the UK voting to leave the EU, to the US voting for Donald Trump to succeed Barack Obama as President.
So, what made the top 10 most searched for topics of the year in the UK? Here are the Google UK top trending searches of 2016:
1. Euro 2016
2. Pokémon Go
3. David Bowie
4. Donald Trump
5. Prince
6. EU referendum/Brexit
7. Alan Rickman
8. Olympics
9. US election
10. Deadpool
The list shows that this summer’s European Championships was the most searched for trend of the year, which is perhaps not a surprise as it provided three of the four UK nations with excitement, suspense, and ultimately disappointment, with England and Northern Ireland crashing out at the last 16 stage. However, there was little disappointment for Wales, who despite losing to England in the group stages, marched on to the semi-finals of their first major tournament since 1958, beating Northern Ireland on the way before losing to eventual winners Portugal.
Second on the list was the latest craze in the world of tech and gaming, Pokémon Go. This phenomenon racked up more than 500 million downloads worldwide since it was launched in July, which resulted in the game becoming the number one global search of the year.
So, we know that Pokémon Go was the top global search of the year, but what else made the top 10?
Google’s top global trending searches of the year were:
1. Pokémon Go
2. iPhone 7
3. Donald Trump
4. Prince
5. Powerball
6. David Bowie
7. Deadpool
8. Olympics
9. Slither.io
10. Suicide Squad
This list matches six topics to the UK list, suggesting that many of the trending topics had effects all over the world. The Olympics is on the list for both and that is one of the biggest sporting events around, with athletes from all over the globe participating, so it comes as no surprise that this featured on the global list.
Sadly, 2016 was a year that saw a lot of celebrity deaths. As a result, Google has made this one of its categories this year. Two musical icons that passed away this year broke into the top 10 in the global search charts – David Bowie and Prince.
Google drills down its search into a list of categories. We’ve taken a look at some of the most searched for news topics of the year, and unsurprisingly, the two biggest news events are the two political stories that rocked the world: Brexit and Trump. This is followed by a number of disasters and attacks from Brussels and Nice, to Hurricane Matthew and the Zika virus. One of the more surprising inclusions is Toblerone-gate, which saw the chocolate company significantly change the shape of its iconic triangular bars.
The Top 10 news events of 2016:
1. Brexit
2. US election
3. Hurricane Matthew
4. Brussels (attack)
5. Zika virus
6. Clowns
7. Harambe the gorilla
8. Toblerone
9. BHS sale
10. Nice attack
To complement these lists, the Google Trends Twitter account has been treating its followers to a number of stats and facts in the build up to the end of the year. This is just one festive example:
Derby, Sheffield and Nottingham are the top UK cities searching for #Christmas markets pic.twitter.com/cM3DRIncNz
— GoogleTrends (@GoogleTrends) December 13, 2016
Now we know the answer to the question ‘what have we been searching for this year?’ we can look forward to a new year of global events, controversy and unexpected news.
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