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World Cup tops Google searches in 2018

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World Cup was the top global Google search term this year.
World Cup was the top global Google search term this year.

Image: GABRIEL BOUYS/AFP/Getty Images

2016%2f09%2f16%2f6f%2fhttpsd2mhye01h4nj2n.cloudfront.netmediazgkymdezlza1.53aeaBy Stan Schroeder2018-12-12 14:54:47 UTC

Google published its “Year in Search 2018” report on Wednesday, and unsurprisingly, the global results are topped by the biggest sporting event of the year, the World Cup. Sports, elections, catastrophes and celebrities typically dominate these lists, and the year behind us was no different. 

There is one notable change compared to years past, however: Tech-related topics didn’t make any of the lists. 

World Cup aside, the global top list of searches is dominated by a heartbreakingly long list of celebrities who died in 2018: Avicii, Mac Miller, Stan Lee, Anthony Bourdain, XXXTentacion, Stephen Hawking and Kate Spade are all in the top ten. Black Panther and Meghan Markle (who also tops Google’s “People” list this year) round up the list. 

When it comes to news, Hurricane Florence and Hurricane Michael were popular search topics, as was the Royal Wedding, Mega Millions lottery results, and election results, both in the U.S. and in other countries, such as Pakistan. 

Despite all the tragic events that happened this year, in a blog post accompanying the lists, Data Editor at Google News Lab Simon Rogers highlighted an interesting trend: People were searching for “good” more than ever. 

The absence of tech in both the general searches and news searches list is notable — though mostly for Apple, whose phones are typically very popular search topics. Last year, iPhone 8, iPhone X and Bitcoin all made these lists; in 2016, it was Pokemon Go and iPhone 7 that dominated Google searches. Unlike in previous years, Google didn’t even publish a separate top ten list for Consumer Tech this year. 

The top athlete of the year was basketball player Tristan Thompson; top actor was Sylvester Stallone, and number one musician was Demi Lovato. Besides Black Panther, Deadpool 2 and Venom dominated movie-related searches. 

The U.S. list is generally very similar to the global list. Google, however, has a far more detailed breakdown for the U.S. with more categories such as “Food” and “GIF;” check it out here. 

Check out some of the top 10 lists for global searches, below, and see the complete list, as well as per-country lists, over at Google’s Year in Search 2018 page.

Searches:

  1. World Cup

  2. Avicii

  3. Mac Miller

  4. Stan Lee

  5. Black Panther

  6. Meghan Markle

  7. Anthony Bourdain

  8. XXXTentacion

  9. Stephen Hawking

  10. Kate Spade

News: 

  1. World Cup

  2. Hurricane Florence

  3. Mega Millions Result

  4. Royal Wedding

  5. Election Results

  6. Hurricane Michael

  7. Kavanaugh Confirmation

  8. Florida Shooting

  9. Greve dos caminhoneiros

  10. Government Shutdown

People: 

  1. Meghan Markle

  2. Demi Lovato

  3. Sylvester Stallone

  4. Logan Paul

  5. Khloe Kardashian

  6. Jair Bolsonaro

  7. Brett Kavanaugh

  8. Hailey Baldwin

  9. Stormy Daniels

  10. Cardi B

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