Let’s start right away: “Wordle” was Google’s most searched term worldwide in 2022. The statistic was revealed as part of Google’s annual Year in Search report, which highlights the top search terms in both individual countries and globally. This year, Google is taking an even more granular look at US searches with a new hub that lets you type in your city or zip code and see what people in your area are specifically searching for.
As you might expect, the year’s most popular searches were dominated by terms related to the big news events of 2022, with “Ukraine” and “Queen Elizabeth” both appearing in the top five. But there were also a surprising number of searches for specifically Indian (and presumably cricket) sports matches, with ‘India vs England’, ‘Ind vs SA’ and ‘India vs West Indies’ all appearing in the top 10. to be global search rankings, which makes it all the more impressive that India-related searches are so heavily represented.
A few more interesting tidbits: Will Smith, Chris Rock and Jada Pinkett Smith take on three of the top five searches for actors following the events at this year’s Oscars. And interestingly enough, when it comes to movies, DC has taken two spots out of the top five (thanks Black Adam and The batter) compared to just one Marvel movie (Thor: Love and Thunder). That being said, Thor still took first place.
Shout out to the UK too, where Google’s search data suggests people absolutely were obsessed with the death of the queen, with “Is the queen dead?” “When is the Queen’s funeral?” and “Where is the Queen buried?” which make up three of the top five most Googled questions. In case you’re interested, “How old is Diana Ross?” came fifth, presumably after the ex-Supremes singer performed at both Glastonbury and the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations (she’s 78, in case you were wondering).
Anyway, I highly recommend poking around the results, both globally and locally in the US. If anything, it’s a nice reminder of the frankly obscene amount of things that happened in 2022, and I feel confident calling it the longest year that has ever existed.