So far, 2022 has seen a war break out in Ukraine and the death of the world’s longest-serving monarch, but when it came to search engine queries, the world was more focused on Wordle.
The phenomenally popular word-guessing game topped all searches worldwide this year, according to Google. And despite those other two momentous events, as well as the kickoff of the World Cup, it was a cricket match between India and England that got the second most queries.
Among news events, Ukraine edged out the death of Queen Elizabeth and any election results on Google Search. Among actors and people, Johnny Depp was the most searched, amid his court battle with ex-wife Amber Heard.
Among U.S. users, Wordle was tops as well, but high-profile deaths were also on American minds. Election results, Betty White, Queen Elizabeth, and Bob Saget rounded out the top five searches. Our interest in Johnny Depp was greater than in Will Smith, despite the latter’s high-profile incident at the Oscars.
And while the world was humming “Tak Ingin Usai” by Keisya Levronka, Americans couldn’t get “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” out of our heads.
Curious about what searches were happening closer to home? Google has launched a new feature this year letting you search what was trending in your city or zip code. Charleston, S.C., for example, was the only place in the country where the newt was the top trending animal. In Kansas City, it was the great-eared nightjar. New York searched for Serena Williams more than anywhere else in the country. And Las Vegas was the only place in the country where the top trending recipe was black bean burgers.
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