Google’s Top Trending Searches of 2022, and Other Year-in-Review Lists

December 21, 2022

This article is included in these additional categories:

Advertising Trends | Creative & Formats | Digital | Featured | Search Engine Optimization | Social Media | Video

The year-in-review lists have been rolling in again. While it was a tumultuous year, Google’s top trending searches of 2022 shows that, both globally and in the US, a simple game was the top trending search of the year.

Indeed, Wordle, the puzzle game that shot to popularity and was acquired by the New York Times early in the year, emerged as the top trending search in the US and globally.

Within the US, the Election results proved the second-most trending search after Wordle, followed by Betty White, who passed away on New Year’s Eve. US searchers were also looking to learn more about other tragic events, with Queen Elizabeth at #4, Bob Saget at #5, and Anne Heche at #9.

Of course, the war in Ukraine was also a big topic, emerging as the 6th-most trending search in the US and the 3rd-most in the world. It was one of 4 trending searches that appeared on both the US and global lists, joining Queen Elizabeth, Ukraine, and Jeffrey Dahmer (reflecting the cultural power of Netflix).

As they did last year, cricket-related topics dotted the top 10 list of trending searches globally, with India vs England featuring in the #2 spot and India vs South Africa in the #5 position. India vs. West Indies was the 7th-most trending search globally, while “Indian Premier League” sat in the 10th position.

[As a reminder: Top trending searches do not refer to the most volume, but rather those with the highest amount of traffic over a sustained period in comparison to 2021.]

Meanwhile, in terms of news, Ukraine was the top trending search globally, followed by Queen Elizabeth passing, Election results, Powerball numbers, and Monkeypox. In the US, Election results, Queen Elizabeth passing, Ukraine, Powerball numbers, and Hurricane Ian were the top 5 trending news searches.

Below is a brief selection of top-5 trending search lists from around the world and in the US.

People — Global

  • Johnny Depp
  • Will Smith
  • Amber Heard
  • Vladimir Putin
  • Chris Rock

People — US

  • Johnny Depp
  • Will Smith
  • Amber Heard
  • Antonio Brown
  • Kari Lake

Near me – US

  • Gas prices near me
  • At home COVID test near me
  • Voting near me
  • Early voting near me
  • PCR test near me

Shortages – US

  • Diesel shortage
  • Baby formula shortage
  • Tampon shortage
  • Adderall shortage
  • Sriracha shortage

TV Shows — US

  • Euphoria
  • Stranger Things
  • The Watcher
  • Inventing Anna
  • House of the Dragon

Movies — US

  • Encanto
  • Thor: Love and Thunder
  • Top Gun: Maverick
  • The Batman
  • Everything Everywhere All at Once

Other Year-in-Review Lists

  • YouTube has released its 2022 YouTube Ads Leaderboard wrap-up, showing that the top ad on YouTube in the US for the year was “Amazon’s Big Game Commercial: Mind Reader.” Amazon’s commercial was followed by “Welcome to CLAN CAPITAL! Clash of Clans New Update!” and “Goal of the Century x BTS | Yet to Come (Hyundai Ver.) Official Music Video.” Amazon’s Super Bowl spot was also the top ad globally on YouTube, while a commercial from Telecom Egypt featured in the second spot, ahead of ads from Clash of Clans and Apple.
  • In its third year of listing the top videos on its platform, TikTok reveals that the top honor in the US goes to @amauryguichon for “Constructing a very large chocolate giraffe.” This is followed by “Squishy’s back after hibernation” by @chipmunksoftiktok (the account also had the second-placed TikTok video last year) and “You can say a lot with the way you chew gum” by @rosalia.
  • Puerto Rican Reggaeton artist Bad Bunny was the most-streamed artist globally on Spotify’s 2022 Wrapped list, the third consecutive year he has captured the top spot. Bad Bunny was followed in the most-streamed artist standings by Taylor Swift, Drake, The Weeknd and BTS. Bad Bunny also had the most-streamed album globally, with “Un Verano Sin Ti,” but the most-streamed song globally belonged to Harry Styles for “As It Was.” The most popular podcast on Spotify was “The Joe Rogan Experience” again, followed by “Call Her Daddy.”
  • Stranger Things wasn’t only one of the top-trending TV shows on Google in the US, it was also the #1 topic on Tumblr in 2022. The top 5 on Tumblr also included The Owl House (#2), Artists on Tumblr (#3), Critical Role (#4) and Encanto (#5).
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