Google has released its annual Year in Search lists, which showcase the most searched items throughout the entire world. Rather than basing the rankings on overall velocity, the lists "are based on search terms that had the highest spike this year as compared to the previous year," according to the company.
The top 10 overall searched phrases included the immensely popular World Cup (No. 1), the hit movie and cultural phenomenon known as Black Panther, and the current Duchess of Sussex formerly known as Meghan Markle. However, the tragic deaths of cultural icons usually make the biggest waves, as Avicii, Mac Miller, Stan Lee, Anthony Bourdain, XXXTENTACION, Stephen Hawking, and Kate Spade all made the top 10.
Controversial stories are also among the most trending pieces of news, and 2018 didn't see a shortage of them. The shocking news of Demi Lovato's sudden overdose made her the second-most Googled living person and highest-searched musician. Tristan Thompson was the number-one searched athlete in the world (probably not for basketball reasons). 6ix9ine was also among the highest-searched musician for, well, a number of things (including his current legal issues).
Sylvester Stallone, Donald Glover, and (for whatever reason) Logan Paul all made the list of highest-searched actors. This year was also a big year in hip-hop; in addition to 6ix9ine, Glover (as Childish Gambino) was also on the list of the highest searched musicians, which included Cardi B, Rick Ross, and Travis Scott, resulting in five of the 10 most-searched musicians being rap artists.
Check out the full list of Top 10 Global Searches here.
