At the end of every calendar year, Google compiles a list of all the things that cyber surfers searched for throughout the year. The data is divided into nine categories – personalities, sports events, news, movies, songs, near me, how to, what is and overall. This reveals the five topmost searches in the ongoing year for each of the categories which is used to compare with the previous year data and provides an insight into interests of public.
Here’s what search engine 2018 was all about
In the ‘personalities’ category, Priya Prakash Varrier, who became an overnight sensation in India after the release of a teaser clip of a song from her film ‘Our Adaar Love’ topped the list. Interestingly, the popularity of this 19-year-old Malayalam actress escalated the most this year that she even outnumbered Priyanka Chopra in terms of search trends in India. She was followed by the popular ‘Jealous’ American singer, Nick Jonas, who gained popularity in India after the news of his relationship with Priyanka Chopra went viral.
Superstar Rajinikanth’s 2.0 outpaced all the other hits in the year 2018. The movie was in a buzz for long, prior to its release, but its popularity shot up sky-high after its release. Whatsapp’s newly introduced feature of stickers gained such an amazing response from the public that ‘How to send stickers on WhatsApp became the most trending search in ‘how to’ category. Talking about the ‘what is’ category, ‘what is section 377’ was the most hunted question on Google in India.
In the ‘sports event category, FIFA World Cup 2018, gained the highest fandom and maintained the top position even in the ‘overall’ category. Surprisingly, it even superseded the Indian cricket love for IPL. The love Indians carry for music is known worldwide and it is reflected in their searches as well. Neha Kakkar’s ‘Dilbar Dilbar’ became the year’s most searched song followed by the Punjabi hit ‘Daru Badnaam’ which rocked the dance floors and the Snapchat stories for the entire year. Last but not the least, in the ‘near me’ category, ‘mobile stores’ was the most typed question by the Indians.