Just like every other tech company interested in playing the holiday PR game, Google puts together end-of-year lists for its various properties. Google may have a ridiculous number of these properties, but the one best associated with the company is still Search.
Google today released the 17th installment of its year-end zeitgeist meter. You can dive deep into all the categories to satisfy your various curiosities. Year in Search results are provided by analyzing Google Trends data to see what the world was searching for throughout the year.
First and foremost, let’s start with the overall winners. Here are the top 10 global trending searches for 2017:
- Hurricane Irma
- iPhone 8
- iPhone X
- Matt Lauer
- Meghan Markle
- 13 Reasons Why
- Tom Petty
- Fidget Spinner
- Chester Bennington
- India National Cricket Team
For reference, the top trending searches last year, in order, were: Pokémon Go, iPhone 7, Donald Trump, Prince, Powerball, David Bowie, Deadpool, Olympics, Slither.io, and Suicide Squad.
The category we really want to see is, of course, technology. Google pulled from the global list and offered the top 10 consumer tech searches for 2017:
- iPhone 8
- iPhone X
- Nintendo Switch
- Samsung Galaxy S8
- Xbox One X
- Nokia 3310
- Razer Phone
- Oppo F5
- OnePlus 5
- Nokia 6
Unsurprisingly, eight of the top 10 were searches for phones. Consoles grabbed the remaining two spots.
Again for reference, the top consumer tech searches last year, in order, were: iPhone 7, Freedom 251, iPhone SE, iPhone 6S, Google Pixel, Samsung Galaxy S7, iPhone 7 Plus, Note 7, Nintendo Switch, and Samsung J7.
More broadly, here’s this year’s list for global news:
- Hurricane Irma
- Bitcoin
- Las Vegas Shooting
- North Korea
- Solar Eclipse
- Hurricane Harvey
- Manchester
- Hurricane Jose
- Hurricane Maria
- April the Giraffe
For fun, this year’s top searched-for memes:
- Cash Me Outside Meme
- United Airlines Meme
- Elf on the Shelf Meme
- What in Tarnation Meme
- Spongebob Mocking Meme
- Romper Meme
- IT Meme
- Joe Biden Meme
- Game of Thrones Meme
- Hot dog meme
Let’s do one more: the top “how to” searches of 2017:
- How to make slime
- How to make solar eclipse glasses
- How to buy Bitcoin
- How to watch Mayweather vs McGregor
- How to make a fidget spinner
- How to watch the solar eclipse
- How to freeze your credit
- How to play Powerball
- How to screen record
- How to lose belly fat fast
Interestingly, all of the “how to” searches in the above video were searched at least 10 times more this year than ever before, Google found. “These questions show our shared desire to understand our experiences, to come to each other’s aid, and, ultimately, to move our world forward,” the team concluded.
The other Google property that has interesting end-of-year lists is YouTube — my colleague Chris O’Brien covered the 2017 installment here.