Google reveals the most searched things on the internet in 2020

In a year like no other in recent memory, is it any wonder that the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic was the most searched term on the internet?

It dominated most of Google’s 2020 year in searches, from general searches, news events, Kiwi celebrities, how, what it is and why searches.

This year’s results are very different from 2019, where the Rugby World Cup, the Cricket World Cup and the Christchurch mosque shootings topped the list.

Divided into different sections, Google data shows the highest trending searches within each topic to the next highest, and so on. The trend is the increase in search interest in 2020 compared to previous lists, not absolute searches.

Sent home and ordered not to socialize with others or to leave except to shop for essentials, much of our lives this year is spent online.

We started hanging out with friends through Zoom video communications software and students began learning in classroom apps like Seesaw and Education Perfect.

People like the chief health officer, Dr. Ashley Bloomfield, rose to stardom, showing up almost every day at 1 p.m. to announce the latest Covid-19 news.

Breweries and vaporizer companies began making their own sanitizers, while others showed their fellow prisoners how to make masks at home, reflecting popular DIY search terms.

Flour and other baking products began flying off supermarket shelves as people searched for how to make bread and pancakes.

Celebrity chef Chelsea Winter made a fuss about the yeast disappearing from supermarket shelves by creating her own beer bread recipe. It was later called lock bread.

People were also dumbfounded as to why people were buying toilet paper, another product in high demand during the shutdown period.

Netflix became an even bigger part of our lives, and the infamous Tiger King Joe Exotic and his arch nemesis, Carole Baskin, rose to fame.

Searches into the deaths of Kobe Bryant, George Floyd, Chadwick Boseman, Caroline Flack and Sushant Singh Rajput also marked a year of significant losses.

Television host Hayley Holt, MMA fighter Israel Adesanya, Bloomfield, Lydia Ko, and David Bain were the top five most sought-after Kiwi celebrities.

The leaders of countries abroad were the most sought-after global figures, including Kim Jong-un, Donald Trump, Boris Johnson, Joe Biden and actor Tom Hanks.

Many rumors have circulated on the internet about Jung-un’s health this year, with speculation that he was dead, in poor health or in a coma.

The US election, believed to have been won by Democratic candidate Biden, is presumably the reason behind his and Trump’s search results.

The coronavirus was the biggest news event on Google, followed by the US election results, the Australian bushfires, our own election results, and the NZX50 crash.

It seems sports were not on the Kiwis’ radar this year, aside from the passing of basketball great Bryant who was killed in a helicopter crash in late January, along with his daughter, Gianna, and seven other people.

Not everything Kiwis searched online was about the pandemic.

It seems a lot of people need to ask Santa for a watch this year, with the term “what time is it?” one of the biggest searches for “what is”.

Breakfast must have been a very busy time to think about this year too, and the biggest “why” question asked is why cornflakes were invented.

In 2019, the Herald ran a story in which the creator of the cornflakes wrote in hopes that they would clear the mind of “sinful” thoughts.

However, we were eager to lose some weight, with the search phrase “how to lose weight fast” higher than how to make pancakes, naan, and bread.

General searches

• Coronavirus
• Results of the US elections
• Zoom
• SeeSaw
• Kobe Bryant
• Ministry of Health
• Perfect education
• Work and income
• Naya Rivera
• Actions

News and events

• Coronavirus
• Results of the US elections
• Australia fires
• New Zealand election results
• NZX50
• Iran
• Coronavirus from Italy
• Beirut
• Level 2
• Iowa Caucus

Global figures

• Kim Jong-un
• Donald Trump
• Boris Johnson
• Joe Biden
• Tom Hanks
• Elon Musk
• Joe Exotic
• Kamala Harris
• Carole Baskin
• Kanye West

Kiwi Celebrities

• Hayley Holt
• Israel Adesanya
• Ashley Bloomfield
• Lydia Ko
• David Bain
• Titi Waititi
• Chelsea Winter
• Benee
• Dan Carter
• Ross Taylor

As …?

• How to make a mask?
• How to make hand sanitizer?
• How to vote in New Zealand?
• How to lose weight fast?
• How to make buttermilk?
• How to make pancakes?
• How to make yeast flour?
• How to make naan bread?
• How to make bread?
• How to use Zoom?

What is it …?

• What is the coronavirus?
• What is the Kingdom called in Tangled?
• What is Level 2?
• What is a pandemic?
• What is Matariki?
• What time is it?
• What is a simple?
• What is buttermilk?
• What is 5G?
• What is Antifa?

Why?

• Why were corn flakes invented?
• Why is it called Covid-19?
• Why do people buy toilet paper?
• Why is the sky blue?
• Why is Italy so affected by the coronavirus?

Lost

• Kobe Bryant
• George Floyd
• Chadwick Boseman
• Caroline Flack
• Sushant Singh Rajpu
• Kenny Rogers
• Kelly Preston
• Eddie Van Halen
• Sean Connery
• Rishi Kapoor