Internet search giant Google has released the top searches of 2024, revealing what the world wanted more information about this year.
2024, like many of its recent predecessors, has been an eventful year. For instance, a South Korean president declaring martial law only to repeal 24 hours later and face impeachment procedures is not what you’d call a usual annual event.
It turns out that the events people have been most interested in, at least according to their Google searches, are roughly what you would expect.
Worldwide, the most-searched terms were largely related to sport. More specifically, football (or, for American readers, “soccer”) and cricket. Searches for Donald Trump and Princess Kate also snuck into the list, as well as Liam Payne following the singer’s tragic death.
Top searches worldwide:
- Copa América
- UEFA European Championship
- ICC Men’s T20 World Cup
- India vs England
- Liam Payne
- Donald Trump
- India vs Bangladesh
- iPhone 16
- Olympics
- Catherine, Princess of Wales
Catherine, the Princess of Wales, was a commonly searched term, likely following her cancer diagnosis and a small Royal Family photoshop scandal earlier in the year. Catherine topped the searches for people in the UK also, though by the name “Kate Middleton” as the UK apparently continues to insist on calling her.
Meanwhile in America, searches were dominated by the election cycle, with Donald Trump receiving more searches than Kamala Harris.
Top US searches:
- Election
- Donald Trump
- Connections
- New York Yankees
- Kamala Harris
- Copa América
- Hurricane Milton tracker
- Olympic medal count
- Toby Keith
- Liam Payne
While the US election was the top news search of 2024, there was another more worrying topic cropping up in people’s searches, with extreme weather events dominating the top five spots overall.
Top worldwide news searches:
- US election
- Excessive heat
- Olympics
- Hurricane Milton
- 台風 気象 情報 台風 第 10 号 (typhoon weather information)
- Iran Rafah
- Crowdstrike
- Trump shot
- Menendez brothers
- Monkeypox
The US was similar, though dominated more by domestic politics, as you might expect.
Top US news searches:
- Election
- Copa América
- Olympics
- Hurricane Milton
- Paralympics
- Project 2025
- Trump shot
- House election results
- Heat advisory
- Hurricane Helene
For some reason, Google also includes a ranking for the most-searched recently dead people of the year.
Passings:
- Liam Payne
- Toby Keith
- O.J. Simpson
- Shannen Doherty
- Akira Toriyama
- Ratan Tata
- Alain Delon
- Maggie Smith
- James Earl Jones
- Silvio Santos
As well as search data, Google Maps revealed the most-viewed parks around the world.
Parks:
- Central Park, New York, US
- Rizal Park, Manila, Philippines
- Ohori Park, Fukuoka, Japan
- Park Güell, Barcelona, Spain
- Odori Park, Hokkaido, Japan
- Red Rocks Park and Amphitheatre, US
- Plaza Botero – Medellín, Antioquia, Medellín, Colombia
- Stanley Park, Vancouver, Canada
- Nara Park, Nara, Japan
- Hyde Park, London, UK
The full data, which you can break down by your own country or country of choice, can be found on Google Trends.