Taylor Swift | Image:Taylor Swift
Google is celebrating the 25 years of its search engine. On Monday the tech giant released a video celebrating the most searched people, events and topics over the years. There were plenty of newsworthy topics such as musical concerts and the deaths of favourite celebs, among others.
Most searched topics, and events in the last 25 years
In the video, the most searched in the last 25 years includes Homer Simpson, the most searched Simpsons character; the most searched cast Professor Severus Snape (played by Alan Rickman and Rubeus Hagrid (played by Robbie Coltrane); Taylor Swift, the most searched songwriter; Barbie, the most searched toy; Spongebob Squarepants, the most searched cartoon; and Spider-Man, the most searched superhero; Beyonce, the most searched performance; and Rihanna, the most searched fashion icon.
“If the last 25 years have taught us anything, the next 25 will change everything. Here’s to the most searched moments of all time. #YearInSearch,” read the caption.
Google opens up about the idea behind releasing a video of top trends of 25 years
The tech giant decided to showcase how the world has evolved since 1998 in the wake of celebrating 25 years of search engines. “Typically with year-end searches, we’ll do like a top trends of the year, but this felt like a time that we could do something a little bit different,” says KK Walker, executive creative director of the Google Brand Studio in an interview. “It’s a bit like a daunting task, we were thinking about 25 years of pretty much everything that people turn to search for. So it was a bit of: How do we actually boil this ocean?”
Other than a list of 25 years, Google continued its tradition of releasing the annual list of the most searched. In the list of 2023, Barbie and Oppenheimer are taking the top two spots in the film category. Indian film Jawan, Sound of Freedom and John Wick Chapter Four rounded out the top five.