Enlarge image
Google King: Bayern striker Harry Kane
Photo: THILO SCHMUELGEN / REUTERS
Google released search trends for 2023 on Monday. In various categories, the US company's annual review lists the top 10 terms and topics that were of particular interest to users in 2023.
In terms of news topics, for example, the war in Israel and Gaza is in first place, followed by the earthquake in Turkey and the band Rammstein. In fourth place are searches for "Löwe Berlin", which rose sharply in July after a wild boar was temporarily mistaken for a runaway lion, followed by "Lützerath" in fifth place.
Google's annual statistics don't show the most searched terms overall. For years, requests for the current weather or websites such as Amazon, Facebook or YouTube have been at the forefront. Rather, the annual review shows those search terms in which interest increased particularly strongly in a certain period of time. To calculate the trends, Google says it evaluates billions of search queries that users have made over the course of the year.
Last year, the Ukraine war still dominated almost all sections of Google's annual charts for Germany. This year, only a few individual topics such as the mercenary group Wagner and its leader Yevgeny Prigozhin end up at the bottom of the charts. The Russian mercenary leader's private jet crashed northwest of Moscow in August, two months after his mutiny against the Moscow leadership.
Enlarge image
Bayern star Harry Kane: In first place in the Google Trends International
Photo: Eibner-Pressefoto / Jenni Maul / IMAGO / Eibner
In the area of personalities, many people in Germany googled for Till Lindemann, singer of the band Rammstein. In recent months, he has been at the center of abuse allegations, which he had denied. In second place on Google's people charts was jungle queen Djamila Rowe, who won the 16th season of "I'm a Star – Get Me Out of Here!" this year. The reality show "Promi Big Brother" catapulted Iris Klein to third place, followed by pop singer Jürgen Drews and presenter and podcaster Amira Pocher.
Günther Jauch question influences Google searches
The second most popular "what question" illustrates how intensively Google search is used for television. On February 27, RTL presenter Günther Jauch asked the 32,000-euro question in his quiz show "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" His contestant had already used her telephone joker before and was of course not allowed to google. So she had to pass and went home with only 16,000 euros. A centenary, by the way, is a centenarian.
Politicians from the federal government did not appear in the top 10 list of Google Trends personalities. However, Olaf Scholz ranked third in Google's trends on memes in 2023. When Scholz appeared in public with an eye patch at the beginning of September after a sports accident, numerous ironic picture collages quickly appeared on the Internet, which apparently met with particular interest. (Here's an overview of some of the most successful chancellor memes.)
Enlarge image
Taylor Swift as »Person of the Year« on the Time cover
Photo: Inez And Vinoodh For Time / AFP
Among the world's most sought-after international personalities, footballer Harry Kane, who moved to FC Bayern in the summer, was at the top of the list. Only in second place among the trends followed the musician Taylor Swift. She regularly appeared in the headlines not only in the current year, but also in 2022, which is why her searches are unlikely to have seen such a significant increase.
In the 2023 annual statistics, Google has for the first time reported two new topic categories, namely "Artificial Intelligence" (AI) and "Climate". When it came to climate protection, users were particularly interested in what they could personally do to combat climate change. In the AI section, the question of the AI chatbot ChatGPT was the focus of interest, followed by the more general questions "What is AI?" and "What can AI do?".
In the "Farewell" section, Google users were particularly moved by the death of the American rock singer Tina Turner, who had particularly loyal fans in Germany and in her adopted home of Switzerland. For »Friends« star Matthew Perry, the unexplained circumstances of his death may have sparked interest. Perry was found dead in the hot tub of his Los Angeles home in October at the age of 54. The late legendary ski racer and Olympic gold medalist Rosi Mittermaier was also frequently sought-after, as was German model Tatjana Patitz.
hpp/dpa