Google Reveals Top Trending Searches For 2020

From losing beloved public figures like Chadwick Boseman and Kobe Bryant, to RBG and George Floyd inciting social change unlike any other period in modern history… to over a million COVID-19 deaths worldwide, 2020 has been marked with loss on a greater scale than almost any year in memory.

However, in a year that was dominated by loss, one of the most important US Presidential elections in history and a more polarised society than ever before, the trending searches compiled by Google over the past 12 months paint a somewhat hopeful picture. From “compassion” rising as a trending term, to enquiries about systemic racism reaching an all time high, Google explains: “more people questioned institutions, government processes and economic systems that perpetuate racial injustice” than ever before.

Not only was 2020 dominated by an intrinsic human need to help and provide support for global issues like Australian bushfires and Beirut, navigating a pandemic and global lockdown also posed a new set of challenges for which the world had questions. As Google reports, pandemic related search terms that soared included how to bake sourdough, how to foster a dog and how to cut your hair, activities that served to maintain mental health in a period of existential crisis. Questions like “why am I so tired in quarantine?” previously unexpected, now uniting the world in shared experiences and the search for answers.

From politics to gaming, here are the top global searches for the 20th year of Google’s Year in Search compilation:

Searches