In a tumultuous year, Google’s top-trending searches for 2020 were led in the U.S. by queries for election results and the coronavirus.
Also ranking in Google’s top 10 overall trending U.S. searches were the shocking deaths of Kobe Bryant, the NBA star and Oscar winner who died in a January helicopter crash at 41; actor Naya Rivera (“Glee”) who died in July at 33; and Chadwick Boseman, the “Black Panther” star who died in August at 43. George Floyd, the man killed while in Minneapolis police custody whose murder sparked outrage and racial-justice protests across the nation, was the No. 4 trending search among deaths.
The Google data reflects top-trending searches from Jan. 1-Dec. 2, based on which terms had the highest spike in traffic over a sustained period in 2020 compared with 2019. That’s why president-elect Joe Biden was the No. 1 trending U.S. search overall for people (as well as for politicians), while “Donald Trump” didn’t make the list because the outgoing president was already a high-volume search term.
In TV, Netflix had eight of the 10 top-trending shows searched for in the U.S., led by the beastly docuseries “Tiger King.”
Top-trending movie searches were Bong Joon Ho’s Oscar-winning “Parasite”; Sam Mendes’ “1917”; “Black Panther”; “Birds of Prey”; and Greta Gerwig’s “Little Women.” Coming in at No. 6 was “Just Mercy,” the 2019 film about civil rights attorney Bryan Stevenson (portrayed by Michael B. Jordan).
Tom Hanks led Google’s top-trending U.S. searches for actors, followed by Chris D’Elia, Jada Pinkett Smith, Timothée Chalamet, Ricky Gervais, Amber Heard, Joaquin Phoenix, Danny Masterson, Ryan Dorsey and Lea Michele.
In music, Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion’s bawdy megahit “WAP” was the top-trending lyrics search — and “WAP” was the top-trending definition search. Among video game titles, breakout hit “Among Us” topped the list while Sony’s PlayStation 5 was the No. 10 overall top-trending Google search.
The rankings below are for the U.S. only. More info is available on Google’s Year in Search 2020 page, including trends for other countries and worldwide.
- Overall Searches
- Election results
- Coronavirus
- Kobe Bryant
- Coronavirus update
- Coronavirus symptoms
- Zoom
- Who is winning the election
- Naya Rivera
- Chadwick Boseman
- PlayStation 5
- Deaths
- Kobe Bryant
- Naya Rivera
- Chadwick Boseman
- George Floyd
- Ruth Bader Ginsburg
- Eddie Van Halen
- King Von
- Kelly Preston
- Pop Smoke
- Ahmaud Arbery
- News
- Election results
- Coronavirus
- Stimulus checks
- Unemployment
- Iran
- Hurricane Laura
- Super Tuesday
- Stock market
- Murder hornet
- Australia fires
- People
- Joe Biden
- Kim Jong Un
- Kamala Harris
- Jacob Blake
- Ryan Newman
- Tom Hanks
- Shakira
- Tom Brady
- Kanye West
- Vanessa Bryant
- Actors
- Tom Hanks
- Chris D’Elia
- Jada Pinkett Smith
- Timothée Chalamet
- Ricky Gervais
- Amber Heard
- Joaquin Phoenix
- Danny Masterson
- Ryan Dorsey
- Lea Michele
- TV Shows
- Tiger King
- Cobra Kai
- Ozark
- The Umbrella Academy
- The Queen’s Gambit
- Little Fires Everywhere
- Outer Banks
- Ratched
- All American
- The Last Dance
- Movies
- Parasite
- 1917
- Black Panther
- Birds of Prey
- Little Women
- Just Mercy
- Bad Boys 3
- Sonic the Hedgehog
- Contagion
- Fantasy Island
- Musicians and Bands
- Shakira
- August Alsina
- Adele
- Doja Cat
- Grimes
- Van Halen
- Lizzo
- Tamar Braxton
- Quando Rondo
- Tory Lanez
- Songs/Lyrics
- WAP
- The Box
- Godzilla
- Gooba
- Break My Stride
- This Is For Rachel
- Say So
- Yummy
- Heather
- Roxanne
- Politicians
- Joe Biden
- Kamala Harris
- Boris Johnson
- Pete Buttigieg
- Mike Bloomberg
- Andrew Cuomo
- Chris Christie
- Mike Pence
- Andrew Yang
- Mitt Romney
- Games
- Among Us
- Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout
- Valorant
- Genshin Impact
- Ghost of Tsushima
- Animal Crossing
- Assassin’s Creed Valhalla
- The Last of Us 2
- Madden NFL 21
- Jackbox
- Babies
- Elon Musk baby
- Baby platypus
- Ice Age baby
- Anderson Cooper baby
- Baby Nut
- Nicki Minaj baby
- Katy Perry baby
- Ed Sheeran baby
- Cameron Diaz baby
- Cocomelon baby
- Definitions
- WAP
- entanglement
- antebellum
- pandemic
- asymptomatic
- Juneteenth
- BIPOC
- quarantine
- simp
- furlough
Pictured above: Kobe Bryant accepts the Oscar for animated short film for “Dear Basketball” at the 90th Annual Academy Awards in March 2018.