Top Searched Items of 2014

Toward the end of every year, we reminisce about everything that happened in the previous twelve months. Some things are forgettable, others aren’t.

This week, Google released its list of the Most Popular Search Terms in the World and the Most Popular Search Terms in the United States.

Before you read the list, can you guess what they are? Do any of these surprise you?

US Trending Searches (from most popular to least)

Robin Williams
World Cup
Ebola
Malaysia Airlines
Flappy Bird
ALS Ice Bucket Challenge
ISIS
Ferguson
Frozen
Ukraine

Global Trending Searches (from most popular to least)

Robin Williams
World Cup
Ebola
Malaysia Airlines
ALS Ice Bucket Challenge
Flappy Bird
Conchita Wurst
ISIS
Frozen
Sochi Olympics

The two lists are mostly the same, with the exception of Conchita Wurst, the Austrian bearded drag queen, and the Sochi Olympics.

Instead, in the United States, the seventh most popular search was of Ferguson, Missouri- the location of protests after a Grand Jury failed to indict a police officer for the shooting of an unarmed man.

The tenth most popular search was of Ukraine where political unrest, revolution, and protests have been cause for great concern.

Interesting to note, this year was the first year in a few years that Apple didn’t have a product in the top ten, and it is the first time that an app (Flappy Bird) did make the top ten.