Google has just revealed 2014's top searches, which include the people and topics that were on users' minds as they used the world's biggest and most popular search engine. The list is a mixture of topics that are trending and most searched. There is also a comparison between the search results done in the U.S. and those which are done worldwide.
Overall, the top trending term was "Robin Williams," which captured global attention on the occasion of his death in August. "World Cup" and "Ebola" ended up as the second and third most popularly searched topics respectively. These top three topics dominated both the trending searches in the U.S. and worldwide.
Flappy Bird, the highly addictive game, made it to the top 10 and ranked 6th. Other topics that topped the global trending searches include Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, Ice Bucket Challenge, and Conchita Wurst.
This year, Google created a special yet sad category dubbed "trending celebrity losses." Apart from Williams, other celebrities who made it to the list include Jan Hooks, Maya Angelou, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Joan Rivers.
Of course, there is also a list that features the most popular global searches for people who are still living. The top three were identified as Jennifer Lawrence, Kim Kardashian and French actress Julie Gayet. The latter sparked worldwide interest over allegations that she and French President Francois Hollande had an affair. The tragic car accident of Tracy Morgan and the new look flashed by Renee Zellweger also made people around the globe very curious.
The trending searches for U.S. IPOs were dominated by tech and digital topics. Topping the charts is Alibaba's public offering in September. Other topics that made it to the top 10 include GoPro, King Digital, Castlight Health, Weibo, Coupons.com, HubSpot, LendingClub and GrubHub. Virgin America is also a top IPO topic, although it's obviously non-tech or digital in nature.
Here are the two lists showing the top Google U.S. searches and worldwide searches for the year. Notice how the lists have minimal differences in their entries.
Most Popular Trending Searches in the U.S.:
1. Robin Williams
2. World Cup
3. Ebola
4. Malaysia Airlines
5. Flappy Bird
6. ALS Ice Bucket Challenge
7. ISIS
8. Ferguson
9. Frozen
10. Ukraine
Most Popular Trending Searches Worldwide:
1. Robin Williams
2. World Cup
3. Ebola
4. Malaysia Airlines
5. ALS Ice Bucket Challenge
6. Flappy Bird
7. Conchita Wurst
8. ISIS
9. Frozen
10. Sochi Olympics
Google has also released the list for top trending "What is..." questions, with the top three being "What is Ebola," "What is ALS," and "What is ISIS." The top three trending items on the list of "How to..." questions include "How to Airdrop," "How to contour," and "How to vote."
This year, it was the Apple iPhone 6 that made it on the top 10 list of trending consumer electronics. In 2010, Apple's iPad was one of the trending topics. In 2011, the iPhone 5 and iPad 3 made the cut. The latter was again a popular search in 2012. Lastly, the iPhone 5s made it to the second spot in 2013.
