As the top search engine platform, the trending topics people search on Google reflect what the world is interested in. By looking at the most searched keywords in a year, we can get a bird’s-eye view of what our planet and society went through in the last year.
So, without further delay, let’s look at the top ten most searched terms for 2022.
The Top 10 Search Queries for 2022
On December 7, 2022, Google released Year in Search 2022. Here you’ll find the top ten most searched items in general. Furthermore, Google also divided this into categories, including News, People, Sports, Media, Places, and even Google Lens results.
You can also select specific countries to see what’s trending there. And those in the US can go to Google’s Local Year in Search 2022 to see city-based results.
So, let’s look at the top ten trending topics in Google Search for 2022. We’re starting from the bottom all the way to the most searched item, so be sure to read until the end.
10. Indian Premier League
Sports landed as the tenth most search query on Google. Although just founded in 2007, the Indian Premier League (IPL) is one of the most-attended cricket leagues in the world. With India being the second most populous nation in the world and cricket the most popular sport there, you can expect the IPL to have a ton of queries.
But what’s unexpected is how interest in the league expanded globally—this shows that sports can unite people, no matter how varied their backgrounds and cultures are.
9. Jeffrey Dahmer
Who’d have thought that a serial killer who died in 1994 would trend some 28 years later? But with Netflix’s Dahmer — Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, a ten-episode crime thriller and biographical drama, interest in its primary subject jumped during the month of its release in September 2022.
By December 2022, Deadline reported that Dahmer exceeded more than one billion hours of viewing time—making it an extremely popular series for Netflix.
8. iPhone 14
After hitting number five in Google’s Year in Search 2019 with iPhone 11, Apple is back in the top ten most search queries with iPhone 14. As the iPhone is continuously becoming more popular, especially in the US, where it captures around half of the smartphone market, more people are naturally interested in Apple’s latest offering.
Interest in the topic spiked around the first week of September when Apple announced the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Pro. This interest is probably driven by the Dynamic Island design that debuted on the iPhone 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max models.
7. India vs West Indies
For the seventh most popular search term, we return to sports, where India faced the West Indies team for several One Day International (ODI) and T20 Internationals (T20I) cricket matches.
6. World Cup
The sixth most popular search term is about the FIFA World Cup. Football (or soccer, for our American friends) is one of the world’s most popular, if not the most popular, sports.
The 2022 FIFA World Cup is being held in Qatar as of the time of writing, beginning on November 20, with the final match set for December 18, 2022.
5. Ind vs SA
Although football is the world’s most popular sport, it seems cricket is more popular on Google Search. The fifth most searched Google keyword is the cricket match between India and South Africa, with queries topping in October when the two countries faced on the cricket field for ODI, T20I, and the Twenty20 World Cup (World T20).
4. Queen Elizabeth
The United Kingdom’s Queen Elizabeth II, more popularly known as Queen Elizabeth, died on September 8, 2022, at the age of 96. She reigned as Queen from 1952 until 2022—a total length of 70 years and 214 days—making her the longest-reigning British monarch.
Her age and length of reign meant that she had seen the world change, from pre-world war two to the internet age. And although she’s the head of state for the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms, the interest and curiosity surrounding the Queen are global.
3. Ukraine
Unfortunately, the third most searched keyword on Google is a tragedy. Interest in Ukraine peaked as Russia renewed its invasion in February 2022. Although the latter occupied Crimea in 2014, it attacked the rest of the former in 2022, almost reaching several major cities, including its capital, Kyiv.
However, the Ukrainian Armed Forces and People held firm, repelling the Russian aggression with massive support from NATO. By late 2022, Ukraine had held or recaptured most of its territory. However, as of the time of writing, the conflict isn’t over, as Russia still holds Ukrainian land.
2. India vs England
The second most popular Google search term is about cricket—specifically the ODI, T20, and World T20 matches between India and England. This is also the fourth result in the list about cricket, specifically Indian cricket, showing how passionate people are about the sport.
1. Wordle
Finally, we get the most popular search term of 2022—Wordle. Josh Wardle created Wordle, an online word puzzle, and released it to the public in 2021. Although he made this for himself and his partner, it eventually exploded in popularity, as players shared their daily results on Twitter.
One of the things that made it popular is its simplicity and ability to record and share your results. By keeping it simple, people don’t spend hours playing it. In fact, you can finish the puzzle in as little as five minutes.
And by allowing you to record and share your streaks and scores on Twitter and other social networks, it encourages competition, continuously driving search traffic toward this keyword.
The World in Google Search
Google’s Year in Search 2022 showed us what interested people in 2022. We’ve seen how our love for sports unites fans globally, with five out of ten search queries talking about just two sports. The other top five results are spread between entertainment, current events, and technology.
By sharing the most popular search queries in a year, Google allows us to see the most pressing issues, popular events, and the most interesting topics people worldwide are looking for.