Here's What We All Googled in 2022

'Wordle' was most popular trending search on search engine this year
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 8, 2022 10:10 AM CST
Here's What We All Googled in 2022
What did you search for in 2022?   (Getty Images/Urupong)

Google is out with the words and terms that Americans hunted for the most in 2022, and "Wordle," which is having a moment elsewhere Thursday, topped the list. "Every year, we look back at the moments, people, and trends that sparked our collective curiosity," the company notes in a blog post announcing its annual "Year in Search" report. "Around the world, people sought to learn more about everything from complex global issues, to ways to help each other—not to mention the latest pop culture news."

"Wordle," the word guessing game that took nerds by storm this year, ended up as the most searched-for word overall, while "Johnny Depp" topped the "People" search list, and "election results" came in at No. 1 in the "News" category. Trending items are defined by Google as "searches that had a high spike in traffic over a sustained period in 2022 as compared to 2021," per USA Today, which adds that this year's data was compiled from Jan. 1 through Nov. 27. Here are more of the top trending searches for the year:

Most Popular Searches Overall

  1. Wordle
  2. Election results
  3. Betty White
  4. Queen Elizabeth
  5. Bob Saget
  6. Ukraine
  7. Mega Millions
  8. Powerball numbers
  9. Anne Heche
  10. Jeffrey Dahmer

People
  1. Johnny Depp
  2. Will Smith
  3. Amber Heard
  4. Antonio Brown
  5. Kari Lake
  6. Anna Sorokin (Delvey)
  7. Chris Rock
  8. Andrew Tate
  9. Adam Levine
  10. Serena Williams

News
  1. Election results
  2. Queen Elizabeth passing
  3. Ukraine
  4. Powerball numbers
  5. Hurricane Ian
  6. Monkeypox
  7. Texas school shooting
  8. Will Smith Oscars
  9. Johnny Depp verdict
  10. Roe v. Wade
Check out more of the top trending searches of the year, including movies, songs, and word definitions. (More best of 2022 stories.)

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