Google Announces Most Searched Trends in 2020

Google revealed on Wednesday the top-trending searches from Jan.1 to Dec. 2, based on which terms had the highest spike in traffic over a sustained period in 2020 . Google’s top-trending were led in the U.S. by queries for election results and the coronavirus.

2020 in Search lists not only reveal the most popular trends from the past 12 months, but also give insight into the biggest events in the news, politics, sports and entertainment .

The 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.

Also, the 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.