Google’s Top Searches in 2016: Pokémon Go & iPhone 7 outrank Donald Trump, Prince & Powerball

The site released a variety of its top search trends -- ranking everything from top searches overall to the most searched people and global news stories.

Chat with SearchBot

google-search-new-logo1-ss-1920

The most popular search on Google in 2016 was Pokémon Go, followed by iPhone 7 and Donald Trump. The No. 1 search term hit its peak in July at the height of the Pokémon Go phenomena.

Prince’s sudden death on April 21 pushed the artist into the top five most searched terms for the year. “Powerball” also made the top five after the biggest lottery drawing in US history happened back in January.

Google has released nine global search trends lists — ranking everything from the top searches overall to the most searched people and global news stories.

The top 10 most popular search terms across the globe involved a mix of tech trends, famous people, movies and 2016 news events.


Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton were the top two most searched people on Google this year, with Bernie Sanders ranking a few spots behind at No. 6. In addition to this year’s most talked-about politicians, three Olympic athletes were among the most searched people in 2016: Michael Phelps, Simone Biles and Ryan Lochte.


This year’s US election was the world’s most popular news story according to Google’s search trends. The Olympics and Brexit also made it into the top three.


Other top search trends ranked by Google include consumer trends, global sporting events, losses, movies, musicians and TV shows. Google has formatted the lists so that they can be easily shared and embedded, as well as making it possible to drill down into individual search terms to see how they trended throughout the year.

Google also shared the following “Year in Search” video, highlighting the top news stories, trends and people we lost in 2016:

You can find Google’s full list of search trends for the year at: Google’s Year in Search 2016.


Opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily Search Engine Land. Staff authors are listed here.


About the author

Amy Gesenhues
Contributor
Amy Gesenhues was a senior editor for Third Door Media, covering the latest news and updates for Search Engine Land, MarTech and MarTech Today. From 2009 to 2012, she was an award-winning syndicated columnist for a number of daily newspapers from New York to Texas. With more than ten years of marketing management experience, she has contributed to a variety of traditional and online publications, including MarketingProfs, SoftwareCEO, and Sales and Marketing Management Magazine. Read more of Amy's articles.

Get the must-read newsletter for search marketers.