“Election results” and “coronavirus” were the top trending searches both overall and in the “News” category, while “how to donate to Black Lives Matter” was searched the most in the “How to donate” topic. “Juneteenth” was the top holiday search in the U.S., and “how do i vote” hit an all-time high this year.
Similar trends were seen on the global stage, with “Black Lives Matter” being searched worldwide for the first time, hitting a fivefold increase over 2019. As COVID-19 shuttered businesses the world over, people searched “support small business” twice as often as they did last year, and the mask emoji was searched more than the hug emoji as people were encouraged to social distance.
If one good thing came out of 2020, it was that people were more empowered than ever to make the world a better place — “how to change the world” was searched twice as often as “how to go back to normal.”
Check out a fun interactive presentation of the Year in Search results here.
