The world needs a hero.
And, according to Google’s top-trending searches of 2019, we’ve found plenty.
The obvious place to look is on the big screen, where Marvel’s Avengers: Endgame grossed nearly $2.8 billion globally, broke numerous box office records, and became the most-queried film of the year.
“In fact, ‘hero’ was searched three times more than ‘villain’ globally,” Google News Lab data editor Simon Rogers pointed out in a blog announcement.
But not all heroes wear capes: Searches for “how to become a first responder” hit an all-time high in the U.S. And 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup breakout star Megan Rapinoe was one of the top-trending athletes worldwide (behind five men).
Inquiries about “sheroes”—women heroes—also increased, rising 150 percent; the “first female spacewalk” became a popular trend across all continents.
It was Disney, though, that really captured the 2019 zeitgeist.
Just one month old, Disney+ streaming service was the most-searched term in the U.S., meaning it had the highest spike in traffic compared to last year—possibly due to a massive outage. Or Star Wars spinoff The Mandalorian, which features the Internet’s favorite rug rag, Baby Yoda.
The House of Mouse (and its Marvel/Pixar affiliates) also dominated the movies with four of the top five Googled films: Avengers: Endgame (No. 1), Captain Marvel (2), Toy Story 4 (4), and The Lion King (5).
People were unsurprisingly fascinated by celebrities—from their deaths (actor Cameron Boyce died from a medical condition and rapper Nipsey Hussle was fatally shot earlier this year) to their missteps (Empire’s Jussie Smollett was accused of faking a hate crime, while Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman became embroiled in a college admissions scam).
Other top terms include Hurricane Dorian, Game of Thrones, the iPhone 11, and the Notre Dame Cathedral. Folks also really wanted to know what is Area 51, a VSCO girl, a boomer, and quid pro quo.
Check out the full list in Google’s Year in Search 2019.
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