Top Google searches of 2018

     So the year is winding down, and instead of rehashing the good and bad news of 2018, which is open to interpretation, I thought I’d snoop around on Google for the top searches of the year… This could be interesting…

Top 10 Google searches

     1. World Cup

     2. Avicii

     Avicci is the stage name for Swedish musician/DJ Tim Bergling. At the age of 29, Avicci was found dead earlier this year.

     3. Mac Miller

     Miller is an American rapper who died of a drug overdose at the age of 26 this fall.

     4. Stan Lee

     Lee is the father of superheroes and comic books.

     5. Black Panther

     6. Meghan Markle

     7. Anthony Bourdain

     8. XXXTentacion

     XXXTentacion is an American rapper who was fatally shot this summer at the age of 20.

     9. Stephen Hawking

     10. Kate Spade

     (Don’t feel bad if you only recognize a few names in the top 10 list. I literally had to Google many of them myself.)

Top five Google news searches

     1. World Cup

     2. Hurricane Florence

     3. Mega Millions Result

     4. Royal Wedding

     5. Election Results

     I find it quite entertaining that more people were concerned with who won the Mega Millions lottery and Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s May 19 wedding than the Nov. 6 election results. (Don’t get me wrong, I recorded the Royal Wedding to watch later, but my eyes and ears were glued to the election results for an entire day.)

Top five Google people searches

     1. Meghan Markle

     2. Demi Lovato

     3. Sylvester Stallone

     I tried finding out why Stallone would make the news, but nothing seemed too important to me. Perhaps it’s the news about the new “Rambo” movie, who knows.

     4. Logan Paul

     5. Khloe Kardashian

Top five Google actor searches

     1. Sylvester Stallone

     2. Logan Paul

     3. Pete Davidson

     4. Bill Cosby

     5. Noah Centineo

     Notice there are no female actresses in the top five? So I extended the search to include the top 10… And only two women made the list for rather negative reasons: Actresses Allison Mack and Roseanne Barr.

Top five Google athlete searches

     1. Tristan Thompson

     He plays for the Cleveland Cavaliers.

     2. Alexis Sanchez

     He plays for the Manchester United soccer (football) team.

     3. Lindsey Vonn

     She is a professional skier and gold medal Olympian.

     4. Shaun White

     Another gold medal Olympian and professional snowboarder.

     5. Khabib Nurmagomedov

     He is a Russian mixed martial artist and UFC lightweight champion.

Top five movie Google searches

     1. Black Panther

     2. Deadpool 2

     3. Venom

     4. Avengers: Infinity War

     5. Bohemian Rhapsody

Top five how-to Google searches

     1. How to vote

     2. How to register to vote

     3. How to play Mega Millions

     4. Hot to buy Ripple (online currency)

     5. How to turn off automatic updates (Apparently some people are annoyed by constant smartphone app update notifications. I know I am.)

Top five politician Google searches

     1. Stacey Abrams

     2. Beto O’Rourke

     3. Ted Cruz

     4. Andrew Gillum

     5. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

Top five “What is…?” Google searches

     1. What is Bitcoin (online currency)

     2. What is racketeering (organized crime)

     3. What is DACA

     4. What is a government shutdown

     5. What is Good Friday

     Interesting that three of these questions potentially deal with politics and our government… And if you don’t know what Good Friday is, maybe you need to go to church.