Google has revealed its global ranking of this year's most searched terms, topics and people. From Charlie Kirk to 'The Summer I Turned Pretty,' here is what people were googling in 2025.
Google has released its 2025 Year in Search, revealing our online obsessions and the search trends that made the year.
Google’s own AI assistant Gemini was the world’s top search globally, reflecting the fast-expanding place of artificial intelligence in our lives. Chinese AI company DeepSeek also made the top 10 due to the firm launching its chatbot in January.
The assassination of Charlie Kirk was a constant feature among this year’s most searched topics. The American conservative activist was killed on 10 September while speaking at a university in Utah.
The incident sparked considerable online discourse, from tributes to memes and criticism of his politics. The event remained a major headline-grabber, with the Trump administration tracking down internet users who spoke of Kirk in unfavourable terms.
His assassination ranked first on the news front, and he was the most googled death, ahead of Ozzy Osbourne, Hulk Hogan and Michelle Trachtenberg.
American singer D4vd was this year’s most searched person, but not for his music. The Los Angeles Police Department launched an investigation after the body of a 14-year-old girl was found in the artist's Tesla over the summer.
Other persons of interest included Super Bowl halftime show headliner Kendrick Lamar and late-night host Jimmy Kimmel, whose show was briefly suspended after he commented on the assassination of Charlie Kirk.
Kirk’s suspected murderer, Tyler Robinson, was the fourth most googled person globally.
Popular topics in the news category included Iran, with a surge during the 12-day war that opposed the Islamic republic to Israel in June.
Users also showed interest in the election of 34-year-old Zohran Mamdani as mayor of New York City.
The death of Pope Francis and the nomination of Leo XIV as the first American-born pope were also major 2025 trends.
When it comes to cinema, Oscar-winning Anoraand its lead actress Mikey Madison came first. Other notable film searches in 2025 include the Minecraft Movie, Sinners, 28 Years Later and Weapons.
Romance dominated book searches with Colleen Hoover’s "Regretting You" claiming the top spot, boosted by its film adaptation released in October.
"Onyx Storm", the third instalment of Rebecca Yarros' romantasy Empyrean series also made the podium.
There was no escaping the infuriating love triangle of "The Summer I Turned Pretty", the book trilogy turned successful TV series. The show’s final season was a major social media trend of the summer. But it was Monster, Netflix’s true crime anthology series, which came first among TV searches, with its third season focusing on US serial killer Ed Gein. The top 10 also included Adolescence, Severance and White Lotus.
Taylor Swift’s 'The Life of a Showgirl' took most of the spots in the most searched song lyrics but first place went to Bad Bunny’s 'DmTF.'
On the sports front, athletes Terence Crawford, Rory McIlroy and Shedeur Sanders were the most searched names. Sports fans also inquired about the FIFA Club World Cup.
Perhaps surprisingly, some of this year's major (and sometimes curious) trends did not make the global ranking. Internet users will have to dig into the national tops to find the hit film KPop Demon Hunters, the infamous Labubu toys, or Dubai chocolate.
