- Taylor Swift swept all before her in internet searches, just like in real life
- According to Google Trends data, she was the most searched for by celebrities
- Trump was still the most prominent politician, with spikes surrounding his indictments
Former President Donald Trump was the most Googled politician of 2023, but lost his top spot as the most searched celebrity to the year's all-conquering singer, Taylor Swift.
All were overtaken by spikes in interest as news stories came and went.
They include the week when Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin collapsed on the field during a game when he went into cardiac arrest.
The conflict in Israel also spiked after Hamas terrorists killed more than 1,200 people in an attack on October 7.
And then there was the Titan submarine tragedy, as the world watched and waited for a rescue that never came. All five people on board arrived.
Google searches in 2023: Red – Taylor Swift, Blue – Donald Trump, Yellow – Ukraine, Green – Joe Biden. Trump lost his place as a top celebrity, but was the top political figure
Pop sensation Taylor Swift and former President Donald Trump topped the Google Trends rankings
The results are coming out Axios' annual review of Google Trends data, which uses search data to identify the stories and issues that have dominated throughout the year.
For the stories that stayed in the news, Ukraine came third and President Joe Biden finished fourth.
“Donald Trump was the only person or topic to make the top 5 in 2023 for both biggest moment and most consistent interest,” the analysis said.
'Ukraine came in third place, measured by sustained interest over the course of the year. The country is struggling to continue its fight against Russian aggression, while US support is meeting more skepticism from Republicans.”
Donald Trump's first indictment, in New York, where he is accused of falsifying business records, and his fourth, over his efforts to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia, finished in fifth place.
The latter charge included the publication of his mugshot, the first in history of a former president.
Those two moments were related to the exploding Barbie movie because of the number of searches it sparked.
The results underscore Trump's most powerful electoral strength: his unerring ability to put himself in the headlines, regardless of whether the news is good or bad.
Ukraine was the third most searched term during financing disputes in the second year of the war
President Joe Biden was the fourth most searched term on Google Trends in 2023
Rivals for the Republican nomination have pondered how he can suck oxygen out of other politicians.
Last week, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis was asked whether the four criminal cases had made the former president stronger.
“It's both of those things, but it's also… it's crowding out, I think, so many other things, and it's sucking up a lot of oxygen,” he told the Christian Broadcasting Network.
Yet you couldn't ignore it: 2023 was Swift's year.
Her Eras Tour broke all kinds of records and her romance with Kansas City Chiefs star Travis Kelce has brought the NFL to a whole new audience.
It was no surprise that she was named Time's Person of the Year for the second time.