Google has the most popular searches for 2023 in various categories, including the most searched for movies, TV shows, music and much more.
So let's start with the world of the film, with the most Googled film Barbie – which just got out of hand Oppenheimer (you might have guessed this would come in second, given the whole 'Barbenheimer' thing).
The third placed film was Jawanfollowed by Sound of freedomand then it was fifth place John Wick: Chapter 4just keep it Avatar: The Way of Water from the top five.
On to the TV shows, where we did that The last of us as the most popular search, followed by Wednesday – no surprises considering the stir created by the latter (which was excellent) and the game connection to the former (which was also excellent).
After this we have Ginny & Georgia, A pieceand in fifth place Kaleidoscope.
In the music world – this is the part that makes us feel really old – was the most searched song アイドル or Idol by Yoasobi (the theme music from anime series Oshi no Koapparently), then Try that in a small town by Jason Aldean. That was followed in third place by Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 53 (Shakira and Bizarrap) Unholy (Sam Smith and Kim Petras) and then Cupid (Fifty Fifty) in fifth place.
As for the most searched musicians, they were led by Shakira, then Jason Aldean (reflecting his place in the song bracket), Joe Jonas, Smash Mouth in fourth (whose singer Steve Harwell sadly passed away this year), and then Peppino di Capri.
Look here for the full breakdown of Google's search term popularity in 2023, covering everything from news to sports stars to more niche choices like the top searches for museums.
Analytics: Our ever-changing searches
Also in relation to music searches we have Google's rankings for the top songs used with the 'hum to search' functionality, two of which, interestingly enough, are by the Imagine Dragons – Bones was in fact number one, and Believer number five. Idol by Yoasobi also pitched (pun not intended) at number three here.
And in terms of movies, the top actors were Jeremy Renner, then Jenna Ortega, with Ichikawa Ennosuke IV in third place, then Danny Masterson and Pedro Pascal in fifth (who should have been higher anyway?).
We'd be remiss if we didn't also list the top gaming searches that maintain pole position Hogwarts legacyfor The last of us. Connections was at number three, followed by Battlefields mobile IndiaAnd Starfield managed to secure fifth place – just beating Baldur's Gate 3 to sixth place.
It's also worth noting that Google revealed this Trends Time Capsule which looks at the most popular searches in the past. With the help of this we can see that e.g. World of Warcraft was the most searched for game from 2005 to 2010. Minecraft held the top spot for six consecutive years, including from 2012 to 2017, but defeated Warcraft when it returned to pole position in 2020–2021.
There's certainly interesting material to explore here, and you'll probably find that these various rankings are a bit time-consuming. We certainly did – what was the most popular sauce in 2002…