2018 has almost come to an end and we are going to be entering a new year in a matter of days. But before we commence our journey into 2019, Google India traditionally shared insights that would take us down the memory lane.
Google India on Wednesday shared its "Year in Search" data, which highlights the most popular topics based on what people searched for the most throughout 2018. As it appears, sports and entertainment emerged as the popular genres where internet users' interest rested.
Karnataka elections, FIFA World Cup 2018 and blockbuster Robot 2.0 were among the top searches in 2018. The data shows that Robot 2.0 was the only movie to make the cut in the trending overall list. FIFA World Cup 2018 topped the overall trending charts, followed by IPL 2018 related searches, marking a significant shift in users' interest from cricket to football this year.
Robot 2.0 might be the only movie to enter the trending overall list, two children entertainment shows, Baal Veer and Motu Patlu managed to secure fifth and ninth position, respectively. Other popular searched topics were Bigg Boss, Asia Cup 2018 and Asian Games 2018.
2018 was a year full of marriages and the most popular personalities were Nick Jonas and his wife Priyanka Chopra in second and fourth place, respectively. Priya Prakash Varrier, popularised by her "wink" was the most searched personality, even ahead of Sapna Choudhary (third) and Anand Ahuja (fifth).
In general news category, Priyanka Chopra Nick Jonas wedding was more popular than the Statue of Unity and Nipah Virus related searches. Besides Priyanka-Nick wedding, Deepika Padukone/Ranveer Kapoor and Sonam Kapoor/Anand Ahuja weddings were widely searched by internet users.
As the popular phrase goes "Google it" to find out something, "How to..." and "What is…" searches brought light to some interesting topics. "What is Section 377," "What is happening in Syria," and "What is kiki challenge" remained the top three searches among users, while people were curious on "How to send stickers on WhatsApp," "How to link Aadhaar with mobile number," and How to make rangoli" as well.
Finally, entertainment drove significant among of internet traffic in 2018 and some of the popular songs people searched for online were Neha Kakkar's Dilbar Dilbar, Arijit Singh's Tera Fitoor and Atif Aslam's Dekhte Dekhte in the Bollywood genre and Latin hit song Despacito continued to attract Indians even in 2018.
