Google’s 2025 Year in Search: A Reflection of Our Digital Curiosity
As 2025 draws to a close, Google’s annual Year in Search has once again provided a fascinating glimpse into the collective consciousness of America. This year’s search trends paint a vivid portrait of a nation navigating tragedy, embracing new entertainment, adapting to political changes, and following cultural phenomena that captured our imagination. The data reveals not just what information we sought, but what moments moved us enough to turn to the internet for answers, understanding, and connection.
The most striking search trend of 2025 was the tragic assassination of Charlie Kirk, founder of Turning Point USA, who topped the list as the number one trending search in the United States. Kirk was fatally shot while speaking at Utah Valley University on September 10, an event that sent shockwaves across the nation and prompted millions to search for information about what happened and why. This terrible event reminds us of how sudden violence continues to disrupt American public life, and how in moments of national shock, we collectively turn to search engines to make sense of the incomprehensible. Kirk’s name also appeared in the “passings” category alongside cultural icons like Gene Hackman, Ozzy Osbourne, and Pope Francis, highlighting how search trends often reflect our need to process loss and seek information during moments of collective grief.
Entertainment dominated much of the trending searches, showcasing America’s enduring love affair with pop culture. Netflix’s “KPop Demon Hunters” emerged as the second most searched term overall and topped the movies list, demonstrating the continued global influence of Korean entertainment and America’s appetite for culturally diverse content. Other film searches reflected nostalgia (“Happy Gilmore 2”), franchise loyalties (“Jurassic World Rebirth,” “The Fantastic Four: First Steps”), and innovative storytelling (“Sinners,” “Weapons”). Television preferences similarly revealed our fascination with complex narratives, with “The Hunting Wives,” “The White Lotus,” and “Severance” generating significant search interest. The viral plush collectible Labubu securing third place in overall searches reminds us that even in our increasingly digital world, physical collectibles can still capture widespread attention and create genuine phenomena that transcend age groups and demographics.
The political landscape of 2025 significantly influenced search behavior, with terms like the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” (which became law in July), “Government shutdown,” and “Tariffs” appearing prominently. New York Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani topped the list of trending people searches, suggesting public curiosity about emerging political figures reshaping American leadership. The US presidential inauguration also featured in top news searches, alongside events like the “No Kings protest” and the release of the “Epstein files,” demonstrating how political transitions, civil unrest, and ongoing revelations about powerful figures continue to drive our information-seeking behavior. These trends reflect a populace actively engaged with governance and policy, searching not just for breaking news but for deeper understanding of how political developments might affect their lives.
Technology continued to captivate searchers in 2025, with Apple’s iPhone 17 securing fourth place in overall searches and the AI platform DeepSeek appearing in the top ten. This suggests Americans remain deeply invested in both consumer technology and the advancing frontier of artificial intelligence. The trend underscores how technological innovation continues to drive curiosity, with people eager to understand new devices and platforms that might reshape their digital experiences. It’s worth noting that technology searches aren’t limited to gadgets and AI – they reflect our broader relationship with digital tools that increasingly mediate our understanding of world events, connect us to entertainment, and facilitate our participation in cultural conversations.
Sports and music rounded out the year’s trending searches, revealing the enduring importance of these cultural touchstones. The FIFA Club World Cup generated massive search interest, while athletes like Shedeur Sanders, Cooper Flagg, and Terence Crawford captured public attention. In music, emerging artist d4vd topped the trending musicians list, followed by KATSEYE and perennial favorite Bad Bunny, demonstrating how search behavior reflects both new discoveries and established stars. The podcast landscape continued to evolve, with “New Heights” claiming the top spot, followed by “The Charlie Kirk Show” and “IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson,” illustrating how this medium has become a significant part of our media diet. Perhaps most intriguing was the “What do kids say?” category, tracking terms like “Sigma,” “Rizz,” and “Skibidi toilet” – a window into the ever-evolving language of youth culture that adults frequently turn to search engines to decode.
As we reflect on Google’s 2025 Year in Search, what emerges is a complex portrait of American life – one marked by tragedy but also by resilience, curiosity, and engagement with both serious issues and lighter cultural moments. These search trends remind us that in an era of information abundance and algorithm-curated feeds, we remain active seekers of understanding, connection, and context. From processing national tragedies to discovering new entertainment, from following political developments to keeping up with youth slang, our search behavior reveals not just what captured our attention in 2025, but what moved us enough to actively seek more information. As we look toward 2026, these trends provide valuable insight into the evolving interests, concerns, and curiosities that continue to shape our collective digital experience.
