Google’s Year in Search reveals how the world worked in 2025
Google’s breakdown of the biggest trends in their search engine gives us insight into the biggest cultural trends around the world this year.
Google’s Year in Search is the world’s most powerful annual cultural mirror. Google extracts the data of the world’s searches to reveal what the biggest news, cultural moments, songs, figures, and beyond were each year.
Extracting the data from the world’s biggest search engine provides a unique global insight. The 2025 Year in Search paints a picture of a world engaged in political upheaval, the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence, and the enduring power of pop culture.
AI dominates searches
The most dominant trend globally – whether we like it or not – was AI. As the new technology advances further, Google searches this year showed that both intrigue and use of AI is on the rise.
The Top Trending Global Search: Gemini (Google’s AI assistant) claimed the number one spot as the most trending search term globally. This reflects the massive user adoption and curiosity surrounding generative AI tools.
Users were searching AI across platforms, with trending search queries including:
- Ghibli-style AI: Demonstrating interest in AI for artistic and creative purposes
- Grok explain: Showing curiosity about competing AI models and their capabilities
- DeepSeek: A Chinese AI startup that made headlines by releasing models that rivaled the performance of state-of-the-art systems like Gemini
Technology also prominently featured, however with the domination of AI hardware took less of a front seat. Nonetheless, iPhone 17 took a top trending search spot, generating a buzz in advance of its release and sustained interest due to its advanced features.
News and politics: An unsettled world
The biggest news stories of the year show a world in a state of change and unrest. From the tragic killing of Charlie Kirk, the dramatic shutdown of the U.S. government, to the election of the very first American Pope to lead the Catholic Church, the year has seen a lot of change.
| U.S. Trending Search Topic | Global Significance |
| Charlie Kirk Assassination | The top overall trending search in the U.S. and a major global news item. Interest surged following the high-profile incident and the subsequent search for Tyler Robinson (the accused shooter). |
| Government Shutdown | The historic, 43-day-long U.S. federal government shutdown drove widespread news searches, reflecting disruption and anxiety. |
| One Big Beautiful Bill Act | This sweeping budget reconciliation legislation, signed into U.S. law, sparked debate and searches concerning its widespread impact on U.S. finance and trade. |
| Pope Leo XIV | The election of the first American Pope in history generated cross-continental searches, signifying a landmark shift in the Catholic Church’s global leadership. |
| Zohran Mamdani | The New York City Mayor-elect became a top-searched political figure, making history as the city’s first Muslim, first South Asian-origin, and youngest mayor in over a century. |
Pop culture, entertainment, and viral trends
We may not have had a phenomenon like Brat in 2025 – in fact, the pop music scene in 2025 was strangely flat – but there were still huge moments in entertainment. A Minecraft Movie took cinemas by storm whilst Labubu’s became a viral toy and the bain of parents’ lives.
Music and artists: American singer-songwriter d4vd (known for hits like “Romantic Homicide”) emerged as the most searched person globally in the category of ‘People’. Rapper Kendrick Lamar and TV host Jimmy Kimmel followed d4vd in the People category.
The viral toy: Labubu – A designer collectible toy sold in “blind boxes” – became a massive global sensation after being adopted as a luxury accessory by celebrities. Searches for “How do I know if my Labubu is real?” spiked dramatically, highlighting consumer culture’s obsession with authenticity.
Film and media: The Netflix hit animated film “KPop Demon Hunters” became a top trending search and dominated pop culture lists in many regions, showcasing the growing global reach of K-pop and animated media. “A Minecraft Movie” was the top-searched movie on Google TV across most of the world, including the U.S. and major European countries, demonstrating the power of video game franchises.
Food, sport, and the rest
Taking things back inside the home we saw culinary trends for viral recipes taking people’s kitchens by storm. Then the US took searches by storm for athletes and significant sporting moments.
Food trends: Hot Honey was identified as the year’s breakout culinary trend, with people searching for recipes and applications for the sweet and spicy condiment. “Marry Me Chicken” also remained a trending recipe, showing the continued influence of viral food trends.
Trending athletes: American tennis player Madison Keys was the top trending global athlete following breakthrough performances. In the U.S., NFL quarterback Shedeur Sanders and young cricket phenomenon Vaibhav Suryavanshi also saw massive spikes.
The Year in Search 2025 ultimately shows a world simultaneously looking inward (AI, finance) and outward (global politics, celebrity drama), connected by a shared digital curiosity that drives billions of searches every day.
View Google’s top trends in full detail – including the ability to isolate the results to particular regions – here.