Image Credit: Nathana Rebouças

Google’s Year in Search revealed the musicians the UK searched for the most in 2020.

Google Trends published a Top 10 list of bands and musicians the United Kingdom Googled in 2020. Alongside repeated searching for “Sourdough starter recipe” and “Who Is Carole Baskin?” people in the UK were also curious about artists.

However, the list of most-searched musicians looked to be more about the personal lives of those included than the music they’d produced in 2020.

Fuelled by his US Presidency campaign, and other headlines, Kanye West topped the list of most-searched-for music artists on Google. Girls Aloud singer Sarah Harding was at number two, no doubt because of concern for her health following the breast cancer diagnosis that led to her tragic death in September 2021.

Classical tenor Russell Watson’s I’m A Celebrity appearance won him the bronze. And grime artist Wiley’s hate speech got him banned from Facebook and Twitter and earned him the number 8 spot on the list.

Google Search UK Top 10 musicians:

  1. Kanye West
  2. Sarah Harding
  3. Russell Watson
  4. Bugzy Malone
  5. Grimes
  6. Duffy
  7. Meghan Trainor
  8. Wiley
  9. Nicola Roberts
  10. Hrvy

Meanwhile, in the US, the Top 10 looked a little different:

Google Search US Top 10 musicians:

  1. Shakira
  2. August Alsina
  3. Adele
  4. Doja Cat
  5. Grimes
  6. Van Halen
  7. Lizzo
  8. Tamar Braxton
  9. Quando Rondo
  10. Tory Lanez

The Top 10 lists are based on search terms that had the highest spike this year when compared to the previous year. The UK most-searched Google entry in 2019 was “Rugby World Cup” and in 2020 was – you guessed it – “Coronavirus.” Let’s all try and be optimistic that the Year in Search at the end of 2021 will read very differently.