The Year 2018 in Review

This is the time to recap the year that was.

There are a number of ways to do it, many of which are interesting. You can look at a year in terms of notable deaths, viral events, political rises and falls…

But how do you really get a 12-month snapshot of a culture’s zeitgeist?

I would argue for two words: Google searches.

I’m not saying that this will be what historians will mark in 10, much less 100 years… even less what is most significant. But I will say that it may be the clearest window into our current soul.

So here we go with a few peeks into our inner world in 2018, courtesy of Google itself.

Top 10 Searches:

1. World Cup
2. Hurricane Florence
3. Mac Miller
4. Kate Spade
5. Anthony Bourdain
6. Black Panther
7. Mega Millions Results
8. Stan Lee
9. Demi Lovato
10. Election Results 

Top 10 “How To” Searches:

1. How to vote
2. How to register to vote
3. How to play Mega Millions
4. How to buy Ripple
5. How to turn off automatic updates
6. How to get the old Snapchat back
7. How to play Powerball
8. How to buy Bitcoin
9. How to screen record
10. How to get Boogie Down emote 

Top 10 “What is…?” Searches:

1. What is Bitcoin?
2. What is racketeering?
3. What is DACA?
4. What is a government shutdown?
5. What is Good Friday?
6. What is Prince Harry’s last name?
7. What is Fortnite?
8. What is a duck boat?
9. What is a Yanny Laurel?
10. What is a nationalist? 

And finally, the Top 10 “People” Searches:

1. Demi Lovato
2. Meghan Markle
3. Brett Kavanaugh
4. Logan Paul
5. Khloe Kardashian
6. Eminem
7. Urban Meyer
8. Ariana Grande
9. Rick Ross
10. Cardi B 

Welcome to our world.

James Emery White

Sources

See the “Year in Search 2018” for the United States, Google, read online.