Google’s year-end summary is one of the many year-end lists and related acts of reflection that are imposed upon us as 2022 draws to a close.
The tech corporation released the 2022 version of its annual Year in Search collection of lists on Wednesday, enabling anyone who are interested in a quick review of the previous 12 months to view the top trending searches across several categories and geographies.
“Around the world, people sought to learn more about everything from complex global issues, to ways to help each other—not to mention the latest pop culture news,” Simon Rogers, Google Trends’ Data Editor, said on Wednesday.
Though “Wordle” became the #1 trending search worldwide, more specialized searches show (in a somewhat expected way) what was on many people’s thoughts this year.
Johnny Depp is at the top of Google’s list of trending individuals (as well as its separate list of trending actors). His name was a constant in the news during much of 2022 because to his and Amber Heard’s defamation lawsuit. Heard, on the other hand, ranked third on the list of popular celebrities and actors.
In fact, the top three spots on both lists are the same and are held by Johnny Depp, Will Smith, and Amber Heard, respectively. Of course, Smith’s slapping of Chris Rock at the Oscars garnered a lot of attention earlier this year.
Rock ranked fourth among this year’s top trending actors and fifth among top trending individuals according to slap-spurred searches, with Russian President Vladimir Putin taking the top spot. Simon Leviev, Anna Sorokin, Andrew Tate, Rishi Sunak, and Novak Djokovic round out the list of the top trending persons. Jada Pinkett Smith, Joseph Quinn, Evan Peters, Andrew Garfield, Julia Fox, and Ezra Miller are a few of the other top trending stars for 2022.