What you need to know
- AI dominated Google’s Year in Search 2025, with Gemini topping global searches and quirky U.S. trends like “AI Barbie” and “AI Ghostface” showing how mainstream generative tools have become.
- Crisis coverage surged, with Iran, LA fires, the U.S. shutdown, Hurricane Melissa, and the Kamchatka quake pushing people to seek constant updates.
- Sports fans reshaped the rankings, boosting the FIFA Club World Cup globally and elevating the Seattle Mariners and OKC Thunder in the U.S.
Google’s Year in Search usually shows what grabbed our attention, but the 2025 list stands out. It feels like a pressure gauge, measuring everything from political flashpoints to new AI trends and a nonstop pop culture cycle. Looking at both the global and U.S. lists, some patterns are clear: AI is now part of daily life, politics filled the headlines, and entertainment kept surprising us in unexpected ways.
Gemini topped the global chart, showing just how much AI has become part of everyday conversation. DeepSeek, another big AI model, also made it into the global top 10.
In the U.S., that curiosity looked a bit different. Searches like “AI action figure,” “AI Barbie,” and “AI Ghostface” trended as people tried out generative tools in more playful and unusual ways.
One headline dominated everything
But 2025 wasn’t only about new technology. There were also moments that shocked people around the world. Searches for Charlie Kirk jumped worldwide, and not just for political reasons. His assassination and passing became the most-searched global news event and the top news topic in the U.S., leading to days of nonstop coverage and speculation.
Events like the situation in Iran, the LA fires, the US government shutdown, and the election of Pope Leo XIV kept people checking for updates. Natural disasters such as Hurricane Melissa and the Kamchatka earthquake also led to more crisis-related searches than usual.
Entertainment also drew a lot of attention. Around the world, Anora and Superman were the most-searched movies, while in the U.S., KPop Demon Hunters was the top film people looked up.
Pop culture tastes are divided
For television, Monster: The Ed Gein Story was the most popular show worldwide, while The Hunting Wives led in the U.S. If it seemed like Taylor Swift released something new every month, you were right. She dominated global lyric searches and made up half of the U.S. top 10 songs list.
Sports fans were active, too. The FIFA Club World Cup was the most-searched sporting event worldwide. In the U.S., fans helped the Seattle Mariners and Oklahoma City Thunder reach the top team rankings. Terence Crawford, Shedeur Sanders, and Rory McIlroy were among the most-searched athletes globally, showing how sports interests shifted this year.
The internet’s love for rabbit holes showed up in some unusual trends, too. There were spikes in “Holy airball” memes and recipe searches like hot honey cottage cheese beef bowls and dumpling bakes. Travel searches also reflected bigger changes: worldwide, Kyoto Station and Kew Gardens were popular on Google Maps, while Americans planned trips to Boston, Seattle, and Tokyo.
If anything, 2025 showed that our searches reflect what we care about, what worries us, and what we want to learn next.
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