Each year, Google releases a list of it's most searched topics. Often many are somewhat obvious, like the President, major news events, and outspoken celebrities. The list offers a fascinating glimpse of what a portion of the planet thinks about, questions, and researches. It also helps remind us of the news events, deaths, pop culture phenomena, etc. about which we may have forgotten. This year, Google's list contains plenty of predictable public figures, but some results may strike users as surprising or forgotten. Among these figures were Lamar Odom, Ruby Rose, and Charlie Sheen.
In 2015, according to TechCrunch, Google counted over 897 million searches for Paris in the wake of the devastating terrorist attack that occurred on November 13th. The "Paris" search was particularly salient this year considering the massacre at Charlie Hebdo earlier this year.
Another top search was Hurricane Patricia, a natural disaster that many likely do not remember. The hurricane devastated Central America and had the world on its toes for quite awhile apparently. As did the earthquake in Nepal that killed over 9,000.
In terms of pop culture, the most searched term was "Star Wars," which makes sense given the massive anticipation over the newest installment of the series, which premiered in Los Angeles on December 14th, and will come to a much wider range of theatres on December 18th.
The three public figures that people inquired about most on the search engine were Lamar Odom, Ronda Rousey, and Caitlyn Jenner.
While most would assume Donald Trump would be extremely high on the list considering his incendiary remarks and penchant for attracting media attention, he only placed seventh in terms of public figures. That position put him behind both Charlie Sheen and Ruby Rose.
Another extremely pertinent topic on Google this year was the rise of the terrorist group known as ISIS. 2015 saw the group make massive territorial gains in Iraq and Syria, as well as a series of horrifying attacks attributed to the radical organization.
In order from top to bottom, the top ten on the list are Lamar Odom, Charlie Hebdo, Agari.io (video game), Jurassic World, Paris, Furious 7, Fallout 4, Ronda Rousey, Caitlyn Jenner, and American Sniper.
