45 of Google’s Top Trending Searches of 2023

How did your own Google activity this year measure up against the world’s? Thanks to a new Google Trends report, you don’t have to wonder.

The report lists the top trending searches of 2023 in a number of different categories, from athletes to recipes to movies. The top trending athlete was Damar Hamlin, the Buffalo Bills football safety whose sudden cardiac arrest during a game in early January transcended the sports section of the news. In fact, Hamlin (who made a full recovery) wasn’t just Google’s top trending athlete—but its top trending person overall.

That doesn’t mean that more Google users searched Damar Hamlin’s name than any other name; it means that his search stats skyrocketed in 2023 as compared to last year’s. In other words, someone who went from relative obscurity (at least outside their sphere of influence) to being front-page news in 2023 had a better chance of making the Google Trends report than someone who was roughly as famous last year as they were this year. Which explains why certain celebrities that were all over the news this year—e.g. Taylor Swift—are nowhere in the report. (That said, Swift’s current boyfriend, Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, was the fifth-highest trending person overall and the third-highest trending athlete.)

The Google Trends report has a few things in common with Wikipedia’s recent report on its most popular pages of 2023—including Barbenheimer. The summer blockbusters Barbie and Oppenheimer were Google’s two biggest trending movies and also two of Wikipedia’s top 15 most visited pages.

You can see Google’s top five trending searches in nine different categories below and explore the full breakdown here.

People

1. Damar Hamlin
2. Jeremy Renner
3. Andrew Tate
4. Kylian Mbappé
5. Travis Kelce

Actors

1. Jeremy Renner
2. Jenna Ortega
3. 市川 猿之助 (Ichikawa Ennosuke IV)
4. Danny Masterson
5. Pedro Pascal

Athletes

1. Damar Hamlin
2. Kylian Mbappé
3. Travis Kelce
4. Ja Morant
5. Harry Kane

Musicians

1. Shakira
2. Jason Aldean
3. Joe Jonas
4. Smash Mouth
5. Peppino di Capri

Movies

1. Barbie
2. Oppenheimer
3. Jawan
4. Sound of Freedom
5. John Wick: Chapter 4

TV Shows

1. The Last of Us
2. Wednesday
3. Ginny & Georgia
4. One Piece
5. Kaleidoscope

Games

1. Hogwarts Legacy
2. The Last of Us
3. Connections
4. Battlegrounds Mobile India
5. Starfield

Recipes

1. Bibimbap
2. Espeto
3. Papeda
4. Scooped bagel
5. Pasta e fagioli

Sports Teams

1. Inter Miami CF
2. Los Angeles Lakers
3. Al-Nassr FC
4. Manchester City F.C.
5. Miami Heat