KEY POINTS
  • The U.S. election was the top trending news search globally, with Donald Trump, Kamala Harris and Joe Biden among the top searched people.
  • The top trending searches from the Salt Lake City area include Simone Biles, Scottie Scheffler and the song "Not Like Us" by Kendrick Lamar.
  • Despite the success and popularity of "Wicked," it didn't make the list of top searched movies. Instead "Inside Out 2" and "Deadpool and Wolverine'" topped the list.

Highlighting different viral events of the year and people whose popularity was almost unavoidable, Google Trends released its annual Year in Search 2024.

The report shares the top trending searches of the year among a variety of categories, such as top trending people, movies and athletes.

Here is a look at the Google Trends report, which includes names such as Donald Trump, Liam Payne, Diddy and Imane Khelif.

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Who were the top searched people this year?

The top five searched people globally for 2024 were Donald Trump, Kate Middleton, Kamala Harris, Imane Khelif and Joe Biden.

Imane Khelif is an Algerian boxer who drew controversy during the Olympics after misinformation spread around her gender identity and testosterone levels, according to The Associated Press.

Gold medalist Algeria's Imane Khelif kisses her medal for the women's 66 kg final boxing match at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Friday, Aug. 9, 2024, in Paris, France. | John Locher

Khelif was listed by Google Trends as the top searched athlete of the year, followed by boxer Mike Tyson, soccer player Lamine Yamul, gymnast Simone Biles and influencer-turned-boxer Jake Paul.

Diddy was listed as the top trending searched musician, according to Google Trends.

This September, the rapper was arrested on charges of sex trafficking and other federal offenses, per The BBC. Since his arrest, a number of other allegations have been made against him and people affiliated with him.

The rest of the top find trending musicians of the year were Usher, who performed at the Super Bowl halftime show, Linkin Park, Sabrina Carpenter and Justin Timberlake.

Liam Payne among the top trending searches of the year

Singer and former member of the boyband One Direction Liam Payne died in mid October and his name was one of the top trending searches of the year.

A fan writes a message as they gather to pay tribute to late British singer Liam Payne, former member of the British pop band One Direction in Treptower Park in Berlin, Germany, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024. | Ebrahim Noroozi

In Google Trends’ list of the top ten trending overall searches of the year, Payne was number five.

The top four trending searches of the year were Copa America, UEFA European Championship, ICC Men’s T20 World Cup and India vs England.

Also included in Google Trends’ report was a list of the top searched people who passed away, Payne was at the top of the list.

The other top searched people who passed away were Toby Keith, O.J. Simpson, Shannen Doherty and Akira Toriyama.

Olympic chocolate muffins are the most searched food items of 2024

During the Paris Olympics this summer, Henrik Christiansen, a swimmer from Norway, went viral posting TikToks expressing his love for the chocolate muffins that were served to athletes in the olympic village.

As Christiansen’s videos became more popular, other olympians began posting about the muffins.

People around the world became so intrigued viral by these Olympic chocolate muffins and many of them wanted to know the recipe so they could try the muffins themselves.

This led to the olympic chocolate muffins being the most searched food or drink recipe of 2024, according to Google Trends.

The other top five trending food recipes were Tanghulu, Tini’s mac and cheese, mango pickle and Dubai chocolate bar.

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The U.S. election was the top trending news search

With Trump, Harris and Biden all among the top searched people of the year, the U.S. election was the top searched news topic of the year.

In this list, U.S. election was followed by excessive heat, Olympics, Hurricane Milton and typhoon weather information.

Not only was Donald Trump the top searched person, but he was also the top six trending search overall.

The search topic “Trump shot” was the top eight trending news search, according to Google Trends.

‘Wicked’ was not one of the top 10 searched movies of the year

“Wicked: Part One”, a movie adaptation of the popular stage musical released this November, had plenty of publicity and marketing deal and brought in huge numbers at the box office.

Despite it’s popularity and virality, the movie did not make Google Trends’ top ten searched movies of 2024.

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The top five searched movies of the year were “Inside Out 2″, “Deadpool and Wolverine”, “Saltburn”, “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” and “Dune: Part Two”.

At number seven on the list, “Oppenheimer” was the only top searched movie that was not released this year.

The top five searched TV shows of the year were “Baby Reindeer”, “Fallout”, “House of the Dragon”, “Heeramandi” and “Shogun”.

Top searches in Salt Lake City

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So far everything else listed has been the top searches globally, but here is a look at the top trending searches in the Salt Lake City area, according to Google Trends.

The top five olympians that were search for by those in the Salt Lake City area were Simone Biles, Scottie Scheffler, Anthony Edwards, Katie Ledecky and in fifth was Imane Khelif.

Simone Biles, of the United States, celebrates winning the gold medal during the medal ceremony in the women's artistic gymnastics individual vault finals at Bercy Arena at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Aug. 3, 2024, in Paris, France. | Francisco Seco

The Detroit Lions vs San Fransisco 49ers was the top trending match searched in the area, followed by Kansas City Chiefs vs Baltimore Ravens and Mike Tyson vs Jake Paul.

In the Salt Lake City area the top trending songs were “Not Like Us” by Kendrick Lamar, “The Tortured Poets Department” by Taylor Swift, “Houdini” by Eminem, “Good Luck, Babe!” by Chappell Roan and “Hell Together” by David Archuleta.

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