2 years ago
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ARTICLE AD BOX
By Jane Wakefield
Technology reporter
Image source, Getty Images
Image caption,The Euros, in which England lost the final to Italy, on penalties, dominated search
The three most searched for terms on Google UK this year were football related, with only one reference to Covid in the top 10.
"Euros", "Premier League" and "Christian Eriksen" - the Danish player who had a cardiac arrest on the pitch - were the top three, with "Covid vaccine" fourth.
Covid had dominated last year's list.
Google News Labs head Matt Cooke said the annual list revealed "insights into the zeitgeist of the nation".
"During a year of unpredictability, we have turned to sport, entertainment, gardening, recipes and UK-based travel to get us through some of the most frustrating and difficult times," he added.
Top 10 terms in UK for 2021
- Euros
- Premier League
- Christian Eriksen
- Covid vaccine
- Prince Philip
- Matt Hancock
- Emma Raducanu
- Sarah Everard
- England v Denmark
- Sean Lock
The global list was also dominated by sport:
- Australia vs India
- India vs England
- IPL
- NBA
- Euro 2021
There were rises in queries about second-hand goods and sustainability, as well as searches for new trends such as nail art and ice-coffee recipes.
And once again, the UK proved to be a nation of gardeners and do-it-yourselfers, with "Garden ideas" and "How to unblock a toilet" appearing on lists.
Covid was never far from people's minds though, with six of the top 10 searches beginning with "When" relating to lockdowns.
Top-10 searches starting with "When"
- When will lockdown end?
- When will I get the vaccine
- When does Love Island finish?
- When does lockdown start?
- When does Love Island start?
- When do shops reopen?
- When will schools reopen?
- When do gyms reopen?
- When do hairdressers open?
- When do the Olympics start?
Image source, Getty Images
Image caption,Korean Netflix hit Squid Game topped TV search
The pandemic also dominated the travel list, with people searching for "Travel update UK", "PCR test for travel", "Travel green list" and "Caravan holidays".
Former Health Secretary Matt Hancock topped the list of politicians, followed by Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders and Greta Thunberg.
Netflix hits Squid Game and Bridgerton topped the list for TV, with Dune, Black Widow and Eternals the most searched-for films.
Image source, Getty Images
Queries about the outage that hit Facebook and WhatsApp in October topped the most searched-for questions list, with ones about lockdown, the Euros, Cop26 and, perhaps most strangely, "Where does vanilla flavouring come from?" also in the top 10.
And the perennial question of whether a Jaffa Cake is a cake or a biscuit made the "Or searches" list, alongside spelling queries such as "Bare with me or bear with me?" and "Fiance or fiancee?"
English (US)