Top trending Google searches 2022: Wordle, election results, more

Wordle, the popular word guessing game, was the top U.S. trending search of 2022.
The top trending news topic of the year was election results, with the midterm elections taking place last month.
People asked a lot of questions, wondering “what is..” and “how to help…”

What a year it was, and amid all the news – good or bad – the one thing Americans wanted to do, or at least attempt, was figure out their daily five-letter word puzzle in six tries.

Wordle was the most popular trending search of 2022 in the U.S., according to data Google released Wednesday. The word guessing game that has users guess one random five-letter word each day took off in popularity in January, with social media timelines flooded with users sharing their results.

Second was election results, likely of the 2022 midterm elections. Third was Betty White, America’s favorite senior citizen who died on the final day of of 2021.

Election results were also the top news search of the year, followed by the death of Queen Elizabeth and Ukraine as the invasion of Russian forces continues.

As for the top trending searched person of the year, it was Johnny Depp, who won a defamation lawsuit he filed, accusing ex-spouse Amber Heard of defaming him in a 2018 op-ed. Second on the list was Will Smith, who slapped Chris Rock at the 2022 Oscars after Rock made a joke about Smith’ wife, Jada Pinkett Smith. Heard was third on the list.

Google’s data was taken from Jan. 1 through Nov. 27. The company defines trending items as “searches that had a high spike in traffic over a sustained period in 2022 as compared to 2021.”

Here are some of the top trending searches of the year:

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Google’s top trending searches of 2022

Wordle
Election results
Betty White
Queen Elizabeth
Bob Saget
Ukraine
Mega Millions
Powerball numbers
Anne Heche
Jeffrey Dahmer

Google’s top trending news searches of 2022

Election results
Queen Elizabeth passing
Ukraine
Powerball numbers
Hurricane Ian
Mpox (formerly known as monkeypox)
Texas school shooting
Will Smith Oscars
Johnny Depp verdict
Roe v Wade

Google’s top trending people searches of 2022

Johnny Depp
Will Smith
Amber Heard
Antonio Brown
Kari Lake
Anna Sorokin (Delvey)
Chris Rock
Andrew Tate
Adam Levine
Serena Williams

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