What We Googled in 2020: 'Why Were Chainsaws Invented?'

Remember the Australia wildfires? What about Hurricane Laura? The blast in Beirut? No? That might be because it was a jam-packed year, as Google's Year in Search report shows. Per the Verge, Google combed through US search results to find terms that experienced spikes in traffic over a prolonged period compared to 2019, then sorted the top trending searches into categories, among them, overall searches, news, how to make, movies, lyrics, and loss. A sampling of the results:

Overall:

1. Election results
2. Coronavirus
3. Kobe Bryant
4. Coronavirus update
5. Coronavirus symptoms
6. Zoom
7. Who is winning the election
8. Naya Rivera
9. Chadwick Boseman
10. PlayStation 5

News:

1. Election results
2. Coronavirus
3. Stimulus checks
4. Unemployment
5. Iran
6. Hurricane Laura
7. Super Tuesday
8. Stock market
9. Murder hornet
10. Australia fires

Why...:

1. Why were chainsaws invented
2. Why is there a coin shortage
3. Why was George Floyd arrested
4. Why is Nevada taking so long
5. Why is TikTok getting banned
6. Why did Kobe have 2 numbers
7. Why is everyone buying toilet paper
8. Why is it called COVID-19
9. Why is it called Juneteeth
10. Why is Australia on fire

People:

1. Joe Biden
2. Kim Jong Un
3. Kamala Harris
4. Jacob Blake
5. Ryan Newman
6. Tom Hanks
7. Shakira
8. Tom Brady
9. Kanye West
10. Vanessa Bryant

Where is...:

1. Where is my stimulus money
2. Where is my refunds
3. Where is Kansas City
4. Where is Beirut
5. Where is Shakira from
6. Where is toilet paper made
7. Where is the coronavirus
8. Where is Lebanon
9. Where is Minneapolis
10. Where is Joe Biden from

story continues below

Definitions:

1. WAP
2. Entanglement
3. Antebellum
4. Pandemic
5. Asymptomatic
6. Juneteenth
7. BIPOC
8. Quarantine
9. Simp
10. Furlough

Loss:

1. Kobe Bryant
2. Naya Rivera
3. Chadwick Boseman
4. George Floyd
5. Ruth Bader Ginsburg
6. Eddie Van Halen
7. King Von
8. Kelly Preston
9. Pop Smoke
10. Ahmaud Arbery

Read Google's full Year in Search report here.