India’s love for cricket overshadowed all search results this year as well, according to Google’s annual ‘Year in Search’ for 2021 report, which lists the topics, trends, personalities, movies, and shows that people searched for during the year.
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While ‘Indian Premier League’ remained the top trending query on Google Search in India, searches related to India-Australia cricket series topped globally followed by India-England series. People’s interest around football tilted towards the Euro Cup, and Copa America as they feature on the list.
This year marked India’s remarkable performance at the Tokyo Olympics and Neeraj Chopra arched to the apex of the personality list after his historic performance, winning India’s first ever medal in athletics. He was followed by a rising interest in Aryan Khan.
As India commenced world’s largest vaccination drive, searches for COWIN and Covid Vaccine trended massively as people looked for information on vaccine options and their availability. ‘Near me’ searches were led by searches on Covid Vaccine, Covid tests, and Covid hospital.
Searches for oxygen cylinders and CT scans also saw a spike as people fought the tide of the pandemic over the course of the year. How to register for Covid vaccine, how to download vaccine certification, and how to increase oxygen level bagged the top three ‘How to’ searches this year.
Even in the ‘What is’ category, Covid dominated the search. People actively searched for what is Black Fungus, what is Taliban, what is remdesivir. Due to lockdowns, queries related to food deliveries, tiffin services and takeout restaurants also surged.
Other than news around Covid-19, key global events and topics such as the Tokyo Olympics, Black Fungus, Afghanistan, and the West Bengal elections garnered significant interest.
Among movies, a Tamil blockbuster Jai Bhim grabbed the top spot followed by Shershaah, Radhe, and Bell Bottom. Hollywood movies like Godzilla vs Kong and Eternals also rounded up the list of the top trending movies of this year.
In the recipes category, Kada, was the hot favorite immunity-boosting home remedy. While Enoki Mushrooms topped the trend cake, Porn Star Martini, Lasagna, ‘Methi Matar Malai’ and ‘ Palak’ were part of the list. Free Fire was the lone gaming entry that made it to the overall trending list.