The Optus outage, ‘Barbenheimer’ phenomenon, Sam Kerr and a quiche recipe are among the nation’s top Google searches.
The 12-hour telco outage dominated Australian search queries in 2023 while the results of the voice referendum came in third.
The world’s most searched news topic, the war in Israel and Gaza, ranked second in Australia.
The top-trending question was how to watch the Women’s World Cup, while Matildas strikers Sam Kerr and Mary Fowler were the two most searched Australians.
The top-ranking sport search was the Cricket World Cup and the most common recipe query was for coronation quiche, released to coincide with the coronation of King Charles and Queen Camilla.
Blockbuster films Oppenheimer and Barbie came in first and second in the entertainment category while the death of Friends star Matthew Perry was the most searched loss.
Globally, the Titan submersible disaster, NFL player Damar Hamlin, David Beckham’s football club Inter Miami CF and musician Shakira ranked highly across several categories.
The past 25 years of Google Search top queries have included soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo, pop superstar Taylor Swift, and the heart emoji.
The top how to question was ‘how to help people?’.
TOP GOOGLE SEARCHES IN 2023
* TOP AUSTRALIAN NEWS SEARCHES
– Optus outage
– War in Israel and Gaza
– Referendum results
– Andrew Tate
– Earthquake Melbourne
– Submarine
– Turkey earthquake
– Chandrayaan-3
– Russell Brand
– NSW election results
* TOP SEARCHES OF AUSTRALIANS
– Sam Kerr
– Mary Fowler
– Michael Clarke
– Reece Walsh
– Dan Andrews
– Bianca Censori
– Tim Tszyu
– Kathleen Folbigg
– Ellie Carpenter
– Lidia Thorpe
* TOP SPORT SEARCHES
– Cricket World Cup
– Ashes
– Women’s World Cup
– Jake Paul vs Tommy Fury
– BBL
– Champions League
– UFC 294
– FA Cup
– LIV Golf
– United Cup
* TOP RECIPE SEARCHES
– Coronation quiche
– Grimace shake
– Coronation chicken
– CWA Anzac biscuit
– Chicken Honolulu
– Lamb stew
– Pornstar martini
– Marry me chicken
– Chicken and leek pie
– Modak
* ENTERTAINMENT
– Oppenheimer
– Barbie movie
– Taylor Swift tickets
– Connections
– Hogwarts Legacy
– The Last of Us
– Everything Everywhere All at Once
– Quordle
– John Wick 4
– Avatar
* TOP LOSS SEARCHES
– Matthew Perry
– Jock Zonfrillo
– Sinead O’Connor
– Tina Turner
– Cal Wilson
– Ken Block
– Lisa Marie
– Barry Humphries
– Johnny Ruffo
– Angus Cloud
* TOP ‘HOW TO’ SEARCHES
– How to watch Women’s World Cup
– How to lock Facebook profile
– How to vote referendum
– How to solve a Rubik’s Cube
– How to get rid of my AI on Snapchat
– How to get Snapchat AI
– How to vote early
– How to watch Rugby World Cup
– How to get Taylor Swift tickets
– How to watch The Ashes in Australia
Rachael Ward
(Australian Associated Press)
