If you've ever found yourself searching obscure medical terms or philosophical questions at 2am, you'll know that the phrases and questions we look up online can reveal a lot about us. On a wider level, our most-searched terms provide an insight into the national mood and what's making us tick. So, Yahoo's list of the its top online terms in the UK in 2017 makes for pretty interesting reading.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, given the shitshow of a year we've had, political stories dominated the top spots. The year's most-searched term was, yep, you guessed it – Donald Trump, who beat out stiff competition from Brexit and the UK general election, ahead of searches related to music and TV shows.
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The most popular entertainment search was Ed Sheeran, who has had a stellar year by anyone's standards, having dominated the charts with Divide and broken a Spotify record for first-day album streams. Strictly Come Dancing and Love Island took silver and bronze medal positions on Yahoo's list of entertainment searches, followed by Game of Thrones and Ariana Grande, who barely left the headlines in the aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing in May.
Meghan Markle also made the cut, coming in as the sixth most-searched celebrity owing to her whirlwind romance with Prince Harry. "We expect the nation to be even more captivated with Meghan next year," following the couple's Spring wedding, Yahoo said.
Outside of the political realm, the most-searched news stories included Hurricane Irma and the Grenfell Tower fire. Yahoo UK editor in chief Nick Petche said the rankings "echo the state of the nation in 2017", adding that the British public have been wanting "to engage and hear more on the events that have caused anxiety but also source light relief in the world of entertainment."
He continued: "Donald Trump continues to polarise; not only making him the most searched-for politician, news item and general search term in the country, but also shining the spotlight on his wife, Melania, and daughter Ivanka," reported ITV News.
The rankings did reveal some more bizarre searches, however. Apparently, the year's most burning questions were: "How to make slime," "How old is Debbie McGee?" and the meanings of individual emojis, the latter search being fair enough, to be honest.
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The most-searched terms of 2017 in the UK
1. Donald Trump
2. Brexit
3. UK General Election
4. Ed Sheeran
5. Strictly Come Dancing
6. Love Island
7. UK Terrorism
8. Game of Thrones
9. North Korea
10. Ariana Grande
2. Brexit
3. UK General Election
4. Ed Sheeran
5. Strictly Come Dancing
6. Love Island
7. UK Terrorism
8. Game of Thrones
9. North Korea
10. Ariana Grande
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