What did we search for in 2022? Wordle, Johnny Depp highlight Google's top U.S. trends of year

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:

Google’s top trending searches of 2022

1. Wordle

2. Election results

3. Betty White

4. Queen Elizabeth

5. Bob Saget

6. Ukraine

7. Mega Millions

8. Powerball numbers

9. Anne Heche

10. Jeffrey Dahmer

Google’s top trending news searches of 2022

1. Election results

2. Queen Elizabeth passing

3. Ukraine

4. Powerball numbers

5. Hurricane Ian

6. Mpox (formerly known as monkeypox)

7. Texas school shooting

8. Will Smith Oscars

9. Johnny Depp verdict

10. Roe v Wade

Google’s top trending people searches of 2022

1. Johnny Depp

2. Will Smith

3. Amber Heard

4. Antonio Brown

5. Kari Lake

6. Anna Sorokin (Delvey)

7. Chris Rock

8. Andrew Tate

9. Adam Levine

10. Serena Williams

What’s everyone talking about?:Sign up for our trending newsletter to get the latest news of the day

Other top trending searches of 2022

Aside from the most searched events and people, Google also tracked some of the biggest questions people had on the year, ranging from “What is…” to “How to help…” to wanting to know what was around them.

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

What is…

1. What is NATO?

2. What is monkeypox?

3. What is rsv?

4. What is Wordle?

5. What is aphasia?

6. What is a NFT?

7. What is a recession?

8. What is vabbing?

9. What is Roe v Wade?

10. What is the Wordle today?

Who is…

1. Who is Andrew Tate?

2. Who is winning the election?

3. Who is the king of England?

4. Who is the watcher?

5. Who is Alex Jones?

6. Who is Jeffrey Dahmer?

7. Who is next in line for the throne?

8. Who is Amber Heard?

9. Who is Aaron Carter?

10. Who is in NATO?

How to help…

1. How to help Ukraine?

2. How to help Ukrainian refugees?

3. How to help abortion rights?

4. How to help Ukraine army?

5. How to help Uvalde?

6. How to help Hurricane Ian?

7. How to help Puerto Rico, Hurricane Fiona?

8. How to help a dry cough?

9. How to help restless leg syndrome during pregnancy?

10. How to help toddler with cough?

How to pronounce…

1. Qatar

2. Kyiv

3. Puzzle

4. Omicron

5. Encanto

6. Xochitl

7. Adele

8. Diwali

9. Oligarch

10. Uvalde

Near Me

1. Gas prices near me

2. At home COVID test near me

3. Voting near me

4. Early voting near me

5. PCR test near me

6. COVID booster near me

7. Easter egg hunt near me

8. Where to vote near me

9. Concerts near me

10. n95 masks near me

Follow Jordan Mendoza on Twitter: @jordan_mendoza5.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Top trending Google searches 2022: Wordle, election results, more

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