Topics tied to the world of sports dominated Google searches in Canada this year, while "Oppenheimer" edged out "Barbie" when it came to movie queries.
The Silicon Valley-based technology company released its annual roundup of the most popular topics on the search engine globally and within dozens of individual countries.
And it was the FIFA Women's World Cup that led news trends in Canada, driven by an interest in the soccer championship that unfolded in Australia and New Zealand over the summer. The ICC Cricket World Cup came as the second most-searched news topic, above queries about the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.
Meanwhile, the cultural impact of Barbenheimer led interest in movies, though it was Christopher Nolan's nuclear bomb drama "Oppenheimer" that bested the iconic Mattel doll and child trafficking drama "Sound of Freedom."
Hollywood actor Jeremy Renner was the top trending person of the year. The Marvel star was rushed to intensive care on New Year's Day after being run over by his snow plow. He ranked above searches for convicted rapist and former "That '70s Show" star Danny Masterson and Vancouver internet personality Lil Tay, who was the target of a death hoax.
Google says it collected its 2023 search results from Jan. 1 through Nov. 27.
News events motivated the big questions Googled in Canada, with "How deep is the Titanic?" leading the list for the year after rescuers searched for the missing crew of the Titan submersible over the summer.
Questions about Israel and Gaza were also most frequently searched, including "What is Hamas?" and "What is happening in Israel-Gaza?"
The decision to pull an iconic brand of tissues from Canadian store shelves was behind another commonly searched question: "Why is Kleenex leaving Canada?"
Meanwhile, "Friends" star Matthew Perry led the list of searches for "People Who Passed," followed by Irish singer Sinead O'Connor and Tina Turner.
NFL safety Damar Hamlin was Google's top trending athlete. The Buffalo Bills player had a near-death cardiac arrest on the field in January, but has since completed a celebrated comeback.
Television searches saw virus drama "The Last of Us," rom-com "Ginny & Georgia" and Fleetwood Mac-inspired rock fantasy "Daisy Jones and the Six" emerge as the top three.
In French-language searches, the most asked question was "How did Mickey Mouse die?" -- likely thanks to a TikTok trend in which users of the social media platform filmed their reactions to searching that phrase.
Online marketplace Temu topped French news and events searches after media reports drew attention to privacy concerns and data collection by the Chinese-owned deep discount retailer.
Search trends provided by Google Canada were less detailed than some other countries, which fleshed out queries for an array of other topics, including memes, recipes, musicians and songs.
— with files from The Associated Press
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 11, 2023.
The Canadian Press
