What did you Google in 2025? These were the year’s top trending internet searches

WASHINGTON — It’s almost the end of 2025, so it’s time to look back at all that’s happened this year, and all the top trending topics people around the world asked Google about in 2025.

Google released its annual “Year in Search” on Thursday, recapping the top trending queries entered into its namesake search engine in 2025. The results show terms that saw the highest spike in traffic compared to last year — ranging from key news events, to the most popular movies and pop-culture moments that people looked up worldwide.

Charlie Kirk, who was assassinated while speaking at Utah Valley University on Sept. 10, was the highest trending U.S. search, according to Google’s data released on Dec. 4. His death prompted a massive surge in interest in his life. Google said Kirk’s Wikipedia page was one of the most-read articles of the year. 

Netflix’s hit animated musical “KPop Demon Hunters” landed the No. 2 spot amid its record-breaking run on the streaming platform. Additionally, three of the year’s top trending songs were from the movie, with “Golden” at No. 3, “Soda Pop” at No. 7 and “Takedown” at  No. 10. 

Rounding out the top 3 for 2025 was Labubu, the toothy little monsters from Pop Mart that have exploded in popularity in recent years and even had a float in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Google’s data found Labubu reached an all-time search high in the U.S. 

If you’re a parent of any school-aged children, this next one won’t surprise you…”6-7” was the top trending “hand gesture”, along with top trending “what does…mean” and “why do kids say…” questions. 

The popular phrase is generally used by Gen Alpha and has puzzled parents, teachers and the rest of the internet in recent months, explaining why it was a top trending question. 

You can take a look at 2025’s trending searches globally, in addition to country-by-country and state-by-state breakdowns, on Google’s Year in Search website.

1. Charlie Kirk
2. KPop Demon Hunters
3. Labubu
4. iPhone 17
5. One Big Beautiful Bill Act
6. Zohran Mamdani
7. DeepSeek
8. Government shutdown
9. FIFA Club World Cup
10. Tariffs