2021 has been a great year… for viruses and real-life dramas.
At the end of last year, we believed that we’d finally defeat the coronavirus, but one year later, we’re still wishing for the same thing.
In the face of all the stresses and uncertainties of the pandemic, many of us have turned to television shows and films as a distraction, the most popular of which has to be Squid Game.
But we also got our daily dose of drama from real life, thanks to new reality shows like the NOC Saga and Tell the Truth, Khan or Khannot?
So, you’d expect one of these two sagas to be at the top of Google’s top searches for the year, right?
Well, 2021 has done it again and thrown up another surprise.
Google Releases Top Searches in S’pore & They Aren’t NOC or Raeesah Khan
Google unveiled its Year in Search 2021 lists yesterday (8 Dec), revealing all the events, people, and topics that captured Singapore’s attention this year.
The searches were grouped into several categories, including Trending International News, Trending TV Shows, Trending Singapore News, and Trending Searches.
You might be able to name the top search in the TV Shows category, but for the rest? Not a chance.
Here they are:
Trending Singapore News
The top search for trending local news is sadly the fiery car accident at Tanjong Pagar in Feb this year. It gripped the nation due to the tragic circumstances surrounding the crash and graphic footage of the accident.
Next on the list is another tragedy – the 19 July murder at River Valley High School. That day, a 13-year-old boy, a Sec 1 student, was allegedly murdered by a 16-year-old student with an axe in a bathroom on the fourth floor.
The third most searched term related to local news was the word “umbrage” after it was used by SPH CEO Ng Yat Chung at a press conference. Singaporeans fell in love with the word, and have been using it ironically ever since.
Unsurprisingly, Sylvia Chan from NOC was also featured on the list, as did Raeesah Khan. Chan came in 5th, while Khan came in 7th.
Trending International News
When it came to international news, it wasn’t border closures or COVID-19 variants that got our attention.
Instead, the top searched term for international news was the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, followed by the Gamestop craze.
Residents here were also particularly interested in the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan, as it came in third on the list.
Cristiano Ronaldo also made it to the list as well, which is not surprising given his high-profile move back to Manchester United.
Trending Singapore Personalities
As for the people we googled the most, Khan and Chan were up there, but they once again, couldn’t claim the first spot.
Instead, it went to swimmer Joseph Schooling, presumably because he featured in this year’s Olympics. Singapore’s only gold medalist, Schooling was, unfortunately, unable to repeat his feat in the 2021 games.
Second on the list was local paddler Yu Mengyu, who barely missed out on an Olympics bronze medal in an amazing run where she trounced several higher-ranked players, including Taiwan’s world No. 8 Cheng I-Ching and Japan’s world No. 10 Kasumi Ishikawa.
Third on the list was Chan, who was accused of workplace bullying and abuse by former and current NOC employees. Chan apologised, but netizens are not appeased.
Khan, on the other hand, admitted to lying in Parliament in a sitting on 3 Aug. Her saga has clearly just begun, as she recently claimed that senior members of the Worker’s Party had instructed her to stick to her lie.
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Trending TV Shows
No prizes for guessing this one.
First, on the list of most searched TV Shows this year was Squid Game, the South Korean Netflix thriller which has fans all over the globe.
Many viewers here have caught the Squid Game fever, so much so that some children were seen playing some of the games at a playground. One cafe even started a Honeycomb challenge, giving away free Lattes to those who were successful. (Participants who failed were not executed. We think).
Second on the list is Hometown Cha Cha Cha, a South Korean romantic comedy on Netflix. It was released in September this year.
Trending How-Tos
COVID-19 was involved in many of our how-to searches this year, but not in the most searched item.
Instead, the most commonly googled ‘how-to’ was: “How to get BB Loh”.
For those who don’t know, Google Pay had a promotion early in the year that rewarded customers with virtual stickers for using their payment services If users collected all five virtual stickers, they’d stand a chance to win $88.88.
The stickers were Lenny, RaRa, Ah Huat, Neo, and BB Loh.
The first four were easy to get, but BB Loh somehow managed to elude everyone, triggering a nationwide hunt for the virtual creature. Given that we’d do anything for free money, this was certainly expected.
Also on the list was “How to do an ART Test” (the T stands for test) and “How to register for COVID-19 vaccine”.
People also wanted to find out how to purchase cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Dogecoin.
Trending Searches
Well, what about the top searches overall?
If you’re not a sports fan, look away now.
Believe it or not, the top four searches for 2021 in Singapore were all sports-related, with the Uefa Euros 2021 coming first.
This was followed by NBA (Basketball), Indian Premier League (Cricket), and English Premier League (Football).
The South Korean Netflix thriller Squid Game came in at number five, showing just how popular the show has become.
But it wasn’t all about entertainment, as netizens also googled “COVID-19 prevention” countless times this year.
Last year, the most googled local personality was master debater Jamus Lim, while the US election took the top spot for trending international news.
“How to wear a surgical mask” was also the most google “how-to” last year.
Ah, it truly was a simpler time.
You can check out all our top searches for 2021 here.
Read Also:
- The Top Trending Person in Google for 2020 is Jamus Lim & Dee Kosh Isn’t the Second
- Ho Ching is Ranked the 33rd Most Powerful Woman in the World by Forbes
Featured Image: Google