It’s that time of year where everyone starts looking through their memories and fondly reminisces on the cute, chaotic, and cringiest moments of the last twelve months. In the spirit of this near-nostalgic season Google has released it’s annual ‘Year In Search‘ for 2023, which shows all the highest trending searches from the year all over the world, and in Australia.
In a festive/freaky reminder that literally everything you search for on Google gets saved and kept somewhere, the folks at the world’s largest search engine (sorry Bing) have compiled all the data into themed top 10 lists.
Honestly I can’t wait to see what massive moments from the year were searched the most. Surely there’s going to be some Barbenheimer representation, as well as a tonne of Matildas love!
So let’s indulge in the spirit of Reminisce-mas, and take a look at 2023 by doing the thing every teenage boy fears: checking our search history!
Google’s 2023 Year In Search results for Australia
The categories provided by Google sorted Australia’s BILLIONS of searches into six simple genres:
- News events: the biggest breaking stories of the year.
- Aussies: the famous Australians who got Google stalked the most.
- Loss: the deaths of notable figures which trended highest.
- Movies: big blockbusters that also caused big search traffic.
- Recipes: what did people want to try and cook the most?
- Sport: the biggest sporting moments and games of the year.
Time to peep the lists!
Most Googled News Events of 2023
- Optus outage
- War in Israel and Gaza
- Referendum results
- Andrew Tate
- Earthquake Melbourne
- Submarine
- Türkiye earthquake
- Chandrayaan-3
- Russell Brand
- NSW election results
Featuring plenty of international news stories like the Israel/Hamas war and February earthquake in Türkiye, Australian’s didn’t just Google about themselves. We also googled about problematic men! Hopefully Tate was being searched for so much due to his arrest in June — which was assisted by Greta Thunberg of all people — and not by young men who were looking for his advice.
In terms of home grown news stories Australians were election hungry, with results for the NSW election and The Voice referendum making the top list of stories. However one latecomer managed to blow all competition out of the water and earn the top spot: the November 8 Optus outage.
Honourable mention: the word submarine, presumably in relation to the Titan Oceangate submersible’s implosion.
Most Googled Aussies of 2023
- Sam Kerr
- Mary Fowler
- Michael Clarke
- Reece Walsh
- Dan Andrews
- Bianca Censori
- Tim Tszyu
- Kathleen Folbigg
- Ellie Carpenter
- Lidia Thorpe
It truly was the year of the Matildas, with three of the top ten most Googled Aussies all being members of the soccer team that won the nation’s hearts in July and August during the Women’s World Cup. Kerr features on the top of this list, just as she tops the Christmas wish-list for every girlfriend in the country. Congrats again to Sam and Kristie Mewis on your engagement!
Several political figures were also features on the list, including outgoing Victorian premier/dictator Dan Andrews, and prominent opposer of The Voice to Parliament Lidia Thorpe. However sporting players absolutely dominate the results.
Honourable mention: Bianca Censori who informally married Kanye West in January this year, and has featured in a news.com article every other day since.
Most Googled Deaths of 2023
- Matthew Perry
- Jock Zonfrillo
- Sinéad O’Connor
- Tina Turner
- Cal Wilson
- Ken Block
- Lisa Marie
- Barry Humphries
- Johnny Ruffo
- Angus Cloud
A sincerely devastating list of some of the amazing people who the world lost in 2023. Comedian Cal Wilson shocked the nation with her sudden death from a rare form of cancer in October, resulting in countless tributes from those who knew her. Placing second is another member of Australian media industry, MasterChef host Jock Zonfrillo who passed in April.
Friends star Matthew Perry did top the list, with his death causing international mourning from fans worldwide.
RIP to all on the list, and to those who do not feature on it but passed this year.
Most Googled Movies of 2023
- Oppenheimer
- Barbie
- Everything Everywhere All At Once
- John Wick 4
- Avatar: The Way of Water
- The Menu
- Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
- South of Freedom
- Killers of the Flower Moon
- Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One
Personally shocked that Oppenheimer beat Barbie in this one. The Barbenheimer trend truly was one of the more joyful and wild experiences of the year, with Kens and Barbies everywhere equally hyped for both blockbusters, regardless of boring gender norms.
Everything Everywhere All At Once managed to place third on the list, despite the fact it came out in 2022. This result would be due to how the groundbreaking multiverse film snagged a record breaking amount of awards, eventually beating Lord Of The Rings: Return Of The King for the titled of most awarded movie ever.
Honourable mention: The Menu. Eat the rich.
Most Googled Recipes of 2023
- Coronation quiche recipe
- Grimace shake recipe
- Coronation chicken recipe
- CWA Anzac biscuit recipe
- Chicken Honolulu recipe
- Lamb stew recipe
- Pornstar martini recipes
- Marry-Me chicken recipe
- Chicken and leek pie recipe
- Modak recipe
What is Google if not the world’s biggest cookbook? And what recipe sums up 2023 better than the recipe for the Grimace shake, which was ROBBED of the top spot. For those unfamiliar with the trend, the Grimace shake took the world by storm between June and July when McDonald’s released a new menu item based on its mascot Grimace. The shake was purple and berry flavoured, and became a viral meme where those who drunk it would suddenly be attacked/killed and left covered in the shake. Just normal TikTok things.
@dylantate happy birthday grimace #grimace #grimaceshake #grimacesbirthday #mcdonalds #fyp ♬ original sound – Dylan Tate
The list also features other funny trend dishes from the year including Marry-Me chicken, which is chicken cooked so damn good that the only reasonable response is a marriage proposal.
DIS-honourable mention: Coronation quiche. I’m not eating any filthy monarchist prescribed meal.
Most Googled Sports Events of 2023
- Cricket World Cup
- The Ashes
- Women’s World Cup
- Jake Paul vs Tommy Fury
- BBL
- Champions League
- UFC 294
- FA Cup
- LIV Golf
- United Cup
Though Australia had Matildas fever during August, the Cricket World Cup’s far longer runtime and need for results daily has earned it the accolade of most Googled sport in Australia for the year. The Ashes follow up in a close second, with special thanks to the stumping of Jonny Bairstow for earning it so many bonus Googles, and also for starting a war between Australia and England that hopefully results in our country declaring itself a republic.
Honourable mentions: BBL. Hey Google, are you sure that people searching this were looking for the Big Bash League?
