Google has released its 2022 Nigeria Search lists, with the African Cup of Nations leading the trending searches in the West African country, on December 7, 2022.
It would be recalled that the 47th minute goal from Tunisia’s Youssef Msakni eliminated Nigeria’s Super Eagles from AFCON.
The top trending lists are revealed in Google’s Year in Search, an annual report that also highlights what people search for throughout the world to see, learn, and do.
According to this year’s Year in Search results, Nigerians are more interested in politics, entertainment, sports, lifestyle, and famous people.
The 2022 Year in Search lists give a quick glimpse of what Nigerians were interested in during a year that saw significant sporting events, notable deaths, and the run-up to Nigeria’s election in February 2023.
Brazilian football star Casemiro and AFCON respectively topped the lists of top trending searches and athletes and sports figures.
The Academic Staff Union of Universities’ eight-month-long strike placed the union in second position among the most popular searches.
Nigerian singer-songwriter Oxlade was in first place in this year’s searches for both top trending musicians and top trending individuals. The second-place finisher on the list of the most popular trending musicians was Asake, an Afrobeat singer signed to YBNL Nation.
The most popular category for trending movies and TV shows was Anikulapo, a Nigerian epic fantasy film starring Kunle Remi and produced by Kunle Afolayan.
Who is Atiku’s running mate? Who is leading in the Osun State election? Who is Tinubu’s running mate? Questions like “Who is Peter Obi’s running mate?” and “Who is Peter Obi?” reflect the heightened interest Nigerians have in politics and the elections that will take place in 2023.
The popularity of entertainment-related search phrases like “Finesse lyrics,” “Buga,” Kizz Daniel’s song with Tekno, and “Will Smith” reveals Nigerians’ interest in lyrics, music, and celebrity figures.
In a year that saw a number of high-profile fatalities, Queen Elizabeth’s passing garnered the greatest online attention, followed by the deaths of gospel musician Osinachi Nwachukwu in April and actress Ada Ameh in August.
Other frequently asked topics, like “How to link NIN?” “How to buy shares?” “How to register for PVC online?” “What is Lupus?” and “What is NATO?” demonstrated how Nigerians used search to learn more about their interests in 2022.
Meanwhile, Google revealed that the most popular search phrase worldwide and in the US in 2022 was the word ‘Wordle’.
In their yearly Year in Search report, the tech giant disclosed the searches.
The daily word game’s simplicity has won over many players since it was introduced in 2021 by US software engineer Josh Wardle.
The number of times a user can predict the word of the day is limited to six. It’s always a five-letter term, and everyone uses the same word.
Wordle gained so much traction that gamers searching for answers in a panic influenced other top Google search trends.
Wordle answers for cacao, homer, canny, foray, trove, saute, and tacit were among the top ten most popular definition searches in 2022.
Queen Elizabeth II’s passing in September ranked among the top five topics for interest in global searches. The third most popular search for a term was “Ukraine.”
Johnny Depp led the search-interest charts among stars after his defamation case against Amber Heard over the summer.
Will Smith, who made headlines for hitting comic Chris Rock live onstage in front of millions of viewers watching the Academy Awards, came after Depp.
Tennis legend, Serena Williams, was the second most searched-for athlete in the US as a result of her retirement announcement and the media frenzy that followed her final US Opened match.
Furthermore, American Google employees demonstrated a strong motivation in becoming wealthy quickly. The top 10 search-interest places both in the US and internationally included a significant number of Mega Millions and Powerball numbers.
In addition, the Google Trend research noted some intriguing methods of information-seeking by users, like taking photos, speaking into phones, and humming.
To answer the question “what’s this song,” phones today employ algorithms. Additionally, users can use their phones to hum, whistle, or sing 10-15 seconds of a melody to identify any songs that may be stuck in their brains.
