Despite the Brexit stalemate we currently find ourselves in, it wasn’t actually politics that topped the UK Google search polls in 2018. Quite the opposite actually – it was escapism from the relentlessly depressing daily political news cycle. Programmes such as Love Island and I’m A Celeb were the escapist ‘chill pill’ we turned to.
But what else were we Googling in 2019?
Coming in at number one was, of course, World Cup, Gareth Southgate and that waistcoat.
Who can forget those glorious weeks at the beginning of the summer when the sun miraculously shone every day, and somehow the English football team seemed, well, like a football team. From googling silly world cup trivia to pub opening times, we were a nation hooked.
Second to ‘world cup’ in our 2018 search engine league table was two royal-related matters. Surprise surprise, Meghan Markle was number two and ‘royal wedding’ came in at three, as most searched-for queries overall. Ironically, the backlash against Megan has already started, and it isn’t even 2019 yet.
Besides our early summer obsession with football and our on-going obsession with the royals, unsurpringly it was celebrity scandal that piqued interest too.
Roxanne Pallet was one of the most-searched for names in 2018. The former Emmerdale actor was caught up in controversy following her Celebrity Big Brother appearance in which she accused housemate Ryan Thomas of punching her. This led to her quitting her York-based Minster FM radio show and calling herself “the most hated girl in Britain.”
Also high on the list were Demi Lovato,who made headlines following a heroin overdose, plus Ant McPartlin,
who has struggled with drug and alcohol abuse. Others in the top ten most-searched include the perennially talked-about Kardashians (YAWN), Alex Ferguson and most recently Jose Mourinho.
The Inbetweeners comeback and Balenciaga’s big chunky trainers were big news.
Gucci won designer of the year and used Harry Styles munching chips in a chip shop for their advertising campaign.
The Queen sat on the FROW at London Fashion Week and Sustainability (fast fashion) and Inclusivity were the two most popular words on the fashion agenda.
Diversity has become the new norm, with 2018 witnessing models of different shapes and sizes and all ethnicities and abilities on the catwalks.
Borderline-insane political correctness regarding gender has perhaps occupied a little too much space in 2018 but all in all, it certainly hasn’t been a boring year.
Roll on ’19.
