It has been a year of tumultuous world events but Google’s most searched term in 2022 is for a simple online word game that quickly became a part of people’s daily routines.
The rise of Wordle was meteoric, with its player base soaring from just 90 in late 2021 to more than two million in January this year, as the stripped down, five-word guessing game transfixed users worldwide.
Social media was flooded with people sharing their results and asking for tips each day as the Wordle went viral, and while it’s not quite as popular now, it managed to beat out some huge events and news stories in Google’s list.
Wordle was the top trending search term in the UK in 2022, edging out ‘World Cup’, ‘Queen Elizabeth’ and ‘Ukraine’.
Considering how all three of those events have dominated the news space in the media at different points during the year, Wordle’s success is quite remarkable.
Google’s most searched words and phrases have been released as part of its annual Year in Search report, which highlights key trends and terms.
In the UK, searchers asking for information about the Queen’s death dominated the top “questions” list.
Globally, the drama at the Oscars when Will Smith slapped Chris Rock was the biggest draw, with both featuring in the most Googled “people” of the year.
Johnny Depp was the most popular overall, following his very public defamation trial involving his former wife, Amber Heard.
And in a sign of Google’s dominance in Asia, two cricket matches involving India featured in the top five global searches.
