What were Ireland’s most popular Google searches in 2019?

11 Dec 2019

Person's finger on a tablet with the Google search page open.

Image: © Aleksei/Stock.adobe.com

Google’s Year in Search has revealed what people have been googling across Ireland in 2019, including the Rugby World Cup and, obviously, Brexit.

It has been a year packed full of political upheaval and major sporting events, with Google’s Year in Search results revealing a glimpse of what Irish people have been searching for over the past 12 months.

By far the most searched term of the year was the Rugby World Cup held in Japan. While Ireland’s hopes were dashed early in the competition, it didn’t stop people searching for match highlights from the pool games right through to the final.

Year for famous names

Following the death of legendary TV personality Gay Byrne in November, searches for the former Late Late Show host surged to become the second most googled thing in Ireland for 2019. Individuals made up many of the top 10 searches of this year, with Brendan Grace, Cameron Boyce, Shane Lowry and Luke Perry all included.

Searches for recipes also mirrored trends in how people are eating. Vegan food topped Irish recipe-related searches for 2019, followed by keto, smoothies and stews. Looking at ‘how to’ terms, it seems the humble egg was a challenge for many with ‘how to boil an egg’ being the most searched food question.

Other ‘how to’ questions included: how to vote, how to pronounce psalm, how to solve a Rubik’s Cube and how to draw.

From Joker to Area 51

Turning to movies, Joaquin Phoenix’s appearance in the film Joker saw the origin story box-office hit become the most searched movie of 2019. This was followed in second and third place, respectively, by The Irishman and Avengers: Endgame. Other inclusions were The Favourite, Toy Story 4 and Hustlers.

Looking to the top ‘what is’ questions of the year, once again Brexit is not far from people’s minds during a turbulent year in UK and EU politics. ‘What is the backstop’ was the most searched question in 2019, followed by ‘what is Area 51’. The secret American military base in Nevada was the focus of an online trolling effort to get people to storm the base because of its famous ties to conspiracy theories and UFOs.

Other searches for the year included: what is Tik Tok, what is a ‘dead ting’, what is lupus, and what is a life sentence in Ireland.