Google’s Year In Search 2024 proves that it’s not me who’s out of touch – it’s the children who are wrong

Google has released its list of the things we searched for the most in 2024
Sports, US elections, and music artists feature heavily
The list makes me feel like an out-of-touch old man

Forget Spotify Wrapped, Google has just shared its Year In Search 2024, highlighting what people have been searching for this year – and I’ve never felt older and more confused.

Google Year In Search 2024 doesn’t highlight all the things you’ve personally searched for (that would be… fun), but shows the trending searches globally, and you can also see what people are searching for in your location, just in case you want another reason to avoid your neighbors.

From the US elections to top movies, songs, and the best museums in the world, Google’s Year In Search 2024 gives us a glimpse at what grabbed people’s attention this year – and it’s making me feel about as out-of-touch as a caveman at an AI conference.

According to the report, the most popular thing people searched for this year (using Google, of course, so apologies to the five people who use Bing – keep reaching for that rainbow, guys!) is… Copa América.

Football

GOAL! (Image credit: Pixabay)

Now, I seem to remember (I’m not Googling it, I don’t want to add to the stats) that this is some sort of sporting event, possibly combining balls, feet and nets. Unfortunately, as I have zero interest in sports, the number one search subject means nothing to me. Let’s take a look at number two: UEFA European Championship. Oh.

Positions three and four seem to also be about sport, this time cricket, which (fun fact!) I also don’t like.

When it comes to news, the number one search is the US elections, which makes a lot more sense – it’s something that has huge ramifications around the world after all – and number two is ‘excessive heat.’

This year has seen (and continues to see) some pretty extreme weather, and it’s clear that people are concerned about that. There’s also a chance that some of the people searching for that have a gaming PC.

As for the people we’re searching for, Donald Trump was number one, followed by Princess Catherine, then Kamala Harris. Current US president, with Joe Biden just making the top five.

That’s entertainment

When it comes to entertainment searches, and general pop culture queries, I start to get seriously lost.

Of the five most searched for actors in 2024 (Katt Williams, Pawan Kalyan, Adam Brody, Ella Purnell, Hina Khan) I only know Ella Purnell, thanks to the excellent TV series Fallout (which is number two in most-searched TV shows).

A still from the movie Predators in which Adrien Brody as Royce and Laurence Fishburne as Noland creep through the jungle with big guns.

This is Adrien Brody. Not Adam Brody. (Image credit: 20th Century Fox)

I thought I knew Adam Brody as well, which gave me hope that I’m not as out of touch as I feared, but turns out I was mixing him up with Adrien Brody, which proves that I am indeed chronically not-with-it.

I did better with movies, having seen three of the top five and having heard of the others, and I also watched four of the five top searched-for TV shows.

As for songs… I have no idea.

I genuinely couldn’t tell you what any of those sound like, and to be honest, Bling-Bang-Bang-Born by someone or something called Creepy Nuts just sounds made up.

Time for another fun fact! Bling-Bang-Bang-Born by Creepy Nuts is the second most searched-for song when it comes searching by humming. That’s right, Google can take a decent stab at identifying a song that you hum, which is useful if you find yourself humming something and don’t know what it is.

Another fun fact: humming should be banned.

Food for search

Google also revealed the food and drink recipes we’re looking for, and again I’m mostly confused:

What are Olympic chocolate muffins? Who is Tini, and why is their mac and cheese so good? I am pleased to see mango pickle in there, however. As a curry-loving Brit, it’s good to see arguably the greatest-ever condiment getting some love.

Finally, there’s gaming. I thought I’d be in with a shot here, as I do love playing games, but alas not. Out of the top five, I’ve heard of three but played a big fat zero.

While I probably shouldn’t calculate how cool and hip I am by seeing how many search terms I recognize (after all, I’m the kind of person who uses the word ‘hip’ in 2024), Google’s Year in Search is a fascinating glimpse at what people are interested in – and a horrible reminder that I used to with it, but then they changed what ‘it’ was. Now what I’m with isn’t it, and what is it seems weird and scary to me.