​Canadians' Google Searches Proved Just How Bad 2017 Was

Remember when we thought 2016 was bad?

BY Sarah MurphyPublished Dec 13, 2017

The year-end data continues to roll in from the internet's most-used sites and social media apps, allowing us to reflect on just how much time we've wasted in the last 12 months. We've already seen reports from Instagram, YouTube and Netflix, but the latest roundup arrives courtesy of Google — and the findings are bleak.
 
Between natural disasters, celebrity deaths, sexual misconduct scandals and the Ottawa Senators, 2017 left Google users in Canada with plenty of questions.
 
Hurricane Irma, soon-to-be royal wife Meghan Markle, late rocker Tom Petty, the Ottawa Senators and North Korea topped the overall list of most popular searches by Canadians, while alleged sexual predators Harvey Weinstein, Matt Lauer and Kevin Spacey topped the list of most-searched people.
 
Narrowing the scope to musicians specifically, the most-Googled artists were Neil Young, Ed Sheeran, Shania Twain, Ariana Grande and Lil Pump.
 
Many beloved celebrities passed away this year, as well, with Tom Petty, Chris Cornell, Bill Paxton, Gord Downie and Chester Bennington comprising the list of most-Googled losses.
 
The most-searched TV shows of the year were 13 Reasons Why, Game of Thrones, Riverdale, Iron Fist and Santa Clarity Diet (by which we're guessing people meant Santa Clarita Diet).
 
People were also busy looking up movie titles, particularly IT, Wonder Woman, Beauty and the Beast, Justice League and Dunkirk.
 
Google has grouped together plenty of other data, including some of Canadians' most popular "how" questions (like "How soon should you take a pregnancy test?") and "why" questions like ("Why are women marching?").
 
See a selection of the highest trending Google searches of 2017, and hope that 2018 turns out a lot better — or at least sees more people learning how to search under incognito mode.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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