Google trends expert Justin Burr joins the Mason Vera Paine show to speak about the top searches on Google in 2023. From news to recipes and everything in between, we will be exploring what got everyone talking and Googling this year.
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Google Year End Review 2023 Transcription
00:00 – Announcer: Mason Vera Paine.
00:01 – Mason Paine: 2023 is almost over and what an eventful year it’s been. Joining me to break down the top searches on Google and entertainment, sports, pop culture news and more is Google trends expert Justin Burr. Thanks for joining me, Justin.
00:14 – Justin Burr: Hey, thanks so much for having me.
00:16 – Mason Paine: This year, there’s been so much that has happened. I don’t even know where to start other than what’s the biggest trend, I guess.
00:24 – Justin Burr: It’s so fun to look back at the year and what people were searching and what the trending searches were. If we look at the news category, it’s always a bit of a somber category or just a little bit more serious because people are coming to Google to figure out what is happening in these specific instances. Number one trend in 2023 was the war in Israel and Gaza. Then we had the Titanic submarine and Hurricane Hillary rounding out the top three in the news category. The thing that all of those things have in common is that they are fluid, they are something that is evolving. That’s why we see these trending… These trending searches so high on the list because people are coming back to Google repeatedly to get updated information, especially in the context of natural disasters. We see those high on the trending search list every single year because people are figuring out what’s happening, how to stay safe, what is the latest and the greatest in terms of that context.
1:19 – Mason Paine: Yeah, that’s pretty true. I know one of the things that affected here in Chicago was the Canada wildfires because it actually got super smoggy for a while out here. I think it happened in New York and a lot of the upper states in America.
1:32 – Justin Burr: Yeah, that was on the newest category, the number 10 trending search was Canada wildfires. Yeah, in New York City, there was one day where you couldn’t be five feet in front of you. The smoke was so thick. It was really wild. I think people were probably searching for that quite a bit to understand what the air quality was, what the buyers were doing, and how to maybe avoid it.
1:55 – Mason Paine: Now, one of the categories that I was really interested in, because I didn’t realize so much had happened, was the passing. I’m like, Man, there’s a lot of people that had passed. I thought that was like a year or two ago, but no, it was this year.
2:07 – Justin Burr: It’s always interesting to look at folks that left us this year and what search interest they drove. So yeah, Matthew Perry coming in at number one, obviously very tragic, beloved by many from the television show, Friends, said Tina Turner. Number two, Jerry Springer. Number three, and the other top 10 categories, Bob Barker. So, yes, some sad departures this year, but yeah, it is interesting to remind yourself who passed this year. And yeah, it does feel like some of those folks were… It was longer ago, but no later than 2023.
2:38 – Mason Paine: Yeah, the ones that affected me was Bob Barker and Jerry Springer. As a kid, when you were homesick, those were the two shows you would watch all day long. And so not having them, it was like, Wow. I don’t think that they weren’t on air anyways, but it was just the fact like a piece of my childhood just went away. And it was like, And then Suzanne Summer’s. There goes Three’s Company. I was like, Oh, my God. Everybody’s just leaving me. And it’s like that really messed with me. But another thing that messed with me was Little Tay wasn’t on there. And that’s because she didn’t die, even though she said she did die.
3:10 – Justin Burr: Yeah, that was a weird one for sure. So Little Tay actually comes in at number five on the people category, which yeah, that was a bit of a bizarre saga. There was a death hoax, and then she resurfaced in September. And yeah, a bit of a weird thing. But again, because there was probably a lot of uncertainty or a lot of questions surrounding Little Tay, or Little Pay, I should say. That’s why there was a lot of search interest, because people were trying to figure out what the heck was going on with that. So yeah, she was coming in at number five on the people category.
3:43 – Mason Paine: Yeah, the one that I was like, wow, was DeMar, Hamlin. And I remember when that happened, he had the cardiac arrest. And I was surprised that he was number one. Not saying he shouldn’t be up there, but I just thought like, wow, that was a lot of search for that guy.
3:59 – Justin Burr: Totally. He’s number one in both the people category and the athletes category, which is interesting. But again, I think it’s because there was so much uncertainty with what happened to him. What happened to him on the field? What was this cardiac arrest element? How is he doing? Is he going to be okay? Is he going to make this full recovery? And then probably a lot of search interest when he actually did take the field again this past season. So yeah, a lot of ongoing search interest for the Mark Hamlin. But yeah, certainly when that happened, it was terrifying. There was a lot of people turned to Google to figure out what the heck was going on.
4:30 – Mason Paine: Jeez, turning to Google to find out what’s happening is a huge trend right now because Jeremy Rainer, he’s also in people and actors. His was terrible too.
4:40 – Justin Burr: Yeah, it was a near fatal snow plow accident in January. And he broke over 30 bones, had extensive surgeries. And yeah, I know I keep going back to this, but again, it’s an evolving situation. You have that acute moment where the event actually happens, and then a lot of follow-up on Google as well to figure out if they’re going to be okay and how the situation has evolved. So yeah, it is interesting to see Jeremy Renner drive so much traffic. Again, that was earlier in the year, so you might have forgot about that. But yeah, he is number two on the people category.
5:08 – Mason Paine: And what’s crazy is that Jamie Fox was in there, too. He had didn’t have a stroke? I can’t remember what he had, or he.
5:14 – Justin Burr: Didn’t say… I think they did. That was a big cue. You had Jamie Fox is coming in at the number eight on the people category. And yeah, there was something with that as well. I’m not super familiar, but you can turn to Google and figure it out. That’s for sure, as many other people have done.
5:27 – Mason Paine: Now the books, there’s a books category. And It feel terrible because I haven’t read anything, so none of this looks familiar, except for the Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, and only because that became a movie.
5:40 – Justin Burr: Yeah, I also like on the book stuff. This is a bit of a blind thought for me. We’ve got My Fault by Mercedes-Ron, number one, don’t know it. Number two, Four Three by Rebecca Yarrow. Number three, Hello, Beautiful, a novel. Number four, actually, shout out to my friend, Jesse, who bought me this book this year. It’s called The Wager, a tale of shipwreck, mutiny, and murder. I haven’t read it yet, but it’s on my bookshelf. I got to check it out. It was obviously popular. Coming in at number four in the books category.
6:09 – Mason Paine: That’s pretty wild, though. I know another one, Spare, but I didn’t read it. That was the one by Prince Harry.
6:17 – Justin Burr
Oh, interesting. Yeah, the Ballad of Songbirds and Stakes. The Suzanne, Collins. People were pretty stoked on that one. I feel like I’ve seen that. I feel like I saw people read that on the subway quite a bit. That’s good. I got.
6:27 – Mason Paine: Something to read the new. Yeah, good for these people who have the time to read. I just can’t put it in between driving and working. Now, the explained version, the menu, did you see that movie?
6:39 – Justin Burr: I did, and I think that the movie stuff and the TV show stuff is a bit of a blind spot for me. But clearly, the movie was a bit confusing because that was the number one trending search within the explained category, which means people are turning to Google to figure out, Can you explain the menu to me? Or, There’s something in the menu that I need to have explained. There’s some confusion or some undetermined topics in there that they wanted some clarity on.
7:10 – Mason Paine: Yeah, it was an interesting movie. I remember seeing it and thinking, What am I watching? I’m hungry. At one point at the end, she forced him to make him like her a cheeseburger. I was like, That is a great idea.
7:23 – Justin Burr: I’m hungry. Yeah, I think what’s interesting about the explain category. Number nine, some of our favorite stuff, the NBA in-season tournament, which has been rad. But I also have turned to Google to be like, Okay, what actually is this? And what does this even mean? Yeah, the explain category is funny. I like that. I’m glad that I’m not alone in some of these areas that needed to be explained to me.
7:47- Mason Paine: No, you are absolutely correct because I had to search for that. I did not understand what the in-season tournament was. All I remember was everybody was going to… Whoever won it, every player got $500,000 from it. And… And I was like, Yeah, okay, people get more money. I didn’t realize they needed more incentives on top of their $100 million contract.
8:07 – Justin Burr: That is true. That is true. But if you think about some of the dudes that are signed from the G League that are on the practice squad, 500k, that could be pretty rad, obviously for LeBron and AD, they’re probably not too caring about that. But hey, the Lakers won it, so that’s awesome.
8:25 – Mason Paine: Yeah, I was not really shocked about it. To be honest with you, everybody didn’t really seem involved with it. It wasn’t as fun as I thought it was going to be. The Lakers went super hard, and that’s because LeBron wanted the championship. When LeBron wants something, he’ll drag people along with him. But one of the things I thought was really funny was AD. He was like, I’ve never been in a game seven before, and this is my game seven face. I was like, Oh, bro, cringe. No.
8:53 – Justin Burr: That is a little bit cringe. I might respectfully disagree, though. I actually feel like the NBA in the season tournament, everyone was playing so much harder than I expected it to be. I felt like these games actually were fabricated to mean something in November and December, which was wild, dude. Some of those games back and forth were like, Okay, this actually does have a playoff vibe to it. But yeah, you’re right. Once LeBron decide he’s going to turn it on, especially early on the season where he’s not too peak at this point, then he can just rocket. That was great.
9:23- Mason Paine: Yeah, because once Milwaukee didn’t make it and it was the Pacers, I felt like, Oh, it’s a sealed deal. I was like, That’s it. I wanted to see Yanis make it there, and I wanted to see the Bucks go at it head-to-head, especially since both of those teams have championships. So then it’s almost like this is an extra award on top of their already big stuff they got. So it would have been very interesting. But then it’s like Pacers. It’s like, Oh, now this is going to be terrible. Now, one of the things I was super excited about to see was that there was a games category. You don’t play games, do you?
9:58 – Justin Burr: No. You can explain these to-I’m not trying to me then. I guess I number six, The Legend of Zelda, Tears of the Kingdom. I mean, I used to play Zelda on N64, but I do not know any of the games category. Number one is Hogworth’s legacy. Number two, Connection, number three, Baulder’s Gate Three. What do you know about these? Do you play any of these?
10:17 – Mason Paine: Oh, my God. I did play Hogworth’s Legacye, and I did every single little thing. I got a Platinum trophy for getting everything done. I think I played over 100 hours. Don’t judge me. This is my first time. Don’t judge me here. I was the first time I got into Hogwards. Finally got my exception letter. I was super stoked, and I played the hell out of this game and I actually loved it. Connections, I’m not going to lie. I don’t know what this game is, but it’s number two, so it’s going to go on my list. And Baulder’s Gate 3, that’s a game I’ve been wanting to play. I’m a little shocked that it’s on here because it didn’t come out until I think it was July or August. I was like, Wow, for it to be really up there, people must not know what they’re doing because they’re searching like crazy.
11:05 – Justin Burr: That’s the thing is like, yeah, this isn’t even necessarily about the popularity of the game. It might be because there’s something that’s using or something that they’re trying to figure out. So they’re turning to Google for that. That’s an interesting component.
11:18 – Mason Paine: Yeah, and I can see that because Boulder Gate 3 is a role-playing game. Every decision you make affects the ending, I think, in this particular game. But you still have a lot of different things you can do. You can romance other characters. I think every character is romanceable, so you can start a relationship with these people.
11:38. – Justin Burr: Romanceable? Wow.
11:39 – Mason Paine: All right. I know, right? I’m using a verb here. I met it up. I’m sure people are looking for strategy guys like, Who’s the best romantic partner? Which is what I would be looking up.
11:54. – Justin Burr: Oh.
11:54 – Mason Paine: That’s hilarious. Starfield is supposed to be like… It was made by Bethesda, and it’s an outworld space thing, but I wasn’t really interested in it too much, so I don’t know too much about it. I’m waiting for Skyrim or some other game like that. Diablo 4 was absolute trash, and I didn’t like it at all. I played it. I played it for maybe 50 hours, and I was like, Okay, I’m done.
12:21 – Justin Burr: Only 50, A. Wow. You really didn’t give it a fair shake.
12:25 – Mason Paine: Man, I tried to go the medium route. I mean, I can go for I think the longest I’ve ever played a game was Skyrim. I’ve logged so many hours in that game. It’s terrible. I’m embarrassed by it, but it’s one of those guilty, pleasures you end up doing.
12:41 – Justin Burr: It’s impressive, dedicated.
12:42 – Mason Paine: It better be impressive to you. And I feel like you’re judging me just slightly. I can’t-.
12:47 – Justin Burr: No, no, no. I’m impressed. I’m glad to get learned.
12:51 – Mason Paine: You need to play some games. I’m surprised nobody put that down as a question like, How long is too long playing a game? Or, How long is too long blank?
13:03 – Justin Burr: That is good. We should look into that category.
13:05 – Mason Paine: But there is another category I’m a little curious about is how often. Is that really a big keyword, a phrase that people just google?
13:15 – Justin Burr: Yeah. I think what drove search interest heavily this year was the search term. How often do you think about the Roman Empire? Which we saw trending across a variety of short-form media platforms. I know I was asked that question before I even realized what the trend was. I answered it in earnest, but I think about it biweekly, meaning every other week, not twice a week. I don’t know. I think there’s a lot to learn from the Roman Empire. But yeah, that was obviously a viral trend on the internet of people asking dudes how often they think about the Roman Empire, and then stealthily filming their answer to that question, which is pretty funny. I don’t know. It’s a fun thing to think about. But there’s a few other how often questions. One of them is, How often is the world baseball classic that’s every 3-4 years? One question on here that I think is really interesting is, how often is Punk’s at Tanya Phil correct? The little ground hog that determines how long of a winter we’re going to have. According to Noah, he’s only right 40 % of the time. So you shouldn’t listen to Punks, Tony Hill.
14:17 – Justin Burr: That’s for sure.
14:18 – Mason Paine: Yeah, that sounds like a troll, to be honest with you. That’s a big troll like, right?
14:22 – Justin Burr: I don’t think it’s a bad job. If I was only doing the right thing 40 % of the time. I’m not sure I would have a job. So Punk’s at Tanya Phil get up. Get ready. Come on.
14:31 – Mason Paine: About to be dinner, bro. You better start pulling your weight here. Dark. Were there any movies? There has to be movies that were searched.
14:43 – Justin Burr: Yeah. I mean, no surprise here. Barbie, number one. That was the most cultural zeitgeist moment I feel like I’ve ever experienced in my life outside of maybe when Pokemon Go went viral for that two-week stint in the summer back in 2016. But Barbie, massively. It. Everyone was talking about Barbie. Anyone you saw wearing pink in public, you assumed they were going to Barbie or had just seen the movie Barbie. Tons of search interest there. That’s awesome. I actually didn’t see it. I hate to admit that I do want to see it. Nothing against the movie. I don’t know. I just missed it. But Oppenheimer was number two on there. Those were the two biggest moments in terms of search interest for the year, which makes sense because that’s what everyone was talking about all year. It was Barbie and Oppenheimer.
15:24 – Mason Paine: I remember when Barbie came out, I wasn’t going to go see it because I’m like, Is this a kid’s movie? I didn’t want to see a kid’s movie. Then you see all the hate for it, and I was like, Oh, is it going to be really that bad? I don’t want to be stuck in the theater for that long. I was like, Oh, screw it. I just went to see it, and it was wonderful. I don’t know why there was any hate for it because it was fun. It was absolutely ridiculous, and I fell in love with another Barbie movie.
15:49 – Justin Burr: I know. I feel like everyone that I knew that thought just raved about it. It was so funny. They said it was emotional at times. They said it was such a good story. Yeah, that’s great. I’m glad that they didn’t just make it a gimmick based on the Dolph. They actually made it into a great feature film, so kudos.
16:04 – Mason Paine: My favorite movie of all time, up to this moment at least, is Everything Everywhere, all at once. I was so happy to see that it trended. I was like, My baby. My baby made it to the list.
16:15 – Justin Burr: Yeah, everyone was really stoked on that movie. I actually never saw that either, which is crazy. But yeah, I’m glad. Number four on the list was everything everywhere all at once. My favorite movie of all time actually came in at number 10, and that was Cocaine Bear. No, just kidding. I did see that in the theaters, and it was pretty insane. It did come in at number 10. Good for cocaine there.
16:38 – Mason Paine: Right? Oh, my God. That was a terrible movie and I saw that as well. It was unnecessarily gory, but I think that was exactly what this little Mach 80 movies needed. It was great, a reminiscing of a time that I’m sure most want to forget or can’t remember. There’s so many things that could have been trending. What about recipes? Is there any food stuff? Because I’m thinking of food right now, I’m hungry.
16:59 – Justin Burr: Yeah, the recipe stuff is funny. The number one recipe is Grimace shake. We can assume that was trending because, again, of the virality that it went on the short-form media platforms of the shake that McDonald’s released for Grimace’s birthday that people made really weird videos out of. I mean, you can go and search it yourself if you’re not familiar, but it was weird and dark. That was the number one trend in the recipe category, not only because people were interested in the food, but I think they’re also interested in the trend. We have lasagna soup, which I looked up last night. Looks freaking good, and I want to make some of that. It’s like a slow cooker lasagna that’s a little bit more soupy, which I’m juiced on. Chicken Cobler, don’t really know a ton about that. Black cake. This was like… I looked this one up last night as well. Looks good. And pumpkin. I think that’s a pumpkin martini. They’re out the number five categories recipe.
17:55 – Mason Paine: You’re right. The lasagna soup does look good. I just looked it up. The black cake. I have no idea. Is this a rum cake? It looks like a rum cake. Why they changed the name?
18:02 – Justin Burr: Yeah, it does look like that. I don’t know. I was looking up the New York Times recipe on it, and it looks good. It doesn’t look too sweet, but I think it looks nice when you go to a cake. I don’t want too sweet.
18:16 – Mason Paine: You know what? But I got to know about that cow boy butter. What is this? Dijon mustard? I don’t know, but it looks tasty.
18:26 – Justin Burr: Yeah, cow boy butter coming in at the number seven on the recipe list. Yeah, it looks like it says this is the perfect topping for dipping sauces for grilled steak, chicken, shrimp, veggies, loaded with fresh herbs. Yeah, looks great.
18:42 – Mason Paine: Yeah, I think more for steak. Maybe some lobster, some shrimp, shellfish in general. I don’t know. I’m just really hungry. That looks delicious. That’s what I’m going to eat later on today. One of my favorite things is songs. What songs are trending?
19:01 – Justin Burr: Hope they’re good. Yeah, try that. Try that in a small town, Jason Aldean, number one. Again, I think that this comes in at number one because not only were people looking to listen to the song, but then there was also some political polarization related to the message in that. A lot of search interest both for the song, but then also what was happening in society at the time. Number two, Rich Men of North Richmond by Oliver Anthony. I didn’t really know it. I listened to it yesterday and it reminds me of a Tyler Childers type of vibe. I thought it was good. Then we’ve got some Vampire by Olivia Rodrigo. So sick that comes in. Number 10, there’s some reggaetón on here with Pesa Paluma. Yeah, there’s some fun songs in here. Cool Summer, Taylor Swift, Number Seven, which is interesting because this song didn’t even come out in 2023, but it just got some popularity, probably because the errors too are about the awesome.
19:56 – Mason Paine: Definitely. You’re right about that. You’re right about the first two songs. Definitely some other stuff you’re probably looking into. I remember when Richmond, north of Richmond was popping because of the political stuff that was behind it. Not saying I don’t like politics, but I’m not really into politics, but the song was pretty good. It was popping.
20:17 – Justin Burr: Definitely.
20:17 – Mason Paine: I know TV shows you don’t do, but was there any trendy TV shows?
20:23 – Justin Burr: Yeah, the top three here, The Last of Us, Guinea and Georgia, Queen Charlotte, a Bridgerton story. I honestly don’t know anything about those TV shows. I don’t even think I’ve heard of them. But again, I just don’t really watch TV shows. But have you heard of these? Are they rad?
20:42 – Mason Paine: The first one, The Last of Us, is based on a video game. That’s all I can tell you because I didn’t watch it. The second and third one didn’t even hear of it. I’m looking at the list and I’m like, Number 5, Wednesday? That’s it. That’s the only thing I watched.
20:57. – Justin Burr: Yeah. Okay, so yeah, because Pedro Pascal was on The Last of Us, I think, and he was the number five trending actor on the list. There’s some crossover with the number one TV show and then the number five actor. But yeah, sorry, I just don’t know a lot about TV, but I’m sure the shows are great.
21:16 – Mason Paine
You know what it is? It feels like I have to side with a streaming service. If you don’t have all of them, you miss out on a lot of really good acclaimed shows. I’m not really going to put all my money out there on streaming services. It’s like if you’re not on Netflix, then you’re not going to get watched. Now, okay, so trends. There are trend-trends, right? Actual trends? Mm-hmm. Okay, give me the list on that one.
21:44 – Justin Burr: This one makes me feel old. All of the trend trends, I just feel like, man, I am out of touch with whatever’s going on. The number one trend, we already talked about this one. This is the Roman Empire trend. This is people asking people, Hey, how often do you think about the Roman Empire? We went over that already. But then we’ve got the moon phase trend. Okay, this one’s pretty funny. People were apparently looking at the moon phases of themselves and in their significant other to see if the literal shape of the two moons would line up to make a full moon. So whatever moon phase you were in when you were born and doing that with your significant other, it should make a full moon. And that would mean that your significant other is apparently your soulmate. And if the moons didn’t line up, I don’t know, maybe break up with them. Who knows? The AI yearbook trend, people were uploading photos of themselves, and then this AI algorithm was spitting out photos of making it look like they were in the 90th yearbook, which was funny, especially because I was in the 90s yearbook because that’s when I was growing up, so whatever.
22:49 – Justin Burr: The Instagram notes number trend, I have no idea. I researched this, I have no idea. People were putting cryptic numbers in their Instagram notes to then correspond to different letters in the alphabet to then signify secret messages like, I’m crushing on this person. Again, generation, that’s not a millennial stuff. I have no idea what they were doing. The top five here, the last one, the fruit rollups trend, I did look this one up. I super juiced on it. You put a scoop of ice cream into a fruit rollup, then you roll it up and you put it in the freezer and you make this crunchy, sweet treat. So dang, so awesome.
23:26 – Mason Paine: Have you tried it or are you just looking at it?
23:29 – Justin Burr: No. Okay, yeah, it looks dang. I just watched videos of people eating it and it looked really cool because it makes the fruit roll up really crunchy and brittle and you bite into it and then you get the crunchy outside and the soft inside with the ice cream. But yeah, it looks great.
23:44 – Mason Paine: That does sound delicious. I’m not going to lie. I haven’t seen it yet, but just like you’re right because you got that weird little plastic-y candy thing around it and you know it’s going to get nice and frozen and it would be nice and crunch-crunch around the ice cream and you can hold it at the same time. Yeah, that sounds pretty lit.
24:01 – Justin Burr: Yeah, there we go. Yeah, I know. It sounds good. I’m definitely going to try it.
24:04. – Mason Paine: Was there anything that I missed? Any other top things that stood out for you?
24:09 – Justin Burr: About it. That was a lot. But yeah, people are interested to figure out what was going on. You can go to yearinsearch. Google.com. You can see what’s trending in the United States. You can see what’s trending globally. You can see what’s trending in different countries. And so it’s a really fun, interactive platform. You can also watch our 2023 recap video, which is great. It’s up on the website, and it’s a cool look back into what was happening over 2023.
24:33 – Mason Paine: Well, Justin, I really appreciate you being on. It’s always a pleasure to talk to you.
24:36 – Justin Burr: Awesome. Yeah. Thanks so much for having me on. Hope to talk to you soon.
24:40 – Announcer: This has been the Mason Vera Paine Show. Thanks for listening.
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