Google’s Top Search Trends series gives you an inside look at the hottest topics on the web each month. From newsmakers and pop culture trends to recipes, tech and sports. Google Trends Expert Sarah Armstrong joins me to give insight on the latest trends and a revealing look at what people are searching for across the country.
For the latest trends from Google visit: Trends.Google.com/Trends
Follow Twitter on Google at: Twitter.com/Google
Like Google on Facebook at: Facebook.com/Google
Like and Follow Google on Instagram at: Instagram.com/Google
Mason Paine: It’s the end of October, which means it’s time to take a look at the top trends in entertainment, culture, science, sports, and food. Joining me to discuss what those trends are is Google Trends expert Sarah Armstrong. Thanks for joining me Sarah.
Sarah Armstrong: Thanks so much for having me.
Mason Paine: So tell me what’s been happening in the month of October.
Sarah Armstrong: We saw lots of Google search trends across categories like entertainment, culture, science. Even one of the big ones here, of course, is Halloween and being right around the corner. So lots of search interest in different Halloween movies, costumes, and even some recipes.
Mason Paine: Oh, nice. When it comes to movies, what were some of the top trending?
Sarah Armstrong: Yeah, so the Halloween movie franchise is super popular and also hocus pocus. So those movies round out our top five with three of the Halloween movies there. The one from 1978, Halloween ends and Halloween kills, and then we see Hocus Pocus and Hocus Pocus Two.
Mason Paine: Yeah, Hocus POCUS two was a hoot. I actually watched that with my nephew and niece and I liked it more than I expected, I would
Sarah Armstrong: That’s awesome. Yes, we saw lots of questions about Hocus Pocus Two, people wanna know Will there be a Hocus Pocus three? So that was definitely the big popular movie we’re seeing this year.
Mason Paine: Yeah. But there’s a new Halloween movie that came out I think recently, right? Or am I wrong about that?
Sarah Armstrong: You’re absolutely right. So they’re rounding out that Halloween franchise with the movie Halloween end. We saw a lot of search interest in Jamie Lee Curtis actually, because she was the star of the franchise and is ending that very long run as the main character. Lori Strode.
Mason Paine: I haven’t gotten a chance to watch that yet, have you?
Sarah Armstrong: I actually have. I’m not super familiar with the Halloween movies. I’m not a huge scary. Person in general. So looking at the list of some of these other movies that made the top 10 risk, Friday the 13th, even Nightmare on Elm Street. I actually haven’t, dove into too many of these, so maybe I should give it a try.
Mason Paine: Well at least do Nightmare before Christmas. At least. You could sit there and say it’s a Christmas movie or a Halloween movie. You get two in one.
Sarah Armstrong: Exactly. That made number six on our list. And I know there’s a lot of debate. Is it a Christmas movie or is it a Halloween movie? It seems like it’s a Halloween debate.
Mason Paine: Were there any costumes that were trending at all?
Sarah Armstrong: Absolutely. So for individuals costumes, it’s a lot what you might expect, which Spider-Man’s really popular dinosaur we saw stranger. As number four, I think the newest season inspired lots of folks. Something that caught my attention is the second most searched partner costume is Ross and Rachel from Friends, which I am surprised that is still as popular as it is in 2022, but people love those characters.
Mason Paine: Wait, well, what kind of costume is that? I mean, it’s not like they weren’t anything extravagant.
Sarah Armstrong: That’s a great point. Maybe they’re getting the Rachel haircut. I’m not really sure.
Mason Paine: Oh my God. The Rachel haircut. I had that .
Sarah Armstrong: Oh my gosh. . That was very popular. Definitely swept the nation. Maybe it’s coming back now for Halloween.
Mason Paine: Oh yeah. Right. Was there any other fun ones?
Sarah Armstrong: Well, I loved looking at some of the food trends for Halloween too. You see a lot of creative cocktails cookie put. Dirt pudding is the most popular Halloween recipe trend we’re seeing, and that’s like an, an Oreo type pudding where you put gummy worms in there. So it looks like it’s dirt. And we’re seeing some creative cocktails in Chicago, actually. Sweet poison is the most searched Halloween drink, and that’s kind of like a rum, pineapple sort of cocktail.
Mason Paine: Wow. Nothing with like pumpkin spice cuz I’m kind of shocked about that, like pumpkin spice ,something It should have been.
Sarah Armstrong: Safe to say that pumpkin spice is trending all over the country. This is absolutely pumpkin spice season , and so every single state is looking for pumpkin lattes, of course, breads, all sorts of different recipes. Super popular.
Mason Paine: Now, one of the things I like looking forward to is the nba. I know like that’s the big thing for October for me at least. Was it pretty big on Google?
Sarah Armstrong: Definitely. So we had NBA opening night this month. Lots of focus on different players. LeBron James, Draymond Green. The top star team is the Los Angeles Lakers, actually, that’s followed by the Warriors, and Celtics. Chicago Bowls come in at number four, so definitely a popular team across the country.
Mason Paine: Okay, so, I’m a big sucker for the Golden State Warriors, but Chicago Bulls. I am from Chicago, so you gotta love ’em too. So it’s kind of hard to choose which team to really root for hard. Do you have any team you’re rooting for?
Sarah Armstrong: Right. Being from San Francisco, myself, I’m a Big Warriors fan. Ooh, you are?
Sarah Armstrong: I see they’re number two there. ?
Mason Paine: Mm-hmm. . So what do you feel about like the Warrior’s chances of like winning again, this.
Sarah Armstrong: I mean, I like to think that they’re pretty high. We see Steph Curry coming in at number four in the third trend, a Jordan pool as well. So always lots of interest in that team every year, which I love to see, and hopefully they choose it this year.
Mason Paine: Was there anything happening in like any other sports.
Sarah Armstrong: Yeah, so we’re actually heading into the World Series for Baseball. So a lot of interest in the Phillies and the Astros. They’re the final two teams. People ask lots of different questions like, have the Padres won the World Series? They made it the playoff. But no, they haven’t. They aren’t making it to the World Series this year. Lots of questions about different players and whatnot, so I think we can expect to see many people searching as the World Series kicks off on Friday.
Mason Paine: Man, I’ve always tried to get into baseball, but it seems so slow for me and in moments of like fast paced action and it’s just not enough for me. Are you into base?
Sarah Armstrong: It is really slow. I remember being in San Francisco and the Giants had a big winning streak. They won three World Series in five years, and so I was like, Baseball’s amazing. But now I think I’m more of. A basketball fan, it’s just so fast. The sport’s a lot smaller. They’re moving really quickly. So I think I, I think I’m more partial basketball.
Mason Paine: Yeah. I’m the same way. I’ve tried to get into other sports like football, and it just doesn’t do it to me. The, the way that basketball does it, there’s something about like, it hits a trifecta of all the things I really like about a sport.
Sarah Armstrong: Totally. And they’re scoring so many points so fast, which is very different than baseball. Actually. If people, The top search question right now about baseball is what was the longest game? Because in the playoffs that just happened, one of the games, they scored no points for the whole length of a normal game, and it had to go into 18 innings Wow. Before somebody scored a point and they could actually, end the game. So definitely a slow sport.
Mason Paine: Now, something I wanted to talk about that I didn’t even know was a thing. There was an asteroid that was heading towards Earth. What is this?
Sarah Armstrong: Yes. This was a huge science trend we saw this month. So NASA wanted to know if there was some sort of threat heading toward earth, like an asteroid, would we be able to defend ourselves? So they picked an asteroid that it wasn’t heading toward earth. There was no danger. Luckily, it was just a test, but. Hurled an object at it to see if they could knock this asteroid off its course, and they were able to do that successfully. So it’s a good sign that hopefully if you know, like the dinosaurs, if there’s an asteroid heading heard or if maybe we’d be able to also have that redirected course. So interesting that they’re trying out these planetary defense systems now.
Mason Paine: Oh man, what was that movie? That was with Armageddon. It was Armageddon that when they had a bunch of oil rig dudes going, the asteroid, I’m kind of disappointed they didn’t try that out this time around .
Sarah Armstrong: Yeah. Yeah, I know. Maybe they’ll try out a different method next time. I’ll note that this asteroid was much smaller than the one that killed the dinosaurs, so hopefully they’re able to keep stepping it up.
Mason Paine: Yeah, right. But that is so interesting. We’re coming that far where we can mess with asteroids now. That is so amazing. That’s so awesome.
Sarah Armstrong: That’s really amazing. I, every time I see news come out of nasa, I just can’t believe what they’re able to do. So it’s a pretty big accomplishment
Mason Paine: now during this, time of the year. I know dating wise, it’s, it’s cuffing season. Was that trending at all?
Sarah Armstrong: Yes, cuffing season rules was a big breakout search and we always see cuffing season spike in October and November. That’s been going on every single year since 2014. And you know, I could, I could see that it’s getting colder. People want to find that special someone and get together. , but what was different about this year is when to break up, is being searched now more than ever before. So it’s kind of throwing a wrench in the typical cupping season, and we’re seeing lots of questions about breaking up before the holidays, before Christmas, So something’s in the air there.
Mason Paine: That is weird. Yeah. Why would you be searching about breaking up? It should be like, Hey, it’s getting cold. How do I get someone to, come back to my place, you know, Maybe we’ll date for a little bit and then break up in the spring.
Sarah Armstrong: Totally. I’ve been just thinking about theories around this. Maybe people got together during Covid and now that they’re in their real life and they’re not so sure anymore, maybe they want to. Not bring someone home for the holidays. I’m not really sure, but it’s pretty amazing that it’s at an all time high right now.
Mason Paine: I could see the holiday stuff that is really like intense. You’re meeting my family, they’re gonna think we’re getting married and it’s not that serious .
Sarah Armstrong: Right, right. So yeah. Should you break up? When to break up? Lots of questions around that.
Mason Paine: Was there anything else that happened in October that we may. .
Sarah Armstrong: Yes. Well, we have some fun news in entertainment. Taylor Swift dropped a new album, so we saw a lot of interest about that. And then also just leaf keeping season. People wanna know where they can find the best colors. I’m sure Chicago has some nice foliage. Is that right?
Mason Paine: Oh yeah. I think it’s really great. Yellow, the reds and the browns, and then it’ll just turn to bleak . I like fall a little bit just because it’s, it’s like hoodie weather. You can put on a hoodie and you’ll feel just very comfortable, but it doesn’t last very long. I feel like it doesn’t last very long.
Sarah Armstrong: I know. It just seems like it’s, it’s sort of a, a blip and you go from summer to winter. Spring feels kind of similar. I wanted these seasons to be a lot longer. But yeah, we’re seeing a lot of churches around scenic drives, near me, fall, colors near me, foliage map, even people wanting to see the best spots to go to see those really bright colors. So that is a fun time here.
Mason Paine: Well, Sarah, thank you so much for joining me. I really appreciate you being here. For those listening, where can they search all these trends at?
Mason Paine: You can go to google.com/trends and check them out for your.
Like Mason on Facebook at: Facebook.com/MasonVeraPaine and follow on Twitter at: Twitter.com/MasonVeraPaine. Interested in being a guest on the show or wish to send pitches contact us at: Contact@Masonverapaine.com