Google Year in Search 2025: The Biggest Trending Topics Revealed

Google has released its Year in Search 2025 report, showing that AI tools, political shocks, and new cultural phenomena drove the fastest-rising queries worldwide this year.

The list highlights trending topics that spiked in interest compared with 2024, led globally by Google’s own AI assistant Gemini, major cricket clashes, and a dramatic U.S. political assassination.​

What the Year in Search 2025 report covers

Google’s Year in Search 2025 is a global retrospective based on trillions of queries, focusing on topics that saw the sharpest sustained growth in interest between January and late November 2025. Google stresses that these are not the most searched terms overall but the fastest-rising trending queries, which better capture what was unique about 2025 compared with previous years. The 2025 edition was published in early December and includes global and country-level breakouts across categories such as news, people, sports, movies, games, and more.​

The company also reports that search behavior itself is changing as people use new AI features in Search and ask questions in more conversational ways. Phrases starting with tell me about rose by around 70% year-on-year, while how do I queries reached a record high with about a 25% increase compared with 2024. This shift suggests that users now expect search to respond more like a helpful assistant than a traditional list of blue links.​

Key facts about Year in Search 2025

AI, tech and global headlines dominate

At the global level, AI and technology sit at the top of Google’s 2025 trends. Gemini, Google’s own AI chatbot and assistant, is reported as the year’s top trending search term worldwide, reflecting intense public curiosity about generative AI tools. Another AI system, DeepSeek, also appears among the most rapidly growing global queries, confirming that interest in competing chatbots extends beyond Google’s products.​

Pre-launch hardware also captured attention: iPhone 17 became one of the fastest-rising global searches even before the device reached consumers, showing how product rumors and leaks still drive search traffic. Alongside tech, global attention focused on geopolitical tensions and economic policy, with terms linked to Iran, tariffs and a U.S. government shutdown all registering among the year’s standout search spikes.​

Selected global top trending queries

In the United States, the report and supporting coverage point to a dramatic year in domestic politics and culture. Conservative activist Charlie Kirk is identified as the top trending search in the U.S. after he was assassinated while speaking at Utah Valley University in September, an event that also drove Charlie Kirk assassination to the top of news-related queries. Other politically charged terms around the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, tariffs, and a historic government shutdown under President Donald Trump also appear among the most prominent spikes.​

Selected U.S. top trending queries

Sports, culture and entertainment trends

Sport remains one of the strongest engines of search activity in 2025. Cricket features heavily, with India vs England, India vs Australia, and regional competitions such as the Asia Cup driving some of the fastest-rising match-related queries worldwide. Football is also prominent, with the FIFA Club World Cup and major club sides such as Paris Saint‑Germain among the top trending sports and team searches.​

Entertainment and pop culture trends mirror this global mix of Western and Asian influences. The animated feature KPop Demon Hunters emerges as a standout movie search, while rising actor Mikey Madison and established star Pedro Pascal are highlighted among the most talked‑about performers. In gaming, titles such as Arc Raiders and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 appear in the fastest-growing lists, showing strong interest in both live‑service and story‑driven releases.​

Selected sports and entertainment trends

The report also points to more niche but revealing cultural queries. For example, AI action figure appears as a U.S. trend, capturing a crossover between toys, AI branding and online virality, while unusual food combinations and social‑media catchphrases, such as a hot honey cottage cheese sweet potato beef bowl recipe or the phrase why do kids say 67, show how memes and TikTok-style content move quickly into Search.​

How search behavior changed in 2025

Beyond what people searched for, Google emphasizes how people searched in 2025. New AI capabilities in Google Search have encouraged more conversational queries, with users increasingly starting searches as if they were talking directly to a person or chatbot. According to Google, queries starting with tell me about grew by about 70% compared with 2024, while how do I searches hit an all‑time high with a roughly 25% year‑on‑year rise.​

Many of these questions are specific and situational rather than generic. One example highlighted by Google is the surge of How do I know if my Labubu is real?, reflecting concerns about counterfeit versions of a viral collectible toy. This pattern suggests users are turning to Search to verify authenticity, understand complex issues—from AI tools to political events—and seek guidance in real time.​

Notable shifts in query behavior

For businesses, media and SEO professionals, this year’s report underlines that the biggest opportunities lie in fast‑moving emerging topics rather than evergreen head terms. Analysts note that Google’s own framing encourages publishers to track new spikes and respond quickly with helpful, original coverage, instead of relying only on well‑established search demand. At the same time, the rise of conversational questions means content that directly answers natural‑language queries, with clear explanations and trustworthy sourcing, is more likely to align with how people now use Search.​