The Year 2025 in Review
This is the time to recap the year that was. And what a year it was.
There are a number of ways to do it, many that are interesting. You can look at a year in terms of notable deaths, viral events, political rises and falls, etc.
But how do you really get a 12-month snapshot of a culture’s zeitgeist?
I would argue for two words: Google searches.
I’m not saying that this will be what historians will mark in 10, much less 100 years… even less what is most significant. But I will say that it may be the clearest window into our current soul.
So here we go with a few peeks into our inner world in 2025, courtesy of Google itself.
Top 10 News Story Searches:
1. One Big Beautiful Bill Act
2. Government shutdown
3. Charlie Kirk's assassination
4. Tariffs
5. No Kings protest
6. Los Angeles fires
7. New Pope chosen
8. Epstein files
9. U.S. Presidential Inauguration
10. Hurricane Melissa
Top 10 Trending Searches:
1. Charlie Kirk
2. KPop Demon Hunters
3. Labubu
4. iPhone 17
5. One Big Beautiful Bill Act
6. Zohran Mamdani
7. DeepSeek
8. Government shutdown
9. FIFA Club World Cup
10. Tariffs
Top 10 “Trends” Searches:
1. AI action figure
2. AI Barbie
3. Holy airball
4. AI Ghostface
5. AI Polaroid
6. Chicken jockey
7. Bacon avocado
8. Anxiety dance
9. Unfortunately, I do love
10. Ghibli
And finally, the Top 10 “Passings” Searches:
1. Charlie Kirk
2. Gene Hackman
3. Ozzy Osbourne
4. Anne Burrell
5. Diane Keaton
6. Michelle Trachtenberg
7. Pope Francis
8. Hulk Hogan
9. Malcom-Jamal Warner
10. Val Kilmer
Welcome to our world.
James Emery White
Sources
See the “Year in Search 2025” for the United States, Google, read online.
Photo Credit: ©Getty Images / NurPhoto / Contributor
Originally published December 29, 2025.
