Google has released its annual list of the top trending searches in Canada for 2018, and stars like Demi Lovato and Hailey Baldwin were some of the most-searched celebrities of the year.
Speaking with ET Canada about Google’s 2018 Year In Search, Google Canada expert Nicole Bell opens up about Lovato, who was the top trending person on Google in Canada this year.
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“Where we saw the majority of searches around Demi [Lovato] was about her song ‘Sober’, which was released about a month before she experienced [her] overdose,” Bell says. “That was her top trending song of the year as people went to go search the lyrics to understand a little bit more about the singer.”
Appearing after the singer on the list is reality television star Khloe Kardashian, whose Canadian NBA player Tristan Thompson appears as one of the top trending searches for Canadians this year following his alleged cheating scandal.
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“There were a lot of rumours about strife in their relationship this year,” Bell explains. “People go to Google because they want to learn more. They’re curious. They’re looking for broader context. And so something like the scandal that involved Tristan Thompson this year, people had a lot of questions about it.”
Meanwhile, model Hailey Baldwin appears on the list in the third spot for the top trending people of the year, which, as Bell explains, was largely due to her rekindled romance and marriage to Canadian pop star Justin Bieber.
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“She wasn’t somebody who was attracting a huge amount of search interest from Canadians,” Bell tells ET Canada of the American star. “But, obviously you pair her with the pop culture juggernaut that is Justin Bieber and Canadians wanted to know everything about Hailey [Baldwin] this year.”
As for the top trending searches overall on Google for 2018, Canadians were also interested in the shocking deaths of some beloved stars, including celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain, fashion designer Kate Spade, rapper Mac Miller and DJ Avicii.
And while the Duchess of Sussex did not make this year’s list, Meghan Markle’s Royal Wedding to Prince Harry did land a spot on the International News list.
“This year certainly aligned to the moment of the Royal Wedding,” Bell says. “We did see a lot of questions being asked about Meghan Markle. People wanted to go back and find out, ‘How did they meet? How old are they?’ People were curious about what dress she was wearing [and] who the designer was.”
