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Google's year in search 2018: World Cup, Meghan Markle take the top spots

We really got a kick out of the World Cup this year.

Steven Musil Night Editor / News
Steven Musil is the night news editor at CNET News. He's been hooked on tech since learning BASIC in the late '70s. When not cleaning up after his daughter and son, Steven can be found pedaling around the San Francisco Bay Area. Before joining CNET in 2000, Steven spent 10 years at various Bay Area newspapers.
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Steven Musil
2 min read
SOCCER: JUL 15 FIFA World Cup Final - France v Croatia

Players of France celebrate the win of the final match between France and Croatia at the FIFA World Cup on July 15, 2018 at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, Russia.

Anatoliy Medved/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

The world had World Cup fever this year. And so did the internet.

And that was evident in what people searched for online. Google said Wednesday that its top trending topic in the US and worldwide in 2018 was "World Cup." In Google parlance, "top trending" means it had the highest spike in traffic over a certain period of time this year compared to last year.

Besides the thrilling monthlong tournament, which you probably recall culminated with France defeating Croatia 4-2, US internet users were also paying close attention to Hurricane Florence, the category 4 storm that ravaged the Carolinas this summer, and singer Demi Lovato, who reportedly suffered a drug overdose in July.

Google is the world's largest search engine and one of the most iconic sites on the internet. So popular search queries give us a good look into what people were thinking about over the past year. Last year, we searched for information on another storm, Hurricane Irma, and Matt Lauer, the former co-host of NBC's Today show, fired last year amid allegations of sexual harassment.

In addition to the World Cup, the world wanted to know what was kicking with Meghan Markle, the American actress who joined the British royal family when she married Prince Harry in May. We also mourned the passing of rapper Mac Miller, celebrity Anthony Bourdain and comic book legend Stan Lee.

Check out the top US lists below.

Searches

1.      World Cup

2.      Hurricane Florence

3.      Mac Miller

4.      Kate Spade

5.      Anthony Bourdain

6.      Black Panther

7.      Mega Millions Results

8.      Stan Lee

9.      Demi Lovato

10.    Election Results

News

1.      World Cup

2.      Hurricane Florence

3.      Mega Millions

4.      Election Results

5.      Hurricane Michael

6.      Kavanaugh Confirmation

7.      Florida Shooting

8.      Royal Wedding

9.      Olympic Medal Count

10.    Government Shutdown

People (not including deaths)

1.      Demi Lovato

2.      Meghan Markle

3.      Brett Kavanaugh

4.      Logan Paul

5.      Khloe Kardashian

6.      Eminem

7.      Urban Meyer

8.      Ariana Grande

9.      Rick Ross

10.    Cardi B

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