The Most Popular Google Searches of 2017

There's no mincing words: 2017 was one hell of a year. It's hard to fathom how it's even humanly possible that everything that happened this year occurred in just 12 calendar months, but from politics to entertainment to weather phenomena and global tragedy, it all happened, and we've all got lots of feelings about each and every event that affected our lives. What better way, then, to measure the year that was than by examining the words we searched for the most on the internet?

That's the thinking behind Google's annual Year in Search report, which examines all of the data gathered throughout the last 365 days and ties it all up together with a nice neat bow (and, naturally, a list of what we searched for most). It's here that you'll see why it is that 2017 was the year that we asked "how" far more than anything else — and see how it shaped the way that each and every event went down. Not sure what that means? Ahead, witness the top stories of the year in one hell of a year-in-review video — and be sure to scroll through to read some of the most riveting parts of this year's study on US searches in easy-to-digest list form.

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The 10 Most Popular Searches of 2017
Getty | NASA/NOAA GOES Project

The 10 Most Popular Searches of 2017

  1. Hurricane Irma
  2. Matt Lauer
  3. Tom Petty
  4. Super Bowl
  5. Las Vegas shooting
  6. Mayweather vs. McGregor fight
  7. Solar eclipse
  8. Hurricane Harvey
  9. Aaron Hernandez
  10. Fidget spinner
The 10 Most Searched People of 2017
Getty | Slaven Vlasic

The 10 Most Searched People of 2017

  1. Matt Lauer
  2. Meghan Markle
  3. Harvey Weinstein
  4. Michael Flynn
  5. Kevin Spacey
  6. Bill O'Reilly
  7. Melania Trump
  8. Kathy Griffin
  9. Milo Yiannopoulos
  10. Gal Gadot
The 10 Most Searched News Items of 2017
Getty | David Becker

The 10 Most Searched News Items of 2017

  1. Hurricane Irma
  2. Las Vegas shooting
  3. Solar eclipse
  4. Hurricane Harvey
  5. Bitcoin price
  6. North Korea
  7. Hurricane Jose
  8. Hurricane Maria
  9. April the giraffe
  10. DACA
The 10 Most Searched Protests of 2017
Getty | Patrick Smith

The 10 Most Searched Protests of 2017

  1. NFL National Anthem protests
  2. Charlottesville protests
  3. Boston free speech rally
  4. UC Berkeley protests
  5. St. Louis protests
  6. Airport protests
  7. DC protest
  8. Venezuelan protests
  9. Women's March
  10. May Day protests

The Top 10 "How to . . . " Searches of 2017

  1. How to make slime
  2. How to make solar eclipse glasses
  3. How to watch the solar eclipse
  4. How to watch Mayweather vs. McGregor
  5. How to buy bitcoin
  6. How to freeze your credit
  7. How to solve a Rubik's Cube
  8. How to make a fidget spinner
  9. How to cook a turkey in the oven
  10. How to screen record
The Top 10 Most Searched Losses of 2017
Getty | Jerod Harris

The Top 10 Most Searched Losses of 2017

  1. Tom Petty
  2. Aaron Hernandez
  3. Chris Cornell
  4. Bill Paxton
  5. Hugh Hefner
  6. Chester Bennington
  7. Charlie Murphy
  8. Lil Peep
  9. Jim Nabors
  10. David Cassidy
The Top 10 "What Is . . . " Searches of 2017
Getty | Frederic J. Brown

The Top 10 "What Is . . . " Searches of 2017

  1. What is DACA?
  2. What is bitcoin?
  3. What is a solar eclipse?
  4. What is antifa?
  5. What is net neutrality?
  6. What is covfefe?
  7. What is the antikythera mechanism?
  8. What is a fidget spinner?
  9. What is the Paris Climate Agreement?
  10. What is a hurricane?
The Top 10 Most Searched TV Shows of 2017
Getty | Mark Ralston

The Top 10 Most Searched TV Shows of 2017

  1. 13 Reasons Why
  2. Game of Thrones
  3. This Is Us
  4. Iron Fist
  5. Riverdale
  6. Bachelor in Paradise
  7. The Good Doctor
  8. Santa Clarita Diet
  9. Big Little Lies
  10. American Gods
The Top 10 Most Searched Movies of 2017
Everett Collection

The Top 10 Most Searched Movies of 2017

  1. It
  2. Beauty and the Beast
  3. Wonder Woman
  4. Get Out
  5. Justice League
  6. Logan
  7. Baby Driver
  8. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
  9. Hidden Figures
  10. Dunkirk
The Top 10 Most Searched Tech Gadgets of 2017
Apple

The Top 10 Most Searched Tech Gadgets of 2017

  1. iPhone 8
  2. iPhone X
  3. Nintendo Switch
  4. Samsung Galaxy S8
  5. Razer Phone
  6. iPhone 8 Plus
  7. Super NES Classic
  8. Google Pixel 2
  9. Apple Watch 3
  10. Samsung Galaxy Note 8