The Pope, Charlie Kirk, Apple’s iPhone 17, and the global debate over a potential TikTok ban dominated Google’s most-searched topics in 2025, according to new data released by the tech giant.
Google’s annual “Year in Search” report, released on Thursday, highlights the terms that saw the highest spike in traffic compared to last year — covering key searches, news events, sports and entertainment moments looked up worldwide.
Charlie Kirk, who was assassinated while speaking at Utah Valley University on September 10, was the highest trending news search.
His death prompted a massive surge of interest in his life, with Google noting that Kirk’s Wikipedia page was one of the most-read articles of the year.
People also searched heavily for the death of Pope Francis and the election of Pope Leo XIV, an American, on May 8.
The data shows that artificial intelligence continued its rapid rise.
Searches for AI tools such as Google’s Gemini and the Chinese model DeepSeek featured prominently in the year’s overall trends.
The proposed TikTok ban in the United States — and later, the “deal” to sell the company’s U.S. operations to a government-approved investor — also triggered a spike in searches, as users looked for updates on restrictions, national-security concerns and possible shutdown dates.
Global Top 10 Trending Searches:
Gemini
India vs England
Charlie Kirk
Club World Cup
India vs Australia
DeepSeek
Asia Cup
Iran
iPhone 17
Pakistan and India
Global Top 10 News Searches:
Charlie Kirk assassination
Iran
U.S. Government Shutdown
New Pope chosen
LA fires
Hurricane Melissa
TikTok ban
Zohran Mamdani elected
USAID
Kamchatka earthquake and tsunami
The PUNCH
