Search trends: What interested Google in 2024: EM to Raab

European Football Championship, Handball European Championship, Olympics: The major sporting events also determined the Internet searches of millions of users in Germany this year.

“European Football Championship” recorded the highest increase in Google search queries in 2024, as the company announced in Hamburg. The “Handball European Championship” came in second, followed by the “US election”.

“Franz Beckenbauer”, “Olympia” and “Stefan Raab” also made it into the top ten. For its annual review, Google does not evaluate the most searched terms, but rather the largest increase in search volume.

“We actually always see when a major sporting event, especially football, takes place here in Germany that it is in first place in search trends,” said spokeswoman Hannah Samland.

“Handball European Championships” came in 2nd place and “Olympia” came in 6th place. “We are a sporting nation and that is reflected in the search results.”

In addition to the sports topics, political topics such as the European elections and the Solingen attack also dominated this year.

When it comes to headlines, “Traffic Light” only landed in 10th place – probably because the coalition only fell apart at the end of the year.

Stefan Raab in first place among personalities

In the top ten personalities, entertainer Stefan Raab landed in first place with his TV comeback, ahead of US presidential candidates Kamala Harris and Donald Trump.

“If you look back on the year, when a lot happened politically with the US election and also in our own country, I find it surprising that a Stefan Raab still takes first place among the personalities,” said Samland . This is probably also due to the fact that the moderator had withdrawn for years.

In series searches, the German series “Maxton Hall,” about an elite college of the same name, came in ahead of the American series “Fallout” and “3 Body Problem.”

The six-part Prime Video series about student Ruby Bell (Harriet Herbig-Matten), who comes from a humble background and falls in love with her rich classmate James Beaufort (Damian Hardung), was a surprise success worldwide.

Taylor Swift and “Belly, Legs, Butt”

Search interest for US singer Taylor Swift reached a record high this year – which may also be due to the fact that the singer performed in some German cities on her world tour.

When searching for the title of a catchy tune, people particularly searched for “Belly, Legs, Butt” by Shirin David with the help of hums – the song had already been named “Summer Hit of the Year”.

“Why was Lindner fired?”

The “why questions” were dominated by political topics (“Why was Lindner fired?”) as well as sporting topics (“Why does Mbappé wear a mask?”) and economic topics (“Why is butter so expensive?”).

In the “what questions” people wanted to know, among other things, what the trust question is, what a talahon is and what Dubai chocolate is. The chocolate bar filled with pistachio cream and angel hair caused a hype on social media this year.

According to Google, more searches for demonstrations and protests have been made this year than ever before. “People are becoming more interested in actively participating in politics again,” said Samland.

“Become a poll worker” hit a record high this year, as did party membership searches. “The search interest in party membership increased by more than 150 percent compared to the previous year,” said Samland.

And here are the ten search terms in Germany with the largest increase in search volume according to Google:

5. European Union election results

8th Archery Paralympics