Google today launched its annual “Year in Search,” a compilation of the most popular news, figures and queries that dominated billions of user searches in 2016.
With the database, you can explore what people in countries all over the globe searched for this year (by month, too).
Let's take a look at some of the trending searches in Dallas-Fort Worth to see how 2016 played out in this small corner of the world.
Top Trending Searches
1. Powerball
2. Prince
Prince Rogers Nelson died of an accidental drug overdose in April. He was 57. Sadly, he had an appointment to meet with an addiction doctor scheduled for the day after he died. Prince was one of many iconic musicians that passed away this year, including David Bowie, Merle Haggard, Phife Dawg of A Tribe Called Quest, and most recently, Leon Russell, Sharon Jones and Leonard Cohen.
Here’s Prince performing at the 2007 Super Bowl:
3. Donald Trump
4. “Pokemon Go”
The augmented reality game had people on their phones all over the city trying to catch ‘em all this summer. Sometimes, the game got people in precarious situations, like this one in Flower Mound and another couple in Dallas. Some museums and the Dallas Zoo really embraced the game, but others not so much. It was praised for getting people outside and connecting with each other. But, people were also driving while playing the game. The think pieces kept coming for several weeks.
5. Pick 3 Pick 4 Texas
Top Trending News
1. Olympics
The Olympic Games were held this summer in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. More than 30 athletes represented Texas, including gymnast Simone Biles, who won four gold medals and one bronze, and Sugar Land’s Simone Manuel, the first African-American female swimmer to win an individual swim medal. The Olympics were also surrounded by controversy — Rio’s financial troubles and the threat of athletes contracting Zika virus. No one did. But, Zika has since been transmitted locally in Texas.
2. Elections
On July 7, a peaceful protest was ending in downtown Dallas. It was a rally like many across the country — sparked by the deaths of black men shot by police in Baton Rouge, Minnesota and other cities. Then, suddenly, a gunman opened fire. Five officers were killed. Nine others, and two civilians, were injured. Dallas Police used a robot armed with a bomb to end a standoff with the shooter, Micah Johnson. Here's a complete look at how KERA News covered what happened. And below is a documentary from Dallas filmmaker Christian Vasquez capturing the mood before and after the shooting.
Top Trending People
1. Donald Trump
Republican Donald Trump clinched the presidency in a major, widely unexpected upset for the Clinton campaign. Trump secured Texas' 38 electoral votes, but the margin of victory for Trump was narrower than it’s been for Republicans in 20 years in the state. Here’s who Trump has chosen for his Cabinet so far, which includes two Texans. Trump was also named Time magazine's Person of the Year.
Democrat Hillary Clinton won Dallas County and other urban counties around the state in the election. In an uncharacteristic move, The Dallas Morning News endorsed Clinton for president — the first Democrat the paper had backed since WWII. Actually, of the 40 major newspapers in Texas, only two had endorsed Trump. And even though Clinton had an historic ad buy in Texas, her campaign had booked ads in Texas worth at most $100,000, a relatively small purchase.
Watch Clinton’s concession speech:
?t=6m15s
4. Ryan Lochte
5. Kevin Durant
Top Trending Movies
To avoid any spoilers, here’s the trailer for each movie. Some of these were flops, and just one nabbed an Oscar (Hint: It came out in 2015). You can be the judge.
1. “Suicide Squad”
2. “Finding Dory”
3. “The Revenant”
4. “Me Before You”
5. “Batman v Superman”
Top Trending “Near me”
1. “Mexican food near me”
No explanation needed.
2. “HEB near me”
In August, San Antonio-based H-E-B/Central Market bought six Sun Fresh Market stores in Dallas, specifically Uptown, Lake Highlands, Lakewood and Northwest Dallas. Read when and where to expect them.
3. “Chinese delivery near me”
See No. 1.
NPR, The Dallas Morning News and The Texas Tribune contributed to this report.
Note: These local trends are not available to view on Google's Year in Search, but were made available to and confirmed by KERA News from a contact at Google.
