Pope Francis, ‘AlDub’ top Google searches in PH for 2015
The charismatic Pope Francis and the phenomenal on-screen love team of actor Alden Richards and Maine “Yaya Dub” Mendoza topped Google searches in the Philippines for 2015.
The announcement of the annual list of top trending searches was made during the Google Year In Search press party at Bonifacio Global City in Taguig.
“AlDub” emerged as the overall top trending search in the Philippines, followed by Pope Francis, Maine Mendoza, FIBA Asia 2015, and Alden Richards. Romantic film “Fifty Shades of Grey,” the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit, Paris attacks, and the Commission on Elections also cracked the overall top 10.
READ: ‘AlDub’ breaks Fifa World Cup’s Twitter record
The head of the Roman Catholic Church, who visited the Philippines in January, was also the most searched name in the news and male personalities categories, while Mendoza was named top trending female personality. Richards came in second to the Pope in the male personalities category.
Gail Tan, Google Philippines’ head of communication and public affairs, said the annual list reflects Filipinos’ “increasing involvement and interest” in current events and awareness of general knowledge.
“Year in Search is Google’s way of looking back at the meaningful moments that captured the people’s interest through the year,” Tan said.
“Locally, the trending search items of 2015 are a good reflection of the Filipinos’ increasing involvement and interest in the things that are happening around them, whether in historic national events or the breakout of a new pop culture icon,” she added.
READ: Pope Francis: From tech dinosaur to Twitter superstar
Other top searches in the news categories were the terrorist attacks in Paris, ISIS, French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, Pluto, Syria, typhoon Lando, Singapore haze, and Nepal Earthquake.
In the male personalities category, basketball superstar Stephen Curry, Lamar Odom, former NBA star Lamar Odom, presidential aspirant Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, boxing icon and Sarangani Rep. Manny Pacquaio, British singer Ed Sheeran, Filipino war-time general Antonio Luna, singer Darren Espanto, and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also made it to the list.
Rounding up the top 10 for female personalities categories were American transgender Caitlyn Jenner, Filipino convict Mary Jane Veloso, Filipino all-girl group and X-Factor UK contestant 4th Impact, MMA star Ronda Rousey, teen actress Ella Cruz, Dakota Johnson, Perrie Edwards, Pastillas Girl, and DJ Soda.
Top searches in other categories include FIBA Asia 2015 (events), Ed Sheeran’s “Thinking Out Loud” (music), Sundowners Vacation Villa in Bolinao (local vacation destination), Vatican City (international vacation destination), Fifty Shades of Grey (movies), “Pangako Sa’Yo” (TV shows), Dubsmash (apps), “How to cure sore eyes” (How Tos), “What is Apec,” “Who is Pope Francis,” and “Where is Nepal.”
READ: Why the ‘Fifty Shades’ you saw has blurs, blocks
Odom, who was hospitalized in October after being found unconscious in Nevada brothel, topped the overall global searches in 2015, followed by movies Jurassic World and American Sniper, Caitlyn Jenner, Ronda Rousey, Paris, Agar.io, Chris Kyle, Fallout 4, and Straight Outta Compton.
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