It’s that time of year again: Google has released its trending searches. Despite coronavirus running rampant through Germany for the majority of this year, there were a couple of other things that piqued Germans’ curiosity over the course of 2021.

Germany’s year through Google

It seems like just yesterday when we turned to our friends and asked, “Surely 2021 can’t be as bad as 2020, can it?” Well, unfortunately for us, the coronavirus once again dominated the world stage. However, plenty of other, pretty significant things also took place in Germany this year, which we can discover through what Germans searched for on Google.

This year saw perhaps the most important federal election in Germany’s history take place, with Angela Merkel stepping down from her 16-year reign as Chancellor and Olaf Scholz stepping in to take over the role. Consequentially, “Bundestagwahl 2021” (Federal elections 2021) was the second most trending search in Germany this year. The prevalence of the coronavirus in Germany was also reflected in this list, with “corona” coming in as the third most searched for term.

However, despite these two hugely important events, it seems sport is what was on people’s minds in Germany. “EM 2021” was the top trending search this year, which relates to the 2020 Euros (or Fußball-Europameisterschaft) that were held earlier this year after being postponed from the summer of 2020. The “Bundesliga” - Germany’s top football league - came in at number four on the list of trending searches. Rounding off the top five was “Olympia 2021,” which refers to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics that were also postponed until earlier this year.

Germany needs answers!

All throughout the year, Germans turned to Google to answer some of their most burning questions. A lot of Germans were evidently worried when Whatsapp experienced problems earlier this year, with the top trending “why” question being “Why doesn’t Whatsapp work?” In fact, the event was so distressing for Germans that “Whatsapp malfunction” was the sixth most trending search in 2021, and “What’s up with Whatsapp” was the third most trending “What” question.

Germans also turned to Google to help them answer the more specific questions they had regarding the country’s coronavirus restrictions. Questions like “what does a PCR test cost?” and “how long is a rapid test valid?” trended highly throughout the year.

Germany’s top trending Google searches

The top ten trending general Google searches in Germany this year were:

1. EM 2021 (Euros 2021)
2. Bundestagwahl 2021 (Federal elections 2021)
3. Corona
4. Bundesliga
5. Olympia 2021 (Olympics 2021)
6. Whatsapp Störung (Whatsapp malfunction)
7. Biontech Aktie (Biontech shares)
8. Zapfenstreich Merkel (Merkel leaving ceremony)
9. Gamestop Aktie (Gamestop shares)
10. Kasia Lenhardt

2021’s global trending searches

Cricket dominates the list of global top trending searches in 2021, a list that is otherwise dominated by sporting events. The hit Netflix show Squid Game also makes the list, as does late rapper DMX, who died earlier this year. The top ten trending searches worldwide in 2021 were:

1. Australia vs India
2. India vs England
3. IPL
4. NBA
5. Euro 2021
6. Copa America
7. India vs New Zealand
8. T20 World Cup
9. Squid Game
10. DMX

Google 2021 Year in Search

Check out the Google Trends website for the 2021 top trending searches in Germany, as well as other countries around the globe, across a whole range of categories. You can also check out Google’s Year in Search video below.