2018 is coming to an end, and like every year, Google has released the annual trends data. In 2018, sport-related queries have replaced entertainment as India’s top ‘googling’ obsession, reports The Hindu.

All three spots of the most searched for ‘items’ on net in India were ‘FIFA World Cup 2018’, ‘Live Score’ and ‘IPL 2018’. Despite holding the top spot. ‘FIFA World Cup 2018’ was also the most searched in sports and news categories.

Football also overtook cricket and Bollywood, indicating the increase in fan base and curiosity towards the sport in India. Usually, the top two themes of Indian interest on Google have been Cricket and Bollywood.

In the ‘ What is ....’ category, the historical judgement of Supreme Court legitimising homosexuality perhaps led to a huge peek of interest of Indians searching ‘What is Section 377’ and making it the top ‘what is ..’ search in India.

WhatsApp new features presumably confused many Indian users, with the ‘How to send stickers on WhatsApp’ turning the most searched ‘How to…’ doubt. ‘How to link Aadhaar with mobile number’ and ‘How to make rangoli’ follow the WhatsApp query to enter the top three.

Actors Rajinikanth and Akshay Kumar’s Robot 2.0 movie was the top search in the trending film of 2018, followed by Baaghi 2 and Race 3. Malayalam actress Priya Prakash Varrier, with her famous ‘wink’, is the most searched personality in 2018, followed by Nick Jonas and singer Sapna Choudhary.

Three high-profile marriages dominated the Indian’s search histories, as 'Priyanka Chopra Nick Jonas Wedding,’ ‘Deepika Padukone wedding’ and ‘Sonam Kapoor marriage’ occupy third, eighth and tenth places respectively in the top 10 trending news of 2018. Fifa World Cup 2018, Karnataka election results, Statue of Unity, Nipah virus, Bitcoin price, Budget 2018, and Section 377 fill up the rest of the spots.

‘googling’ obsession

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