Washington Post A lost submersible, an NFL safety who collapsed on field, the Israel-Gaza war and a ‘Friends’ star who died were some of the most searched terms in the United States on Google in 2023, according to the search engine’s year in review. People also searched for the “Barbie” movie, asked how often people think about the Roman Empire and tried to find the Kevin James meme.
Here’s a breakdown of the top trending searches, and a reminder of some of what happened over the past 12 months. The Israel-Gaza war was the top trending news search in the U.S., according to Google, with the surge coming after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack in which about 1,200 people were killed. Since the attack, at least 20,000 people have been killed in Gaza, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.