What Pinoys Googled in 2019: SB19, Jane de Leon, and ‘How to Type Ñ’
Dec 13, 2019 • Cristina Morales
Dec 13, 2019 • Cristina Morales
It’s the end of the year, and Google Philippines has finally released the most searched terms in the country. While some of them were expected, many of these searches took us by surprise. Read on to see what Pinoys were googling in the last year.
Gorgeous newcomer Jane de Leon intrigued Filipinos when she was announced as the new Darna, so much so that she topped the list of the most searched female personalities. Also on the list were the controversial Barrettos (Gretchen, Marjorie, and Julia), as well as beauty queens Catriona Gray and Gazini Ganados. No surprises there—we do love our beauty pageants!
When the video above went viral on Twitter and other social media sites, SB19 went from an unknown group to a music sensation almost overnight. Also on the list are Vico Sotto and Isko Moreno (easily two of the most watched and beloved mayors in the country), Gerald Anderson (you all know why), and Dante Gulapa.
Hollywood blockbusters ruled the most-searched movie list, with Avengers: Endgame predictably taking the top spot. We were happy to see one Filipino movie making the list: Hello, Love, Goodbye was the second most-searched movie. Another outlier was the anime movie Weathering with You, Makoto Shinkai’s much-awaited follow-up to the hugely popular movie Kimi no Nawa (Your Name).
Talent shows topped the most-searched TV shows, which shows just how much Pinoys love their singing contests. Idol Philippines took the top spot, while Starstruck and The Voice Kids also made it to the list. Unsurprisingly, Pinoys were googling Game of Thrones and Money Heist, as well as the popular K-dramas Hotel del Luna and I Have a Lover. And of course, trending teleserye Kadenang Ginto was one of the top searches.
We gotta say, the most-searched song took us by surprise. Sure, Maroon 5 is popular, but so popular that millions of Filipinos were googling them? Maybe there’s something in the “Memories” lyrics that just resonate with Pinoys. That, or they were also getting it mixed up with “Memory” from Cats.
Anyway.
We love that most of the songs on the list were local (mostly sad, senti songs), with Moira dela Torre’s “Ikaw at Ako”, Michael Libranda’s “Binalewala”, This Band’s “Kahit Ayaw Mo Na”, Susta Clee’s “Zebbiana”, and more. And though K-pop has now hit the mainstream in the Philippines, only Blackpink’s “Kill This Love” made the list.
We lost a plenty of beloved personalities this year. The top three searches were for Eddie Garcia, K-pop singer and actress Sulli, and Gina Lopez.
The most searched how-to of 2019: How to dark mode
Pinoys are catching on to the beauty that is dark mode (largely thanks to cell phone manufacturers who are finally adding dark mode capabilities) which is why how to dark mode is the most googled how-to query. The second? How to read and write in Korean, which just goes to show how far in to the hallyu craze the country has gone. But we were particularly amused by the third most-searched query: how to type ñ. (The answer is alt+164. At least for most computers.)
Topping the overall top trending search terms list was Omegle, a chat site that gained popularity all over the world due to the fact that K-pop stars often use it to surprise their fans. And the list of game-related searches was populated not by games, but by cheat sites (tsk, tsk). Here’s the complete list of the Philippines’ top Google searches of 2019:
What surprised you the most? Sound off in the comments below!
Though a chronic dabbler in whatever tickles her fancy, Cristina claims she can count her passions on one hand: feminism, literature, the environment, embroidery, and the power of a solid pop song. She lives in Uniqlo lounge pants and refuses to leave the house without a winged eye.
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