Like every December Semrush, the leading SaaS platform in online visibility management and content marketing, presented last Monday, December 6, your annual study World Data Trends 2021, where he looks at global search trends this year.
The digitization that we are witnessing in 2020 has had an echo in 2021, as many people have managed to get the hang of remote working, flexible hours and surviving between virtual meetings. 2021 has been the year of trying to recover postponed sporting events, such as the Euro and the Tokyo Olympics, the release of postponed films and the awareness of mental health. But the Coronavirus has not been able to resist making the news again, with Delta Y Omicron reminding us that the pandemic is not over.
The most curious, strange and unexpected searches of 2021
- On average, each month, more than six hundred thousand people did not know that Tokyo was not in China when looking for the location of the Olympics.
- The coverage of vaccines in media like CNN and the BBC, was greater than the sum of the following nine topics together, including the climate change, Afghanistan, mental health and problems in supply chain.
- The Squid Game had 100 million searches in October, more than the total of searches combined for Bitcoin, Real Madrid Y Donald trump Worldwide.
- Black widow Y Dune outnumbered James bond Y Spider-man.
- Searches for Dog food they were a 62% higher than those of cat food.
- FIFA 22 was the most searched video game, followed by New World, Amazon Game Studios’ first major worldwide hit.
- Amazon it remained the most visited website in the world with more than 3.3 billion visits a month on average.
- Auronplay, Ibai Y The Rubius They entered the top of the most wanted streamers in the world.
- On average, there were 32 times more searches for Bitcoin than for the dollar.
- Investment searches in cryptocurrencies were three times greater than those of estate and nineteen times greater than those of gold.
- The most sought-after places to travel were Spain and France.
Restrictions, vaccines and travel in times of Covid-19
As the world began to reopen borders, searches for “covid vaccine near me”Became one of the most searched terms of 2021. This query increased by 837Monthly% from July to August 2021, with more than 159.7 million searches in August alone. The main questions related to the vaccine included “which covid vaccine is better?” Y “How to make an appointment for the covid vaccine?”. Unsurprisingly, there was also a large increase in searches for “Do you have to be vaccinated to travel?”, Up to 43,900% in 2021.
When it comes to more generic travel plans, Spain seems to have been the country that everyone looked to travel to, with more than 78,000 searches on average each month and a 124% increase since 2020. In contrast, searches to travel to Mexico they have decreased by 45% year-on-year.
The triumph of sports in 2021
If we talk about sports, the NBA has achieved resounding success when it comes to sports competitions, with an online popularity that has made it the most sought-after sports competition worldwide, with 185 million at its peak during the Playoffs in June, 23% more than the Euro 2020, second, with 151 million searches that same month. If we look at average searches during the year, the NBA is also positioned as the most searched sporting event, with an average of 80 million queries for the 26 million of the UEFA champions league.
After its postponement in 2020, it is not surprising that the Tokyo Olympics were a hot topic. In Spain, the podium for the most popular Olympic medalists in 2021 has been for Ana Peleteiro, with almost a million searches after the bronze medal in triple jump, Pablo Carreño, more than 300 thousand searches after winning the bronze to Novak Djokovic, and Mireia Belmonte, flag bearer of Spain in Tokyo with Saul Craviotto, slightly behind in searches for the Catalan swimmer. Behind them, Ray Zapata and the very young Alberto Gines Y Adriana Cherry They also achieved great popularity, surpassing established stars such as Maialen Chorrault or Teresa Portela.
At the tennis Grand Slams, Wimbledon was the most wanted, more than 55.6 million searches. And, although in Spain the undisputed protagonism continues to be for Rafael Nadal, with almost two million searches during Roland Garros, the world tennis sensation was Emma raducanu, one of the most sought after athletes in 2021. The 18-year-old became the first British woman in 44 years to win an individual Grand Slam title. Alone in September it received more than 16.6 million searches after the victory in the US Open.
Semrush has also unveiled the world’s most popular athletes at the major sporting events of the year. Classics such as Cristiano Ronaldo (16 million searches in June after breaking the record for goals by Michel Platini), Leo Messi, (Copa América champion with Argentina and winner of his seventh Ballon d’Or), Novak Djokovic, who this year reached twenty Grand Slam triumphs, Tom brady, who achieved his seventh ring after winning the Super Bowl with Tampa bay, or the gymnast Simone biles and his withdrawal from the Olympic final. Although this year, the asbsolute prominence online went to the Danish footballer Christian eriksen, who suffered a cardiorespiratory arrest in the first match of the Euro.
In Spain, the soap opera Mbappe swept in August, exceeding four million searches, above the historic signing of Messi for the PSG (2.7 million), and Rafa Nadal himself. Two legends of Spanish sports have also crept into the national Top10; Fernando Alonso and his first podium in seven years place him as the fourth most sought-after athlete in Spain, while Pau Gasol he placed ninth in the year that announced his retirement after playing his fifth Olympics. Christian, Garbiñe Muguruza, Ana Peleteiro, Djokovic and Karim Benzema make up the list in Spain.
Streaming; music, video and gamers
The globally most sought after albums released in 2021 include many memories from the past. In the Top 10 are, among others, Taylor Swift, Swedish ABBA and their first album in 40 years, and the English heavy metal band Iron maiden. On the other hand, the most sought-after album of the year worldwide has been Donda, from And it is, the rapper formerly known as Kanye west.
In Spain, the announcement of the third album by Rosalia by 2022, Motomami, It resulted in a 50% increase in searches for the artist in November. The most popular new album in Spain was the last album by C. Tangana, The Madrileño, whose hit “You stopped loving me”Reached an average of 43,000 searches in 2021.
Faced with the familiar question of “You still there? ” of streaming platforms, the answer is a resounding yes. Netflix has continued to reign for another year, with 129.4 million average monthly searches, followed by Amazon prime (although their services do not only include VOD), Movistar + (third in searches in Spain, not computable globally) and Disney +, that with the appearance of the Marvel series and its new Star brand, experienced a 31% YoY increase in searches. HBO Max, a year after its launch, and coinciding with its arrival in Spain, it had a year-on-year growth in searches of 272%, the highest of all platforms.
It should come as no surprise that the most sought after series of 2021 (if not all time) was the dystopian Korean drama. The Squid Game (“Squid Game” in English). The series peaked in popularity in October, with 101 million searches globally, more than the total of searches combined for Bitcoin, Real Madrid Y Donald trump.
According to a report by Streamlabs gaming software provider, viewers spent 8.21 billion hours watching game content on Twitch, Youtube Gaming Y Facebook Gaming, with Twitch with 70% of the audience.
Semrush researched the top global streamers based on searches, with the American Ninja as the most searched in 2021, with an average of 1.4 million searches per month, followed by Tommyinnit, a popular streamer of Minecraft which grew in searches by 908% in 2021.
Within this Top 10, Spain has a great representation on the stage of this huge digital industry thanks to personalities such as Auronplay, Ibai Llanos Y The Rubius, that have entered the ranking of the most wanted streamers in 2021. Of them, Ibai had a growth of 162% in searches since 2020.