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The Biggest Stories of 2023

Teri Schure
December 30, 2023

The world was in turmoil in 2023, rife with stomach-churning news, with the international and U.S. press primarily focused on the same news stories. It seems that the world has never been more interconnected.

The three major stories dominating the world in 2023 were the Hamas terror attack on Israel and Israel's fierce response against the Palestinian militant organization, the war in Ukraine nearing its second anniversary with no end in sight, and Donald Trump, his indictments, and multifarious court rulings.

Elon Musk, Kanye West, Barbie, and Taylor Swift all racked up mega-world headlines. As did Prince Harry and "The Firm," the U.S. Presidential Election, Iran's Hijab protest, COVID-19's lingering presence, bruising weather, the battle between autocracies and democracies, and Artificial Intelligence.

Additionally, the international and U.S. press were all on the same page about the most pressing of world issues, like fear of Nuclear War, possible new pandemics, immigration and migration reform, the rise of antisemitism, climate change, wildfires, catastrophic flooding, renewable energy, safeguarding democracy, disinformation on Social Media, global recession and inflation, mental health initiatives, protecting people's rights, and the pro-Palestinian movement.  

And then there were the top news stories and headlines that dominated the U.S. media that had Americans talking, although not necessarily talking to those opposed to their views.   

Americans are more divided than ever, but the issues they care about are the same, although their opinions about them are decidedly different: the Second Amendment, Roe v. Wade, gun violence and mass shootings, the threat of civil unrest, the rise of violent rhetoric, Congressman George Santos, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and his wife Ginni, the Chinese Spy balloons, the Alex Murdaugh double-murder trial, election integrity, weight loss drugs, Hunter Biden, infrastructure, interest rates, worker's strikes, the meltdown of House Republicans, America's culture wars, and election poll predictions.

The top U.S. Google searches in 2023 surprised me. In a year of such unrest and political infighting, I expected more searches about political matters, but disappointingly, that was not the case.

Below are the top Google searches Americans wanted to know more about in 2023.  

Google's Top 5 "Most Searched News Stories" of 2023:

  1. The War in Israel and Gaza
  2. The implosion of the Titan Submersible
  3. Hurricane Hilary
  4. Hurricane Idalia
  5. Hurricane Lee

Google's Top 5 "Most Searched People" of 2023:

  1. NFL player (Buffalo Bills) Damar Hamlin (He was also Google's most-searched athlete of 2023.)
  2. Actor Jeremy Renner (He was also the No. 1 most-Googled actor of the year.)
  3. Travis Kelce He was also the No. 2 most-searched athlete of 2023.)
  4. Tucker Carlson
  5. Lil Tay

Google's Top 5 "Most Searched Celebrity Passings" of 2023:

  1. Matthew Perry
  2. Tina Turner
  3. Jerry Springer
  4. Jimmy Buffet
  5. Sinead O'Connor

Google's Top 5 "Most Searched Movies" of 2023:

  1. Barbie
  2. Oppenheimer
  3. Sound of Freedom
  4. Everything Everywhere All at Once
  5. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

Google's Top 5 "Most Searched Television Shows" of 2023: 

  1. The Last of Us
  2. Ginny & Georgia
  3. Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story
  4. Daisy Jones & The Six
  5. Wednesday

Google's Top 5 "Most Searched Songs" of 2023:

  1. Try That in a Small Town — Jason Aldean, who was also the No. 1 Google-searched singer of 2023.
  2. Rich Men North of Richmond — Oliver Anthony
  3. Unholy — Sam Smith and Kim Petras
  4. Ella Baila Sola — Eslabon Armado and Peso Pluma
  5. Boy's A Liar Pt. 2 — Ice Spice and PinkPantheress

Google's Top 5 "Most Searched Recipes" of 2023:

  1. McDonald's Grimace Shake
  2. Lasagna Soup
  3. Chicken Cobbler
  4. Black Cake
  5. Pumptini

Google's Top 5 "Most Searched Books" of 2023:

  1. My Fault — Mercedes Ron
  2. Fourth Wing — Rebecca Yarros
  3. Hello Beautiful: A Novel — Ann Napolitano
  4. The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny, and Murder — David Grann
  5. Red, White & Royal Blue — Casey McQuiston

Google's Top 5 "Most Searched Parks" of 2023:

  1. Central Park, New York, New York
  2. Red Rocks Park and Amphitheatre, Morrison, Colorado
  3. Bryant Park, New York, New York
  4. The High Line, New York, New York
  5. Garden of the Gods, Colorado Springs, Colorado

Google's Top 5 "Most Searched Museums" of 2023:

  1. American Museum of Natural History, New York, New York
  2. 911 Memorial & Museum, New York, New York
  3. Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, Washington, D.C.
  4. Ark Encounter, Williamstown, Kentucky
  5. The Getty, Los Angeles, California

Google's Top 5 "Most Searched Games" of 2023:

  1. Hogwarts Legacy
  2. Connections
  3. Baldur's Gate 3
  4. Starfield
  5. Diablo IV

Google's Top 5 "Most Asked Questions" of 2023:

  1. Where is my refund
  2. Is Rihanna pregnant
  3. What time is the Super Bowl
  4. When is the Super Bowl
  5. When is Easter

The segue between 2023 and 2024 seems ominous — like we are on the brink of a world future more precarious and uncertain than we have seen in decades. No matter how 2024 plays out, it will no doubt profoundly impact the world as we know it.