Google announced on the 11th that it has released the '2024 Year in Search' list. The 'Year's Search Terms' are selected based on the search terms that domestic and international users paid more attention to on Google Search this year compared to the previous year.
The 2024 list includes the top 10 search terms in a total of nine categories, such as K-content, K-pop, recipes, books, movies, sports matches, and artificial intelligence (AI) tools. Notably, this year, search terms related to Korea ranked in two categories of the global search term list.
In the songs category, 'APT.' by Rosé and Bruno Mars, which ranked first domestically, came in second globally. The song '밤양갱' ranked second in the domestic K-pop song rankings. Songs from idol groups such as Aespa, QWER, and ILLIT were also included in the rankings.
The global TV series list featured the Korean dramas 'Queen of Tears' and 'Please Marry My Husband' side by side. Notably, 'Queen of Tears' also topped the domestic K-content rankings.
In the global comprehensive search category, 'Copa America,' 'UEFA Championship,' and 'ICC T20 World Cup' took first to third places, proving that interest in sports is still strong overseas.
In Korea, 'Olympics/Paralympics' ranked first, 'Martial Law' second, and 'Housing Subscription' came in third in the search keyword rankings.
In the global person rankings, 'Donald Trump' took first place due to the influence of the U.S. presidential election, while 'Kamala Harris' and 'Joe Biden' ranked third and fifth, respectively. Second place went to Catherine, known as Kate Middleton, of the British royal family.
In domestic person search terms, entertainment figures such as Min Hee-jin, Jung Woo-sung, and the late Kim Soo-mi were counted among the top. Han Kang, the first Korean to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, ranked fourth. The fairy 'Tiny Ping,' which captured the hearts of children, also drew attention, ranking ninth in the person category.
This year, a variety of films from diverse genres gained attention both domestically and internationally. Among the ten works listed domestically, six were Korean films. Notably, 'Pamyo,' known as this year's highest-grossing film, also topped the domestic rankings, surpassing Disney Pixar's representative work 'Inside Out 2.'
The sports category captured fans' attention with various events including soccer, baseball, and boxing. The match of Tottenham Hotspur FC, where Son Heung-min plays, ranked first, followed by the South Korean national football team's match in second, and the UEFA European Football Championship (Euro 2024) in third. Additionally, the Korean Series between Kia and Samsung, 'Samsung vs. Kia (KBO Korean Series),' was also ranked.
In the cooking recipe rankings among domestic users, recipes for Korean dishes such as 'Eunam Teacher (Ryu Soo-young) Recipe,' 'Chestnut Tiramisu (Black and White Chef),' 'Two Meals (Tteokbokki) Recipe,' and 'Nabak Kimchi' made the list.
This year, various AI tools appeared among trending search terms. Pencilizing and the generative AI service 'Lyuuten' ranked first and second, respectively. 'Chat GPT' ranked third. Fourth place went to 'Perplexity,' a U.S.-based artificial intelligence search engine developer. 'Zeta,' the first platform in Korea to create stories in real time with AI, ranked fifth.
In this year's books category, 'The Vegetarian' by the Nobel Prize-winning author Han Kang ranked first.