Jake Gyllenhaal, Yen Santos, 'Trese': Here Are The Most Googled Topics In The PH This Year

It's been an eventful year, and there's no better way to look back at the events and highlights of 2021 than by combing through the most popular Google searches of the year. Google Philippines recently released its annual Overall Top Trending Searches list and discovered the topics that mattered the most to Filipino users. 

From celebrities, trends, events, shows, and sports, there were plenty of curious items on this year's top Filipino search queries. 

Naturally, "COVID-19 prevention" was the top overall search of the year as Filipinos relied on Google for helpful and accurate information to get them through the ongoing pandemic and all of its variants. But pandemic or not, Filipinos still love their basketball games and Netflix shows as "NBA games today" and "Squid Game" took second and third place, respectively. And while some countries grapple with a large anti-vax population, many Filipinos are clearly supportive of the vaccination programs as "VaxCertPH" was the fourth most searched topic, while "COVID-19 vaccine" was the sixth most searched topic. 

Google also broke down top searches based on themes, such as sports and personalities, and the results are, how do we say, interesting. Thanks to the never-ending stream of celebrity headlines (and drama), Jake Gyllenhaal topped the list of most-searched male personalities in 2021 after Taylor Swift dropped the ten-minute track "All Too Well," which chronicles the singer's relationship with the actor. K-drama star of Start-Up Kim Seon Ho became the second most-searched male celebrity after details of his controversial relationship drama made headlines. Meanwhile, in local entertainment, Gerald Anderson became the most-searched local celebrity for his highly-publicized relationship with Julia Barretto. Among female celebrities, Yen Santos was the most-searched in 2021 for her rumored involvement with Paolo Contis, who famously split with LJ Reyes this year. 

But it wasn't all controversy that had some celebrities trending. Bea Alonzo's new beau Dominic Roque was the seventh most-searched personality in 2021 after the two went public, as did Kris Aquino's new fiancé Mel Sarmiento, the former Secretary of the Interior and Local Government under Kris' late brother, President Benigno Aquino III. Olympic stars Hidilyn Diaz and Carlo Paalam were also hot topics mid-2021 during the 2020 Summer games. 

After the Philippines' stellar performance at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, searches were so high that Google granted the games its own category in this year's data dump. Among the most-searched Olympics-related topics were Hidilyn and Carlo, as well as the two other medalists Eumir Marcial and Nesthy Petecio. 

This year was also clearly the year of Netflix domination in the Philippines as seven out of the ten most-searched shows in 2021 came from the streaming giant. These include Squid Game, Vincenzo, Nevertheless, and Trese. Meanwhile, Disney ruled the movies list with Raya and the Last Dragon, Black Widow, Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings, and Cruella. 

Check out the full list of trending searches in the Philippines below.

Overall Top Trending Searches

1. COVID-19 prevention
2. NBA games today
3. Squid Game
4. VaxCertPH
5. Miss Universe 2021
6. COVID-19 vaccine
7. Pacquiao vs. Ugas
8. Pagsamo lyrics
9. True Beauty
10. Metro Manila area floods

News

1. COVID-19 prevention
2. VaxCertPH
3. Miss Universe 2021
4. COVID-19 vaccine
5. Pacquiao vs. Ugas
6. Metro Manila area floods
7. Paralympics
8. Olympic Games Tokyo 2020
9. national ID registration
10. Johnson & Johnson vaccine

Olympics

1. Paralympics
2. Olympic Games Tokyo 2020
3. Hidilyn Diaz
4. Olympics
5. Olympics medal tally
6. Carlo Paalam
7. Devin Booker
8. Leylah Fernandez
9. Eumir Marcial
10. Nesthy Petecio

Sports

1. NBA games today
2. Bucks vs. Suns
3. Nets vs. Bucks
4. Lakers
5. Pacquiao vs. Ugas
6. Suns vs. Clippers
7. Paralympics
8. Olympic Games Tokyo 2020
9. PBA schedule
10. NBA score today

Shows or Series

1. Squid Game
2. True Beauty
3. Vincenzo
4. Nevertheless
5. Falling Into Your Smile
6. Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha
7. Bridgerton
8. Trese
9. Mr. Queen
10. Alice In Borderland

Songs or Lyrics

1. Pagsamo lyrics
2. Heartbreak Anniversary lyrics
3. Crazier lyrics
4. Panalo lyrics
5. Paubaya lyrics
6. Mapa lyrics
7. Drivers License lyrics
8. All Too Well lyrics
9. Levitating lyrics
10. traitor lyrics

Game-related

1. Axie Infinity
2. Dragonary
3. CryptoBlades
4. Specimen Zero
5. My DeFi Pet
6. Sausage Man
7. KaraStar
8. Valorant
9. Among Us
10. Genshin Impact

Male Personalities

1. Jake Gyllenhaal
2. Kim Seon Ho
3. Hwang In-youp
4. Gerald Anderson
5. Dylan O'Brien
6. Scottie Thompson
7. Dominic Roque
8. Giannis Antetokounmpo
9. Carlo Paalam
10. Mel Sarmiento

Female Personalities

1. Yen Santos
2. Rabiya Mateo
3. AJ Raval
4. Hidilyn Diaz
5. Leni Robredo
6. Sara Duterte
7. Bella Poarch
8. Olivia Rodrigo
9. HoYeon Jung
10. Olivia Culpo

Movies

1. Raya And The Last Dragon
2. Army Of The Dead
3. Black Widow
4. Red Notice
5. Death Of A Girlfriend
6. Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings
7. Army Of Thieves
8. Rurouni Kenshin
9. Space Jam: A New Legacy
10. Cruella

Korean Personalities

1. Kim Seon-ho
2. Hwang In-youp
3. HoYeon Jung
4. Lee Da-in
5. Yeon Woo
6. Seo Yea-ji
7. Song Kang
8. Enhypen 
9. Han So Hee
10. Heeseung

Korean/Asian Series

1. Squid Game
2. True Beauty
3. Vincenzo
4. Nevertheless
5. Falling Into Your Smile
6. Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha
7. Mr. Queen
8. Alice In Borderland
9. Doom at Your Service
10. My Roommate Is A Gumiho

***

This story originally appeared on Esquiremag.ph. Minor edits have been made by the Cosmo.ph editors.