India’s moonshots, movies, and matches among top trends: Google releases Year in Search 2023 Report

The historic success of Chandrayaan-3 headlined news events, with the skyrocketing journey out of space sparking local and worldwide searches. Image for representational purpose only. Photo Courtesy: istock

In many ways, 2023 marked a landmark year for India as it captivated global attention on multiple fronts. From its historic landing on the moon to its pivotal moment on the economic world stage. While India's passion for cricket reached new local heights, our movies, sports teams, actors, athletes and even songs continued to capture global attention.

This year, people also connected over memes, embraced self-care and technology, relished culinary delights, and grappled with local and global developments. Along this journey, people turned to Google Search to find a world of information and rejoice in the many moments that were so beautiful, so elegant.

As we bid the year farewell, it's time to reflect on these standout moments that saw Indians searching, wondering, and celebrating across a broad range of topics. Here's a rundown of themes that defined India's Year in Search 2023.

Landmark moments marking national pride captured attention
The historic success of Chandrayaan-3 headlined news events, with the skyrocketing journey out of space sparking local and worldwide searches. India's G20 presidency led ‘What Is' search queries showcasing significant curiosity towards the event. Other news-related queries also showed people staying abreast of local developments, from Karnataka Elections Results to the Uniform Civil Code, while many tried to make sense of global happenings with searches about Israel News and the Turkey Earthquake.

People showed keen interest in self-care and technology
In the spirit of self-care, our top trending ‘How To' question saw people enquiring about ways to prevent sun damage for skin and hair with home remedies while many also searched for zudios, gyms, beauty parlours, and dermatologists near them. The expansion of the creator ecosystem in India is reflected in our trending queries, with many keen to know ‘how to reach my first 5K followers on YouTube.'

Indian cricket sees local highs and global dominance
India's passion for cricket peaked, with queries about the Cricket World Cup and India vs Australia's cricket matches scoring an all-time high this year. But the love for Indian cricket was truly seen across borders. The India national cricket team ranked as the top trending cricket team worldwide, the only cricket team to find a spot as part of our global sports teams list. Shubman Gill and Rachin Ravindra emerged as the top trending cricketers locally and globally.

Searches show a step forward towards diversity in sports
The first-ever Women's Premier League, along with the Women's Cricket World Cup, ranked high in sports events. Beyond cricket, people tried their hand with other sports on-field with questions about ‘How to get good at Kabaddi' and ‘How to become a chess grandmaster.'

Indian entertainment received worldwide love
In movies, while the Barbenheimer phenomenon captured the world's attention, Indian films weren't far behind. 'Jawan' staked its claim to the top trending local film search and #3 top trending film search globally. 'Gadar 2' and 'Pathaan' also secured coveted spots as local and worldwide trending films.

Our songs got people humming across the world, with Kesariya making it to the #2 song people hummed to search globally. Actor Kiara Advani led the trending People list in India, and also found a spot in the top trending global actors list. In the Barbie vs Oppenheimer battle, ultimately the latter led the charge in international entertainment searches in India.

Digital entertainment and trends influenced local pop culture
With six of the top 10, local OTT content dominated trending shows, leading to Farzi, Asur, and Rana Naidu taking top ranks. People expressed themselves with a range of entertaining memes, be it the humorous ‘Bhupendra Jogi' meme, ‘So Beautiful So Elegant' meme that turned Delhi-based Jasmeen Kaur into an internet sensation, or Serbian-song inspired ‘Moye Moye' meme that saw people finding humour in difficult situations.

Southeast Asia dominates travel queries; Indian delicacies lead recipe trends
Southeast Asia was a hot favourite for travel getaways, with Vietnam, Indonesia (Bali), and Thailand securing top spots, while many also showed interest in local trips to Goa, Kashmir, Coorg, Andaman and Nicobar Islands. In food, people displayed their love for local - and many regional - culinary delights searching for recipes of Mango pickle, Panchamrit, Karanji, Thiruvathirau Kali, Ugadi Pachadi, Kolukattai, and Rava Ladoo.