Another year, another yearly review of Germany’s most Googled terms. A lot has happened this year and you’ll no doubt find yourself surprised at how many big events were overshadowed by the dreaded coronavirus. So, sit back, relax and relive the year through Google’s Year in Review for Germany 2020.

Top trending searches in Germany 2020

For obvious reasons, coronavirus-related searches skyrocketed during 2020, so much so that Google included a “Corona” section in this year’s Year in Review search categories. There are nine categories in total, including: general search terms, personalities, headlines and “why” questions.

General searches

There are no prizes for guessing that “coronavirus” was the top general search this year, taking the lead from “US election”, which was another significant event this year. “Wildcard” takes fourth place, with the ongoing scandal continuing to make headlines after the company declared 1,9 billion euros were missing back in June. And it seems that, after such a hectic year, the people of Germany just want to relax, with “iPhone 12”, “Disney Plus” and “PS5” all making it into the top 10 general searches:

1. Coronavirus
2. US Wahl (US election)
3. Wetter Morgen (tomorrow’s weather)
4. Wirecard
5. Biontech Aktie (BioNTech shares)
6. Kobe Bryant
7. iPhone 12
8. Disney Plus
9. PS5
10. Joe Biden

Personalities

The personalities list reflects that, despite the coronavirus pandemic’s overbearing influence on our lives, politics was of significant interest to the citizens of Germany. The politicians “Joe Biden”, “Boris Johnson” and “Kim Jong-Un” were the top three searches in this category. Biden’s running-mate and Vice-President-elect, Kamala Harris, also made the list.

A few well-known German faces feature among the top searches too, such as singer Michael Wendler and Claudia Obert. “Laura Müller” also made the list, but we will leave it up to you to decide whether people were searching for the Olympic sprinter or the Instagram model.

1. Joe Biden
2. Boris Johnson
3. Kim Jong-Un
4. Laura Müller
5. Michael Wendler
6. Kamala Harris
7. Attila Hildmann
8. Claudia Obert
9. Sonja Kirchberger
10. Melania Trump

Headlines

While the headlines section predictably begins with the two biggest situations of 2020 - “coronavirus” and the “US election” - the rest of the list shows that this year actually had no shortage of significant events. “Hanau” and “Vienna” were clearly uppermost in people's thoughts after the high-profile shootings in the two cities earlier this year. “Beirut” also made the list, due to the devastating explosion during the summer. And Storm Sabine, the mega storm that hit Germany in February, was also one of the year's most-Googled events.

1. Coronavirus
2. US Wahl (US election)
3. Wirecard
4. Hanau
5. Lufthansa Aktie (Lufthansa shares)
6. Sturm Sabine (storm Sabine)
7. Kurzabeitergeld (short-time work benefit)
8. Beirut
9. Wien (Vienna)
10. DAX kurs (DAX rate)

“Why” (Warum) questions

The world searched “why” questions more than ever this year - but in Germany it apparently wasn't so much the global pandemic that people were wondering about, but cornflakes, of all things. Here are the top five of Germany’s “why” questions

1. Why were Kellogg’s cornflakes invented?
2. Why are so many people dying of corona in Italy?
3. Why was George Floyd arrested?
4. Why is Xavier Naidoo on DSDS (Deutschland sucht den Superstar)?
5. Why is everyone buying toilet paper?

Google’s “Year In Search 2020”

You can check out Google’s summary of the year’s searches here: