The High Five: top searches from the week of August 28
Here are the week’s top-searched trends, with data from the team at Google News Lab.
Hurricane Harvey
This week, attention in the U.S. turned to Hurricane Harvey and its devastating impact in Texas and Louisiana. People are searching for how to help, as well as for information about future storm Hurricane Irma—which was upgraded to a Category 3 and is moving across the Atlantic. The top queries regarding the storm were “How to donate clothes to Hurricane Harvey,” “How to help Houston,” and “How much money has been raised for Hurricane Harvey?”
Search never felt so good
If you were searching for Michael Jackson this week, You are Not Alone. It was the King of Pop’s birthday on Tuesday, and search interest in “Michael Jackson birthday” was 1,750% higher than “Michael Jackson songs.” Listening to his hits in honor of his birthday? I Can’t Help It either. Top-searched Michael Jackson songs were: “Bad,” “Billie Jean,” “Beat It,” “Smooth Criminal,” and “Man In The Mirror.” We’ve Got a Good Thing Going in Nevada, where the most searches for Michael Jackson occurred.
XOXO
The iconic series “Gossip Girl” turns 10 this month. While Chuck Bass was the most searched character this week, Blake Lively was the most searched actor from Gossip Girl. Top searched questions about the show were: “Who is Gossip Girl?” (no spoilers here) “How many seasons of Gossip Girl are there?” (six) and “Who does Serena end up with on Gossip Girl?” (we said we’re not spoiling it!).
Getting better with age
A former Catholic monk has filed a lawsuit against L’Oréal, claiming that the company stole his patented formula for an anti-aging cream. One of the top related searches was “L'Oréal skin cream monk” (can’t say we’ve ever heard that phrase before), and the most search interest is coming from New Jersey. While we’re on the subject of beauty products, the top trending makeup searches from this week are “feather eyebrows,” “lipstick," “best foundation for oily skin,” “blush” and “makeup brushes.”
It’s never too early
The hallmark of the Fall season—pumpkin-spiced food and drinks—is officially back. Search interest in “pumpkin spice” spikes every September and October, and this week people were most interested to find out when the Pumpkin Spice Latte returns to Starbucks, and (the question on everybody’s mind), “Is it Pumpkin Spice Latte season?” The love for pumpkin spice goes beyond lattes: top searched pumpkin spice recipes this week were pumpkin spice cake, pumpkin spice cookies, pumpkin spice poke cake, and pumpkin spice muffins.
