Looking back on 2015 in terms of the biggest events that grasped our attention, it was not the best of years. From the terrifying terrorist attacks on Paris in November to the ongoing refugee crisis and Greece's economic meltdown that shook the European Union to its core, there was no shortage of bad news this year.
Looking at the year through the eyes of Google, which released its overview of search trends in 2015 on Wednesday, you can see how these tragedies took hold on the collective zeitgeist of the Internet. Google's curated overview of year's biggest trends also includes Star Wars, which absolutely took over the Internet in December, the Rugby World Cup, which was huge in September and October, and the FIFA corruption scandal, which has had several spikes in interest since April.
Clicking on these topics in Google's overview will net you a ton of interesting data on how the news was spreading on Google Search, including nifty visualizations, top related searches and maps of interest on the topic around the world. For example, you can check out how people in different places around the world searched for news related to Paris attacks in this fascinating visualization.
You can also see a touching overview of 2015 in Google's video, below.
However, this is only a part of the picture -- the one seen through the eyes of Google's editors. Google's top 10 lists of trending searches for 2015 is mostly populated by celebrities, games and movies.
Top Trending General Searches
Lamar Odom
Jurassic World
American Sniper
Caitlyn Jenner
Ronda Rousey
Paris
Agario
Chris Kyle
Fallout 4
Straight Outta Compton
Google also released top 10 list of trending searches on a variety of topics, including a top list of people (again, topped by Lamar Odom), "what is" questions (yeah, the world is still not sure how to divide by zero), actors (Charlie Sheen has still got it), actresses (Ruby Rose took this one in front of Amy Schumer's nose), and top trending song lyrics (yup, it's Adele's "Hello").
Check out some of these lists below, and let us know if these coincide with your 2015 searches in the comments.
Top Trending People (Not Including Deaths)
Lamar Odom
Caitlyn Jenner
Ronda Rousey
Donald Trump
Ruby Rose
Charlie Sheen
Brian Williams
Rachel Dolezal
Adele
Josh Duggar
Top Trending “What is…”
What is 0 divided by 0?
What is Ashley Madison
What is a buckeye?
What is the Charlie Charlie Challenge?
What is a lunar eclipse?
What is ebola?
What is ISIS?
What is red nose day?
What is a blue moon?
What is listeria?
Top Trending Actors
Charlie Sheen
Bill Cosby
Taylor Kinney
Scott Eastwood
James Earl Jones
Tom Holland
Eddie Redmayne
Gary Busey
Randy Quaid
Tracy Morgan
Top Trending Actresses
Ruby Rose
Amy Schumer
Patricia Arquette
Rumer Willis
Bryce Dallas Howard
Alyson Stoner
Lily James
Taraji P.Henson
Natasha Leggero
Ellie Kemper
Top Trending Song Lyrics
Hello
Take Me to Church
Blank Space
Uptown Funk
Thinking Out Loud
Hotline Bling
See You Again
Trap Queen
The Hills
Cheerleader
Top Trending TV Shows
Better Call Saul
Jessica Jones
Fear the Walking Dead
Empire
American Horror Story: Hotel
Game of Thrones
Daredevil
Scream Queens
Quantico
Lip Sync Battle
Top Trending Beer
Bud Light Mixxtail
Gose Beer
Grapefruit Beer
805 Beer
SweetWater 420
Blue Moon
Abita Purple Haze
Wild Blue Beer
Skol
Miller High Life
Top Trending Memes
Pepe the frog
Rickrolling
Who Knows
Florida Man
O Rly
Rick Astley
Jontron
Ceiling cat
Bread meme
Nothing much meme
Top Trending Video Games
Agario
Fallout 4
Mortal Kombat X
Call of Duty: Black Ops III
Star Wars Battlefront
Pokemon GO
Madden 16
NBA 2K16
Bloodborne
Battlefield Hardline
Top Trending Athletes
Ronda Rousey
Holly Holm
Stephen Curry
Manny Pacquiao
Alex Morgan
Hope Solo
Patrick Kane
DeMarco Murray
Greg Hardy
Shawn Oakman
Top Trending Politicians
Donald Trump
Bernie Sanders
Carly Fiorina
Ben Carson
Ted Cruz
Deez Nuts
John Boehner
Marco Rubio
Jimmy Carter
Justin Trudeau