Google's Year in Search 2023 was ruled by 'The Last of Us'

Released all the way back in January, The Last of Us has dominated Google searches this year.

The HBO adaptation of Naughty Dog's beloved game was the most searched for TV show in 2023 globally, and the second most searched for game, despite being released 10 years ago. In a wave of undeniably associated internet thirst, star Pedro Pascal was the fifth most searched for actor, with Hawkeye's Jeremy Renner topping the list alongside Wednesday's Jenna Ortega.

It's just one of the trends revealed by Google in its annual Year in Search trend report, released by the company on Monday.

Thus year, the most searched terms in news for 2023 were "War in Israel and Gaza," "Titanic submarine," "Turkey earthquake," "Hurricane Hilary,” and “Hurricane Idalia," — a powerful reminder of the year's more devastating (and ongoing) moments.

Entertainment-wise, the most searched movies were Barbie, Oppenheimer, Jawan, Sound of Freedom, and John Wick: Chapter 4, while the most searched TV shows were The Last of Us, Wednesday, Ginny and Georgia, One Piece, and Kaleidoscope. The most searched games were Hogwarts Legacy, The Last of Us, Connections, Battlegrounds India, and Starfield.

Google also detailed the top songs people search with its recently released "Hum to Search" feature, with Imagine Dragons' "Bones" at the top, followed by Arijit Singh's "Kesariya" and YOASOBI's "アイドル".

You can check out the whole list on Google's Year in Search — which you can also tweak to see the most searched by location.

If you're looking for more roundups and reflections of the year that is still 2023 (just), check out Mashable's Best of 2023 series, for the best moments on the internet this year, the best memes, the best movies, and more. If you've forgotten about mermaidcore, we haven't.