The High Five: looking up, growing up and still dancing
Will Taylor Swift’s new album eclipse all others? Did I permanently damage my eyeballs this week? How did Patrick Swayze pull off that lift dance move? We had a lot of questions this week—check out some of the week’s top-searched trends, with data from the team at Google News Lab.
Eyes on the sky
On Monday, some searched the sky for the eclipse while others searched on Google: “Where is the solar eclipse right now?” and “When will the solar eclipse happen near me?” And what about the people who neglected the proper eyewear? Search interest in “retina damage” spiked 760% on the day of the eclipse, with searches like “How to tell if you have damaged your eyes during the eclipse” and “Why is the solar eclipse bad for your eyes?” It took the solar eclipse a century to make a comeback, but Jim Steinman and Bonnie Rait’s “Total Eclipse of the Heart” only took 34 years—search interest in the 80’s hit was at an all-time high this week.
They grow up so fast
This week, Former President Obama parked his car in the Harvard Yard—Malia moved to college, and she’s following in Dad’s footsteps by donning Harvard crimson. People are following along the move-in journey, searching, “What dorm is Malia Obama in?” “What is Malia studying at Harvard?” and “Does Malia Obama have secret service protection now?”
Still having the time of our lives
Decades later, no one puts Dirty Dancing in a corner. The film turns 30 years old this week and people are feeling nostalgic (and curious) with searches like, “How old was Jennifer Grey when she did Dirty Dancing?” “How old were the characters in Dirty Dancing supposed to be?” and “Is Dirty Dancing on Netflix?” The top region searching for Dirty Dancing is the state where it was filmed, North Carolina.
Snake it off
This week Taylor Swift teased her new album, Reputation, with a series of snake videos on her Instagram, and fans searched for the reason behind the reptilian reveal: “Who called Taylor Swift a snake?” and “Taylor swift snake meme.” But in the end, it’s all about the music— search interest in “Taylor Swift Reputation” was 440% higher than “Taylor Swift snake.”
Winner winner
The odds of winning the lottery are wicked low, but people still have some questions about Thursday’s $759 million Powerball ticket: “Who won the powerball?” “Where was the winning powerball ticket purchased?” and “What is power play in powerball?” Though the winning ticket was sold in Massachusetts, regions searching the most for Powerball were Wisconsin, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Delaware and West Virginia.
