It has been quite the year for news – and that is reflected in how people are searching for it

As a truly unique December rolls to an end, I’m left wondering what people will be searching for in 2021, writes Lucy Anna Gray

The US election, which saw Donald Trump lose to Joe Biden, was a huge event this year (PA)

Few years have been more jam-packed for news than 2020. Coronavirus, the US election, the unexpected death of several high-profile celebrities, viral Netflix shows, murder hornets, polio-free Africa, and devastating wildfires have all hit the headlines in the past 12 months — and that is by no means an exhaustive list.

In our newsroom, we have of course reported on each one of these issues. And as someone who focuses on US audiences, I watched what Americans googled in relation to such events. What questions were they asking? Which people were they most interested in? What more did they want to know?

 As the year comes to a close, we can use data to see what some of the most searched news subjects were throughout 2020. Google trends — a tool that allows people like me to monitor what the world is searching — has released the biggest trending topics of the year, and it almost perfectly encapsulates 2020.