Benzinga | Dec 9, 2021 09:41PM EST

Doge, GameStop And Mega Millions Among The Most Googled News Stories Of 2021

Google kept up its tryst with the year-end tradition of releasing the Google search trends, and it's no wonder that meme stocks and meme cryptos that rose to prominence in 2021 found a place among the top 10.

Lottery Game, Stonks & Cryptos Make The Cut: The top news search in the U.S. for the year was Mega Millions, one of the multi-jurisdictional lottery games in the U.S.

Theater chain AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:AMC), which rose to prominence with the WallStreetBets phenomena, took second place followed by stimulus checks.

Fellow meme stock GameStop Corp. (NYSE:GME) was placed fifth in terms of Google news searches.

With cryptocurrencies turning in strong performances ahead of the recent sell-off, the top 10 new searches included meme cryptocurrency Dogecoin (CRYPTO: DOGE) in the sixth spot and Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) in 10th place.

The others featuring in the top 10 were the Georgia Senate race, Hurricane Ida, the Kyle Rittenhouse verdict and Afghanistan.

Related Link: Kyle Rittenhouse Found Not Guilty In Wisconsin Shooting

AMC, Squid Game Among Trending Searches: NBA was the most searched term of 2021 followed by rapper DMX, who died in April, and Gabby Petito, who was found dead in mid-September, after going on a cross-country trip with her boyfriend.

AMC featured in the list, too, taking seventh place. Netflix, Inc.'s (NASDAQ:NFLX) "Squid Game," a Korean survival game series that gave the streaming giant a big boost in subscriber numbers, rounded off the top 10.

"How" Questions Predominate: The word "How" predominated searches in 2021, a change from the "Why" that was more asked in 2021.

Among the questions asked were how to be eligible for stimulus checks, how to be happy alone, how to pronounce Doge and how to help Afghan refugees.

Photo: Firmbee from Pexels