The release of a new album by one of hip hop’s biggest stars, a key World Cup fixture, and the death of one of former president Jacob Zuma’s sons were among the searches that dominated Google trends this week.
Canadian hip-hop artist and singer Drake released his latest album last Thursday. Entitled Scorpion, the double album is split between hip-hop and R&B sections and comes in at more than three hours long. Interest in the album was especially high thanks to an ongoing feud between Drake and Pusha T. As a result, the term “Drake Scorpion” saw more than 100 000 searches.
Going into Saturday, the 2018 FIFA World Cup once again dominated with “France vs Argentina” drawing in more than 100 000 searches and “Uruguay” and “Uruguay vs Portugal” drawing in 50 000 searches each. In one of the more goal-heavy fixtures of the World Cup, France beat Argentina 4-3, while Uruguay beat Portugal 2-1.
Football was similarly prominent on Sunday, with “Spain vs Russia”, “Brazil vs Mexico”, and “Croatia vs Denmark” each bringing in more than 50 000 searches. It is worth noting, however, that “Cape Town Dam Levels” also saw more than 50 000 searches as the city received some much-needed rain.
On Monday, South Africa heard that Vusi Zuma — the son of former president Jacob Zuma and Kate Mantsho — died from complications from Lupus. Aged 25, Zuma passed away on Sunday and will be laid to rest at the Westpark Cemetery. There were more than 50 000 searches for “Vusi Zuma” on the day. Also trending on the day was “Belgium vs Japan” (50 000+ searches).
The next day, South Africans once again found themselves wrapped up in the drama of the World Cup. Interest was particularly high in “Colombia vs England” (100 000+ searches). The game eventually went to penalties, an area in which England has struggled for decades. Fortunately (for England fans at least), they prevailed on the night and progressed through to the quarterfinals, where they face Sweden.
Finally, on Wednesday “Lupus” (20 000+ searches) was the top trending term, as people sought to find out more about the disease which killed Jacob Zuma’s son. Also trending on the day was SARS (20 000+ searches), most likely due to a combination of tax season having opened and the ongoing inquiry into the revenue collector.
Other terms to trend during the week included “Computicket” (50 000+ searches), “Sweden vs Switzerland” (20 000+ searches), and “SARS” (20 000+ searches).
Google processes more than 40 000+ search queries every second. This translates to more than a billion searches per day and 1.2 trillion searches per year worldwide. Google trends data is updated hourly and is available on https://www.google.co.za/trends.
Search trends in South Africa tend to be news and sports-driven. People search for things they hear or see on the news, and sports search terms trend several times a week, on average, every week.
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