Similarly, UFC champion-turned boxer Conor McGregor – who was defeated by Floyd Mayweather in 2017’s much anticipated “Money Fight” – was able to retain position #2, with the ever-popular Justin Bieber holding the #3 spot.
But whilst there was little to no movement in the top 3 spots on the list, the new data from online data provider SEMrush reveal much about a year in which ongoing Brexit negotiations and a snap general election served to push politics further up on the public agenda.
Key findings:
- Donald Trump retained his position as the most-searched for person of 2017 on the internet’s most popular search engines.
- The royal engagement helped Meghan Markle rank 4th on the list, following a surge in Google searches in November.
- The snap General Election helped displace Hollywood actors and popular singers from the top 10, as Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn both placed higher in the rankings.
New entrant Jeremy Corbyn ranked in at #6, hot on the leopard print heels of Theresa May, who found herself catapulted from the very bottom of 2016’s list all the way up to #5. The opposing leaders may have placed higher up were it not for the announcement of Prince Harry’s engagement to Meghan Markle in November 2017, which subsequently initiated an enormous surge in Google searches for the American actress and humanitarian.
Hollywood actors proved less popular in 2017, with Tom Hardy, Margot Robbie and Leonardo DiCaprio all falling out of the top 10. Remaining on the list, albeit at slightly lower positions, were Beyonce – recently recognised by Forbes as the highest-paid woman in music – and Taylor Swift, who dropped down the rankings despite releasing ‘Reputation’ in November. They were both joined by teen icon Selena Gomez, who entered the list at #7.
And finally, it was not a good year for tennis player Andy Murray, who placed high up at #4 in 2016’s list. After winning Wimbledon in 2016 and claiming the world no. 1 spot in men’s singles, Murray failed to win a Grand Slam in 2017 and has subsequently fallen to the very bottom of the top 10.
Source: SEMrush