Google has released their 2020 “Year in Search” page. You can see what trended worldwide or you can see what trended per country (the Netherlands, the United States, the United Kingdom…). One interesting thing is that the trend categories differ per country. For instance the US has a category for games but the Netherlands doesn’t.
Here are the top 5 search terms for the Netherlands:
- Coronavirus
- RIVM (Dutch Health institute)
- Verkiezingen Amerika (US Election)
- Coronavirus Nederland
- Snappet (apparently this is education learning platform for elementary students, so digital learning)
The second most popular Why? question was Waarom hamsteren we wc papier? or Why do we horde toilet paper? This was apparently so popular back in March and April that it took the second spot, beaten only by Waarom zijn cornflakes uitgevonden? or Why were cornflakes discovered? (?!? Okay.) (On second thought: don’t Google it unless you want a trip to Bizzaro World.)
In other news: every year a Dutch radio channel plays the Top 2000 (Wikipedia) to mark the end of the year. In late November/early December the Dutch vote on their favorite songs and those votes help determine the list. Between Christmas and New Years the radio channel plays those songs. It was first done in 1999 to mark the transition to 2000; it proved so popular that it became a yearly event. This year it will start at midnight on Christmas Day (that is, the first second of Christmas) so that the radio show has an additional eight hours to play the full-length album versions of some songs.
Fun fact: since 1999 there have been only four occasions where Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody did not take the #1 spot. 2020 will be one of those years, with the Dutch country singer Danny Vera taking the top spot with his song Roller Coaster (YouTube).
Dutch country singer Danny Vera dethrones Queen in Top 2000 records from dutchnews.nl
Oh, but don’t feel too bad for Bohemian Rhapsody as it is still ranked #2.
Life in the Hague 