Sports, COVID-19 and farmers’ protest were among the top topics that Indian users looked for and talked about on social media in 2021.
While Indian Premier League (IPL) and ICC T20 World Cup filled the top spots in the overall list of queries on Google search, ‘#Covid19’ and ‘#FarmersProtest’ were the most tweeted hashtags on Twitter.
IPL, which had topped the trending query list last year as well, was followed by CoWIN, ICC T20 World Cup, Euro Cup, Tokyo Olympics and COVID Vaccine in the top trending query list on search engine giant Google.
Free Fire was the lone gaming entry that made it to the overall trending list at number seven, Google said, followed by Copa America, Neeraj Chopra and Aryan Khan.
Interestingly, globally, Australia vs India queries topped the Google search list, followed by India vs England and IPL.
Jai Bhim in top spot
2021 also witnessed a strong interest in regional cinema, with Tamil film Jai Bhim securing the top spot on the movies list, followed by Bollywood movie Shershaah. Other movies on the list were Radhe, Bell Bottom and Eternals.
On Twitter, Australian cricketer Pat Cummins’s tweet about his donation to COVID-19 relief in India was the most retweeted tweet of the year in the country, while Indian cricketer Virat Kohli’s tweet announcing the birth of his daughter was the most liked tweet.
Virat’s tweet
In 2020, Virat Kohli’s tweet announcing Anushka Sharma’s pregnancy was the ‘Most Liked Tweet of 2020’.
As per Twitter, in the Government category, a tweet by Prime Minister Narendra Modi sharing a picture of him getting his first COVID-19 vaccine was the most retweeted post, and his tweet congratulating India for their historic Test win against Australia at the Gabba was the most liked tweet this year.
