Sometimes you want to learn more about Syria (Oregon) and sometimes you just want to get hip with the kids and you have to Google “What does bae mean?”, (Wisconsin) this according to Estately’s annual list of what each state Googled.
Estately thought it would be fun to see how Americans spent their time Googling the people, terms, movies, TV shows, organizations, events, cultural phenomena, and controversies that grabbed people’s attention in 2015.
ALABAMA
- Same-sex marriage;
- Ken Stabler (football player who passed away in 2015);
- Ben Carson (presidential candidate); and
- Laverne Cox (actress)
ALASKA
- Barack Obama;
- Game of Thrones (HBO series); and
- 3D printing
ARIZONA
- 2nd Amendment;
- Jen Welter (pro football player and first female coach in NFL)
ARKANSAS
- Blood moon prophecy (apocalyptic beliefs about the end of the world);
- Syrian refugees;
- Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (terrorist organization);
- ISIS (another name for the same terrorist organization above); and
- 19 Kids and Counting (reality TV show)
CALIFORNIA
- Stephen Curry (pro basketball player);
- Drought;
- Water conservation;
- Volkswagen scandal; and
- Donald Trump hair
COLORADO
- Syrian civil war;
- Water on Mars;
- Mass shootings; and
- Keystone Pipeline
CONNECTICUT
- Speaker of the House;
- Frank Gifford (pro football player/broadcaster who passed away in 2015)
DELAWARE
- Amtrak;
- Pope Francis;
- Beau Biden (former Attorney General of Delaware who passed away in 2015);
- Kendrick Lamar (rapper); and
- Nicki Minaj (rapper)
- Obamacare;
- Marco Rubio (presidential candidate);
- Concealed weapons permit; and
- Trump net worth
- Blood Moon 2015;
- Whip dance;
- Stanky leg dance;
- Serena Williams; and
- Blake Shelton divorce
- Nepal earthquake;
- Bruce Jenner (previous name of reality TV personality Caitlyn Jenner);
- Chrissy Teigen (model);
- Apple Watch; and
- Furious 7 (2015 film)
- Refugees;
- The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 2 (2015 film);
- Gun control;
- Vaccines; and
- Windows 10 (operating system released in 2015)
- Super Blood Moon
- Religious Freedom Restoration Act; and
- Jared Fogle (former Subway pitchman/sex offender)
- Elizabeth Banks (actress);
- Bachelorette (reality TV show); and
- The Bachelor (reality TV show)
- World Series; and
- Koch Industries
- American Pharaoh (Triple Crown-winner);
- Dusty Rhodes (pro wrestler who passed away in 2015);
- Rand Paul (presidential candidate); and
- Kim Davis (County Clerk of Rowan County)
- Ashley Madison hack (online dating website marketed to people in committed relationships that was hacked and had user names released in 2015); and
- Blue Bell recall (delicious ice cream)
- Amy Schumer (comedian)
- Freddie Gray (Baltimore man who died in police custody, sparking protests);
- Police brutality;
- Misty Copeland (ballet dancer);
- Nuclear program of Iran; and
- Ta-Nehisi Coates (writer, journalist, educator)
- Charlie Hebdo (French satirical magazine attacked by terrorists in 2015);
- Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (TV show);
- Aziz Ansari (actor/comedian);
- Jon Snow (character in Game of Thrones); and
- Opioid addiction and dependence
- What is transgender?;
- Marriage equality
- Black Lives Matter (activist movement campaigning against violence toward black people);
- Scott Weiland (musician who passed away in 2015); and
- Cecil the Lion (famous lion killed by a Minnesota hunter in Zimbabwe)
- Ashley Madison (online dating website marketed to people in committed relationships);
- Straight Outta Compton (2015 film);
- B. King (blues musician who passed away in 2015);
- S. Supreme Court; and
- Common Core State Standards Initiative
- Amy Schumer photo; and
- Right to keep and bear arms
- Wolves
- Kaley Cuoco (actress)
- Lamar Odom (pro basketball player who overdosed in a Nevada brothel in 2015);
- Floyd Mayweather (pro boxer);
- Khloé Kardashian (reality TV personality); and
- Wes Craven (film director)
- Deflategate;
- Heroin;
- Paris terrorist attack;
- Hillary Clinton (presidential candidate); and
- Donald Trump (presidential candidate)
- Hilary Clinton email ;
- FIFA (governing body of international soccer tournaments that’s being investigated for bribery/corruption crimes in 2015);
- Yogi Berra (baseball player/manager who passed away in 2015);
- Chris Christie (presidential candidate); and
- Pierre Paul hand (pro football player Jason Pierre-Paul who blew off part of his hand in a fireworks accident)
- Pluto (the dwarf planet);
- Ronda Rousey (MMA fighter);
- Holly Holm (MMA fighter);
- Animas River (site of a massive 2015 spill of water containing toxic heavy metals); and
- Wiz Khalifa (rapper)
- Charlie Sheen HIV (actor announced he’s had HIV for four years in 2015);
- Greece;
- Bashar al-Assad (President of Syria);
- Islamophobia; and
- Jihadism
- Concealed carry permit;
- Blake Miranda divorce (country stars Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert announced they were divorcing in 2015); and
- Confederate flag meaning
- NFL Draft
- Marijuana legalization (a proposed constitutional amendment to legalize marijuana was not approved by voters in 2015);
- Anna Duggar (wife of reality TV personality Josh Duggar); and
- Randy Quaid (actor)
- Caitlyn Jenner (reality TV personality formerly known as Bruce Jenner);
- Je suis Charlie (solidarity message for French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo);
- Stuart Scott (ESPN sportscaster who passed away in 2015);
- Patricia Arquette (actress); and
- Jordan Spieth (pro golfer who won the U.S. Open and The Masters in 2015)
- Syria;
- Iran;
- Hassan Rouhani (President of Iran);
- Islam; and
- Ukraine
- Royal baby;
- Jon Snow dead (character from Game of Thrones who died in the Season 5 finale… or did he?);
- Pope Francis visit;
- War on terror; and
- Creed (2015 film)
- Brian Williams (NBC journalist suspended for telling an exaggerated story);
- Adele (musician);
- Taylor Swift (musician);
- Justin Bieber (musician); and
- Charlie Sheen (actor)
- Charleston shooting;
- Trump for President;
- Nae nae dance; and
- Confederate flag
- Fitbit (a device that measures how many steps you take between your sofa and the fridge);
- Back to the Future (popular 1985 movie that got a lot of attention because the characters in it travel to the future—the year 2015); and
- Ed Sheeran (musician)
- Fred Thompson (former actor and Tennessee Senator who passed away in 2015); and
- National Rifle Association
- Miranda Lambert divorce;
- Greg Hardy (pro football player);
- Bandidos Motorcycle Club (a motorcycle gang that engaged in a massive shootout with the Cossacks motorcycle gang in Waco, Texas in 2015);
- Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán (Mexican drug lord); and
- Clock boy (14-year-old Texas student Ahmed Mohamed who was arrested after bringing a homemade clock to school)
- Transgender;
- Man bun (male hair style)’
- Spotify (digital music service);
- Apple TV; and
- Planned Parenthood (non-profit organization)
- Bernie Sanders (presidential candidate);
- The Daily Show (TV show);
- Climate change; and
- 87th Academy Awards
- Abdel Fattah el-Sis (President of Egypt);
- Islamic State (terrorist organization);
- Boko Haram (terrorist organization);
- Recep Taytip Erdogan (President of Turkey); and
- Muhammadu Buhari (President of Nigeria),
- Leonard Nimoy (actor who played Spock on Star Trek passed away in 2015);
- Super Bowl;
- Amanda Knox (American woman acquitted of murder in Italy);
- Left Shark; and
- Microsoft Surface (tablet)
- Magic Mike XXL (2015 film)
- Paul Ryan (newly elected Speaker of the House);
- What does bae mean?;
- Koch brothers; and
- Political activities of the Koch brothers
- Blake Shelton + Gwen Stefani;
- Mars (4th planet from the sun);
- S. Constitution;
- Firearm; and
- Playboy (magazine that announced it would cease showing photos of naked women)