By Jennifer Odell
7:00am PST, Jan 4, 2024
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If you spent any time in 2023 searching for info about Matthew Perry's death online, you're not alone — far from it, in fact. According to Google's "Year in Search" wrap-up, the "Friends" star's passing was among the world's most popular search terms in 2023.
The new list sheds light on what we were all curious about this year, from the stars we lost to the movies and shows we watched — to the memes and pop culture moments we didn't quite understand.
Join Wonderwall.com as we take a look at 2023's most popular entertainment searches, starting with Matthew, whose death was the number one most-searched passing, both in the United States and around the world.
Matthew Perry died in his California home on Oct. 28 at age 54. The "Friends" star had long struggled with addiction issues and wrote extensively in his memoir about the health problems he suffered as a result. According to a toxicology report released in December by the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner's Office, which conducted an autopsy, Matthew died from "the acute effects of ketamine," a drug that's sometimes used to treat depression and is also used recreationally.
He had been sober for 19 months when he died, according to interviews conducted by the medical examiner. Other factors that contributed to his death included drowning, coronary artery disease and the effects of buprenorphine, a drug used to wean addicts off opioids, the report concluded.
Keep reading to see who else landed on the list and where they ranked on Google…
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The second-most searched passing in 2023 was music icon Tina Turner, who died on May 24 at age 83 after a long battle with high blood pressure, kidney disease and intestinal cancer.
Other deaths that ranked among the most-searched in the U.S. this year included the controversial talk show host Jerry Springer, who died on April 27 at age 79 (No. 3); Jimmy Buffet, who passed away Sept. 1 at 86 (No. 4); and singer Sinead O'Connor, whose death on July 26 was the fifth-most searched passing in the U.S. The "Nothing Compares 2 U" singer was 56.
Keep reading for more on the year's most popular movies, music, TV searches and more …
MORE: Stars we lost in 2023
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NFL star Damar Hamlin topped a number of Google's year-end search lists: He was not only the No. 1 most-searched person in the America, but also the most searched athlete.
The Buffalo Bills safety went into cardiac arrest on the field during a "Monday Night Football" game against the Bengals on Jan. 2. He later confirmed he'd been diagnosed with commotio cordis, a rare and usually fatal condition in which a blow to the chest at the wrong point in the heart's electrical cycle disrupts the organ's rhythm.
"This event was life-changing, but it's not the end of my story," Damar said at a press conference in April, announcing his plan to return to the NFL, which he did in the start of the 2023 season.
Damar shared spots on the people and athletes lists with another NFL player — one whose relationship with a certain pop star arguably helped vault him into a new "era" of fame in 2023 …
MORE: See the best and worst-dressed stars of 2023
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Yep, Kansas City Chiefs tight end (slash Taylor Swift beau) Travis Kelce came in behind Damar Hamlin as Google's second-most searched athlete in America this year. He also ranked at No. 3 on this year's list of most-searched people.
In addition to copious buzz about his dates with Tay-Tay, Travis set a new receiving yards record during his team's Nov. 26, 2023, win over the Las Vegas Raiders, making him the fastest tight end ever to snag 11,000 receiving yards. (It took him just 154 games.)
Taylor, meanwhile, appeared nowhere on Google's year-end search list — unless you give her monster Eras tour indirect credit for the No. 2 spot in most-searched topics … which was "ticket price."
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People who survived near-death experiences were apparently extra-interesting to Americans in 2023.
The runner-up to Damar Hamlin in Google's most-searched people list was actor Jeremy Renner, who was crushed by a snowplow on New Year's Day outside his home in Nevada. He was airlifted to the nearest trauma center and spent weeks in the ICU before being discharged from the hospital on Jan. 17.
Jeremy, who was also the year's most-searched actor, opened up about his accident in an interview with Diane Sawyer, where he revealed he broke more than 30 bones, and suffered a collapsed lung and pierced liver when he was run over by the plow. He has since undergone multiple surgeries and, amazingly, is now able to walk and work again.
Ousted Fox News host Tucker Carlson snagged the No. 4 spot on most-searched people, followed by teenage Instagram star and musician Lil Tay, who's dubbed herself "the flexer of the century."
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The No. 2 most-searched actor in the U.S. in 2023 also experienced a brush with mortality. That would be Jamie Foxx, who was shooting "Back in Action" with Cameron Diaz in April 2023 when he was hospitalized after suffering what his family described as a "medical complication."
In May, as Jamie's health issues remained under wraps, the Oscar winner's family was seen visiting him at a rehab facility that specializes in stroke recovery, as well as rehab for traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury and cancer. Eventually, Jamie resurfaced on social media and at industry events, and began talking about what happened — but only in general terms, admitting he could have died and revealing he was unable to walk at a certain point in his recovery.
The mystery surrounding his medical crisis presumably sent fans in search of more info online.
"I cherish every single minute now," Jamie said in an emotional award acceptance speech at a Critics Choice event in December. "I wouldn't wish what I went through on my worst enemy," he said elsewhere in the speech, "because it's tough … when it's almost over, when you see the tunnel."
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After Jamie Foxx, the most-searched actors in the U.S. this year included "That '70s Show" star Danny Masterson at No. 3, followed by comic Matt Rife at No. 4 and Pedro Pascal at No. 5.
In June, Danny was convicted of raping two women in 2003. He was sentenced to 30 years to life in September and began his serving his sentence in December. Matt, meanwhile, caught heat this fall for opening his Netflix special, "Natural Selection," with a joke about domestic violence. (He didn't improve things with his Instagram Stories apology, which sent users to a special needs helmets website.)
Pedro piqued search interest a few times in 2023, including a controversy over a resurfaced, since deleted tweet in which he seemingly compared undocumented children in cages to the placement of Jewish people in concentration camps during the Holocaust. Reports he was paid nine times more than his co-star Bella Ramsey in "The Last of Us" also spiked interest in his name.
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When it came to popular TV searches in 2023, Americans searched more for HBO's video game spin-off, "The Last of Us" than any other show. Set in a post-apocalyptic present-day, the series stars Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey as travelers braving a world beset by a pandemic caused by a fungus that turns folks into zombie-esque monsters bent on spreading the infection.
Coming in at No. 2 in the year's most popular TV searches in the U.S. is Netflix's family comedy-drama, "Ginny & Georgia," followed by "Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story" (No. 3), "Daisy Jones and the Six" (No. 4) and "Wednesday" (No. 5).
As for the most popular movie searches of 2023, the portmanteau "Barbenheimer" should ring a bell …
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The most searched movie in America this year was Greta Gerwig's "Barbie," starring Margot Robbie as a living doll trying to navigate a full-on existential crisis, and Ryan Gosling, as a musically inclined and desperate Ken.
"Barbie" hit theaters on July 9 and proceeded to break all kinds of box office records. Earning a whopping $1.44 billion, the comedy was 2023's highest-grossing film. According to Wikipedia, it was also the highest-grossing film by a solo female director and the highest-grossing comedy film ever.
The flick also served as one half of the so-called "Oppenheimer" cultural phenomenon …
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Released on the same day in July as "Barbie," "Oppenheimer" was 2023's other major blockbuster. It was also the second-most searched for movie in America this year, per Google.
The film chronicles the Manhattan Project's development of the atomic bomb. In theaters over the summer, "Oppenheimer" served as a dramatic counterpoint to "Barbie," with audiences seeing the movies back-to-back, "Barbenheimer"-style.
Also appearing on Google's most-searched movies list were "Sound of Freedom" (No. 3), "Everything Everywhere All at Once" (No. 4) and "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" (No. 5.)
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For some of the year's most-searched stars, there's little question what drove folks to seek them out online. Country singer Jason Aldean topped Google's list of most-searched musicians in the U.S., and his controversial song "Try That in a Small Town" was the most-searched song.
Both the lyrics and the music video, which was shot at the site of a lynching, sparked widespread outrage earlier this year. "Got a gun that my granddad gave me," the star croons against a background of Black Lives Matter protest footage. "They say one day they're gonna round up/ Well, that s— might fly in the city/ Good luck." CMT stopped airing the video in July.
Jason has repeatedly defended the song, slamming claims the music is "pro-lynching" and anti-Black Lives Matter as "meritless" and "dangerous" on Twitter. "There is not a single lyric in the song that references race or points to it- and there isn't a single video clip that isn't real news footage -and while I can try and respect others to have their own interpretation of a song with music- this one goes too far," he wrote in part in July. He went on to assert the song is about "the feeling of a community that I had growing up, where we took care of our neighbors, regardless of differences of background or belief."
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The second-most searched song in the U.S. this year (by the third-most searched musician, behind Jason Aldean and Ice Spice), also sparked debate when it surfaced in August. Oliver Anthony's "Rich Men North of Richmond" initially went viral on social media, but soon made its way to the Billboard Hot 100 chart, where its breakout success made Oliver the first artist ever to debut at No. 1 on the Billboard charts with no prior chart history.
An ode to workers filled with gripes about taxes and lines about "the obese milkin' welfare," "Rich Men North of Richmond" earned fans on the right and detractors on the left. "These rich men north of Richmond / Lord knows they all just wanna have total control," Oliver sings at one point.
Despite the song's popularity among conservatives, the singer has said he's "dead center … on politics." After Fox News moderators played a portion of the song at the Republican presidential debate in August, Oliver responded in a YouTube video. "It was funny seeing that presidential debate. I wrote that song about those people," he said in the clip.
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The most-searched musicians after Jason Aldean (No. 1), Ice Spice (No 2) and Oliver Anthony (No. 3), included Peso Pluma (No. 4) and Joe Jonas (No 5).
Joe's tour with the Jonas Brothers, along with his high-profile split from and custody battle with "Games of Thrones" star Sophie Turner likely boosted interest from fans.
Ice Spice also made an appearance in the fifth slot on the most-searched songs list, thanks to her Pink Pantheress collab, "Boy's a Liar Pt. 2."
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Last but not least, Americans loved their memes in 2023 — especially the one that featured a late-'90s shot of Kevin James, with his hands shoved in his pockets and a smirk on his face, from his sitcom, "King of Queens."
According to KnowYourMem.com, the original pic "became a viral meme in late 2023, spreading on Twitter / X as a reaction image and image macro, often paired with captions about being confidently cheeky or mischievous."
The website adds that "the first known meme to use the image" turned up in September, alongside the caption, "me after 1 double rum and diet."
The year's most-searched memes after Kevin's smirk included Ohio (No. 2), "Police Girl" (No. 3), "Folding Chair" (No. 4) and "Smurf Cat" (No. 5). You can check out the whole list here.
