DUBAI: 

鈥淪habab Al Bomb 11鈥� was the top-trending Google search of 2023 in 黑料社区 on a list of TV series, films, and programs.

It was followed by 鈥淥ppenheimer movie,鈥� 鈥淛awan movie,鈥� 鈥淏arbie movie,鈥� and 鈥淭he Last of Us series.鈥�

The tech giant鈥檚 annual survey, released on Monday, rounded up the most trending search queries experiencing a higher volume of search over a sustained period this year compared to 2022.

Lists included the top-searched news, platforms, events, movies, TV series, tournaments, and personalities.

Marwa Khost, Google鈥檚 communications manager for the Middle East and North Africa region, told Arab News: 鈥淓very day, billions of searches are made globally on Google and 15 percent of these searches are new.

鈥淚n the Middle East and North Africa, people use Google search to look for news, their favorite TV shows or sports game, or to discover new recipes.鈥�

She noted that they also used it as 鈥渁n engine of growth鈥� to look for new skills and jobs.

In addition, people in the Kingdom had been searching for football-related terms throughout the year. The match between Al-Hilal and Real Madrid was ranked top in the football tournaments list, while footballers Aleksandar Mitrovic and Karim Benzema remained at the top of the personalities list.

The nation鈥檚 interest in football was also evident in the local/regional events list where 鈥淪audi Professional League鈥� ranked first followed by 鈥淎rab club champions club.鈥�

The Israel-Hamas war was the top-searched topic in the news list, which also included the devaluation of the Pakistani rupee, and Buerger鈥檚 disease (a condition of the blood vessels).

In the UAE, there was significant interest in cricket matches with the Cricket World Cup game between India and Sri Lanka being the top-searched tournament.

Events such as Gitex 2023, COP28, and UFC 294 were also highly ranked, as well as earthquakes in Turkiye, Syria, and Morocco, and the conflict in Palestine.

In Egypt, the Israel-Hamas war ranked first in the news list, followed by the devaluation of the Egyptian pound, and the quake that hit the country earlier this year.

Among the top-trending searches for personalities, Egyptian footballer Emam Ashour came first, followed by actress Jory Bakr, and comedian Bassem Youssef after his interview with British journalist Piers Morgan.