Song lyrics, pageant craze dominate Philippines’ 2017 Year in Search – Google

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MANILA – Google released its annual “Year in Search,” highlighting the 2017 top trending searches in the Philippines. This year’s list shows how much Filipinos stay tuned on hit songs, international events, and television shows.

 Landing on the top spot is the lyrics of Luis Fonsi’s song Despacito. The song made headlines in October after it reached over 4 billion views, making it the most watched video on YouTube worldwide. Even top-rising Filipino creator Niana Guerrero caught the Despacito fever and uploaded her video dancing along to the Spanish hit. This year’s second spot goes to the lyrics of Bruno Mars’ Versace on the Floor, a hit from the 24K Magic album covered by several Filipino musicians and creators, including Kris Lawrence and Kristel Fulgar.

The trending topics also reflect Filipinos’ persistent pageant craze. Aside from being this year’s top three trending topic, the Miss Universe pageant landed two spots on the list of trending events.Maxine Medina, who represented the Philippines at the Miss Universe pageant in 2016, is 2017’s top trending female personality. Joining her on the list of the top trending female personalities are other beauty queens: Binibining Pilipinas-International 2017 Mariel de Leon, Binibining Pilipinas-Universe 2017 Rachel Peters, and Miss Universe 1993 Dayanara Torres.

Xander Ford, formerly known as Marlou Arizala, an ex-Hasht5 member, is this year’s top trending male personality. He is also 5th trending search topic overall. The internet sensation made a public appearance on a magazine show after receiving a series of cosmetic treatments. Xander topped the list that mostly included Korean male stars such as Love in the Moonlight’s Park Bo Gum, boy group Children of Empire member Park Hyung Sik, Train to Busan’s Gong Yoo, Weightlifting Fairy’s Nam Joo Hyuk, and God of War’s Kim Joo Hyuk.

Further proof of the enduring popularity of Korean pop culture among Filipinos is this year’s list of trending television shows. Goblin, The Legend of the Blue Sea, Love in the Moonlight, Weightlifting Fairy, and While You Were Sleeping are among the top trending Korean TV shows that made Filipino viewers swoon.

While this year’s list proves how much Filipinos love entertainment, they also stayed vigilant on national issues. Topping the trending news items is President Rodrigo Duterte’s State of the Nation Address. Searches related to the military’s operations against ISIS-inspired Maute Group in Marawi City and the Martial Law declared in the area were also trending searches on Google this year.

“In a way, the Year in Search offers us a glimpse of what we liked as a people, what issues affected us, what sparked our interest, and everything in between that appealed to our emotions the past year,” said Google Philippines Head of Communications and Public Affairs Gail Tan.

Trending Searches for 2017 by category (Local):

 Go to google.com.ph/2017 to explore the rest of the 2017 Year in Search stories and top trending charts from the Philippines and around the world.