The most Googled celebrities of 2019, from Caitlyn Jenner to Prince Andrew
Caitlyn Jenner, Prince Andrew and Tommy Fury are among the top 10 most searched for celebrities of 2019, according to new data.
Google announced the results of its “Year In Search” on Wednesday, revealing the people, topics, events and places that captured the UK’s attention online in the last 12 months.
The data is compiled by looking at the Google searches that had a high spike in traffic over a sustained period in 2019, compared to 2018.
Kirstin Wright, a Google Trends expert said, “The 2019 Year in Search lists not only reveal the most popular trends from the past 12 months, but also give insight into the biggest events in the news, politics, sports, entertainment and even the latest lingo."
It shows 2019 was a huge year for television dramas, including the final series of Game of Thrones, HBO’s critically-acclaimed Chernobyl, and ITV’s Love Island.
And that we all wanted to know what the backstop is, what is article 50, what is area 51 and what is quark (it’s a dairy product made by warming sour milk until it curdles…).
But which celebrities were we most interested in? Olympic gold-medallist and I’m A Celebrity star Caitlyn Jenner takes the first spot, followed by YouTuber James Charles and Prince Andrew. Here’s the full list.
1. Caitlyn Jenner
Beating British celebrities to a top place on the most-searched-for list was American Olympic gold-medallist, Caitlyn Jenner. The 70-year-old appeared in the line up for ITV’s I’m A Celebrity but is perhaps best known for her two daughters: Kendall and Kylie Jenner.
2. James Charles
James Charles, full name James Charles Dickinson, is a 20-year-old YouTube star from New York, who has 16.3 million subscribers on the platform. Estimated to be worth $12m (£9m), Charles is best known for his makeup and beauty videos.
3. Prince Andrew
The third child of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Phillip, Prince Andrew, was thrown into this year’s most-Googled list after his BBC Newsnight interview in November. In the interview, the royal, formerly married to the Duchess of York, Sarah Ferguson, discussed his relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
4. Tommy Fury
British professional boxer, Tommy Fury, 20, was thrown into the spotlight when he entered the Love Island villa this summer. Fury, who is the younger brother of heavyweight boxer Tyson Fury, is still dating his girlfriend from the show, Molly-Mae Hague, 21.
5. Boris Johnson
Former London mayor Boris Johnson became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in July 2019, which should have been enough to cement his place in the most-searched list. But Johnson calling a general election for 12 December, and endless debate about Brexit, means politics has been at the forefront of everyone’s mind all year.
6. Jeremy Kyle
Long-standing talk show host Jeremy Kyle, who had his own daytime programme on ITV for 14 years, was axed in 2019 after the death of one of the show’s guests, Steve Dymond. The 54-year-old TV presenter is reportedly working on a new show, but it won’t be broadcast in the same time slot as previously.
7. Adele Roberts
Adele Roberts is an English radio personality and DJ. Her career started when she was a housemate in Big Brother, participating in the third UK series (2002) of the reality television show. In 2019 her search-interest spiked when she entered I’m A Celebrity. She was the first campmate to be evicted.
8. Liam Neeson
Interest in Liam Neeson spiked after an interview with The Independent in March this year, in which the Love Actually actor admitted that, following the historic rape of a female friend by a black man, he had stalked the streets “with a cosh” hoping to find a “black bastard” to kill.
9. R. Kelly
Singer R Kelly, known for his R&B career, came under renewed scrutiny in 2019 for his relationships with underage girls. In December he was charged with bribing a government official in order to get a fraudulent identification document to marry an under-age girl in 1994. A documentary called Surviving R. Kelly was also released on Netflix.
10. Nadine Coyle
Another product of the intense interest in I’m A Celebrity contestants, the former Girls Aloud singer came fifth in the show.
