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Animated Map: What America Searched for on Google, Over the Last Decade

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What America Searched for on Google, in the Last Decade

Cultural shifts come in many shapes and forms, and some are harder to measure than others.

Thankfully, Google search volume provides an easy avenue for measuring large-scale cultural trends. And because Google makes up more than 90% of all internet searches in the U.S., looking at what’s trending on Google is a great way to understand the shifting questions and interests that are captivating society at any given time.

This animated map by V1 Analytics provides an overview of the top trending Google searches in every state over the last decade. It sheds light on what types of new information, events, and stories received the most attention in the last ten years—and more generally, it shows us what the U.S. population has been thinking about.

Trending Searches versus Top Searches

Before diving into the top trends of the decade, it’s worth taking a moment to distinguish between “trending searches” and “top searches”:

  • Trending Searches: Keywords that had the largest increase in traffic, in a specific period of time
  • Top Searches: The most searched keywords in a given time frame

This video would look a lot different, and a lot less interesting, if it showed Google’s top searches. To give some perspective, here are the Top 10 Searches in the U.S. (as of 2020):

RankKeyword
#1facebook
#2youtube
#3amazon
#4gmail
#5google
#6weather
#7ebay
#8yahoo
#9walmart
#10yahoo mail

Understanding the difference between trending searches and top searches is important because it gives us insight into why certain keywords trend in some places, but not others. For instance, in March 2020, the word “coronavirus” was trending throughout a majority of the U.S., with a few exceptions—it wasn’t trending in Massachusetts, California, Texas, Nevada, or Arizona.

It’s easy to make the assumption that people in these states were not concerned about COVID-19—however, that’s not necessarily the case.

It’s important to remember that trending searches are measured by the increase of traffic, not just the overall amount of searches. Therefore, in states where it wasn’t trending, the word “coronavirus” may have already been a popular search term for a while, so the keyword didn’t see a sudden spike in interest like it did in other places.

Undivided Attention

In the last decade, there were moments when the entire country was googling the same thing. Some keyword trends lasted a day, while others lasted over a week.

Here’s a look at keywords that took over the whole U.S, and when they were trending unanimously:

Date RangeCategorySearch Term
Feb 4, 2011MusicAdele
Feb 6 - Feb 23, 2011MusicBorn This Way
Feb 28, 2011MusicBorn This Way
March 22 - Apr 1, 2011Pop CultureRebecca Black
June 12 - June 27, 2011TV & FilmGame of Thrones
Nov 9, 2012Current EventsAbortion
Jan 10 - Jan 27, 2014TV & FilmFrozen
Feb 28 - March 2, 2014ElectronicsSamsung Galaxy s5
Jan 11 - Jan 13, 2015MusicBlank Space
Feb 26 - Mar 30, 2015MusicUptown Funk
June 5, 2015Pop CultureCaitlyn Jenner
June 16 - June 19, 2015TV & FilmJurassic World
Feb 26, 2016Pop CultureDamn Daniel
June 3, 2016Pop CultureHarambe
June 20, 2016TV & FilmFinding Dory
June 30, 2016TV & FilmFinding Dory
July 6, 2016TV & FilmFinding Dory
Aug 4 - Aug 7, 2016TV & FilmSuicide Squad
Aug 24 - Sept 8, 2016Pop CultureHarambe
Sept 23 - Sept 26, 2016Pop CultureBrad Pitt
Oct 21, 2016ElectronicsGoogle Pixel
Nov 24, 2016ElectronicsGoogle Pixel
Dec 14 - Dec 20, 2016Current EventsAleppo
Jan 7 - Jan 10, 2017TV & FilmThis Is Us
Jan 23 - Feb 2, 2017TV & FilmThis Is Us
Feb 8 - Feb 12, 2017SportsSuper bowl
Feb 22 - Feb 24, 2017TV & FilmThis Is Us
March 7 - March 11, 2017ElectronicsNintendo Switch
March 21 - Apr 1, 2017TV & FilmBeauty and the Beast
May 7 - May 16, 2017Pop CultureFidget Spinner
June 17 - July 18, 2017MusicDespacito
Sept 22, 2017TV & FilmIt
Oct 13, 2017Current EventsHarvey Weinstein
Nov 3, 2017Current EventsKevin Spacey
Jan 12 - Jan 23, 2018Current EventsLogan Paul
Feb 6 - Feb 11, 2018TV & FilmAltered Carbon
March 15 - March 29, 2018Video GamesFortnite
May 4, 2018Video GamesFortnite
July 21, 2018Video GamesFortnite
Aug 5 - Aug 22, 2018Video GamesFortnite
Jan 17 - Feb 3, 2019Music7 Rings
Feb 21 - Feb 23, 2019Current EventsJussie Smollett
March 12 - March 22, 2019TV & FilmCaptain Marvel
March 27, 2019MusicBillie Eilish
March 30, 2019MusicBillie Eilish
Aug 24 - Aug 27, 2019MusicBillie Eilish
Oct 9 - Oct 29, 2019TV & FilmJoker
Nov 20 - Nov 24, 2019TV & FilmThe Mandalorian
Dec 5 - Dec 14, 2019Pop CultureBaby Yoda
Jan 15, 2020Current EventsPrince Harry
Jan 20, 2020Current EventsPrince Harry
Feb 13 - Feb 15, 2020TV & FilmJojo Rabbit
May 5 - May 14, 2020Current EventsElon Musk
June 24, 2020Current EventsBubba Wallace

It’s interesting to look at the variety of topics that dominate the population’s collective thoughts. There’s a unique mix of popular culture, entertainment, electronics, prominent figures, and public scandals.

Something else worth noting is how country-wide trends became a lot more common in the latter part of the decade—in 2019 for example, 9 keywords trended unanimously. This was more than in the entire first half of the decade.

While the secret to going viral remains a mystery, one thing remains clear—the public certainly has a broad range of interests. So really, it’s anyone’s game.

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Nvidia Joins the Trillion Dollar Club

America’s biggest chipmaker Nvidia has joined the trillion dollar club as advancements in AI move at lightning speed.

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Nvidia Joins the Trillion Dollar Club

Chipmaker Nvidia is now worth nearly as much as Amazon.

America’s largest semiconductor company has vaulted past the $1 trillion market capitalization mark, a milestone reached by just a handful of companies including Apple, Amazon, and Microsoft. While many of these are household names, Nvidia has only recently gained widespread attention amid the AI boom.

The above graphic compares Nvidia to the seven companies that have reached the trillion dollar club.

Riding the AI Wave

Nvidia’s market cap has more than doubled in 2023 to over $1 trillion.

The company designs semiconductor chips that are made of silicon slices that contain specific patterns. Just like you flip an electrical switch by turning on a light at home, these chips have billions of switches that process complex information simultaneously.

Today, they are integral to many AI functions—from OpenAI’s ChatGPT to image generation. Here’s how Nvidia stands up against companies that have achieved the trillion dollar milestone:

Joined ClubMarket Cap
in trillions
Peak Market Cap
in trillions
AppleAug 2018$2.78$2.94
MicrosoftApr 2019$2.47$2.58
AramcoDec 2019$2.06$2.45
AlphabetJul 2020$1.58$1.98
AmazonApr 2020$1.25$1.88
MetaJun 2021$0.68$1.07
TeslaOct 2021$0.63$1.23
NvidiaMay 2023$1.02$1.02

Note: Market caps as of May 30th, 2023

After posting record sales, the company added $184 billion to its market value in one day. Only two other companies have exceeded this number: Amazon ($191 billion), and Apple ($191 billion).

As Nvidia’s market cap reaches new heights, many are wondering if its explosive growth will continue—or if the AI craze is merely temporary. There are cases to be made on both sides.

Bull Case Scenario

Big tech companies are racing to develop capabilities like OpenAI. These types of generative AI require vastly higher amounts of computing power, especially as they become more sophisticated.

Many tech giants, including Google and Microsoft use Nvidia chips to power their AI operations. Consider how Google plans to use generative AI in six products in the future. Each of these have over 2 billion users.

Nvidia has also launched new products days since its stratospheric rise, spanning from robotics to gaming. Leading the way is the A100, a powerful graphics processing unit (GPU) well-suited for machine learning. Additionally, it announced a new supercomputer platform that Google, Microsoft, and Meta are first in line for. Overall, 65,000 companies globally use the company’s chips for a wide range of functions.

Bear Case Scenario

While extreme investor optimism has launched Nvidia to record highs, how do some of its fundamental valuations stack up to other giants?

As the table below shows, its price to earnings (P/E) ratio is second-only to Amazon, at 214.4. This shows how much a shareholder pays compared to the earnings of a company. Here, the company’s share price is over 200 times its earnings on a per share basis.

P/E RatioNet Profit Margin (Annual)
Apple30.225.3%
Microsoft36.136.7%
Aramco13.526.4%
Alphabet28.221.2%
Amazon294.2-0.5%
Meta33.919.9%
Tesla59.015.4%
Nvidia214.416.19%

Consider how this looks for revenue of Nvidia compared to other big tech names:

For some, Nvidia’s valuation seems unrealistic even in spite of the prospects of AI. While Nvidia has $11 billion in projected revenue for the next quarter, it would still mean significantly higher multiples than its big tech peers. This suggests the company is overvalued at current prices.

Nvidia’s Growth: Will it Last?

This is not the first time Nvidia’s market cap has rocketed up.

During the crypto rally of 2021, its share price skyrocketed over 100% as demand for its GPUs increased. These specialist chips help mine cryptocurrency, and a jump in demand led to a shortage of chips at the time.

As cryptocurrencies lost their lustre, Nvidia’s share price sank over 46% the following year.

By comparison, AI advancements could have more transformative power. Big tech is rushing to partner with Nvidia, potentially reshaping everything from search to advertising.

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