And the Most-Searched Term on Google in 2022 Is… It beat out searches for "Ukraine," "Queen Elizabeth passing," "elections results" and more.
By Amanda Breen •
Earlier this year, an incredibly popular online word game took the internet by storm — so much so that searches for the term soared above everything else.
That's right: "Wordle" is the most-searched word on Google for 2022, per a blog post from the tech giant on its annual Year in Search Report, beating out online interest in newsier inquiries like "Ukraine," "Queen Elizabeth passing" and "elections results."
Related: Wordle Players Livid Over News of Acquisition: 'Everything Is Sh*t'
Wordle, developed by Welsh software engineer Jonathan Wardle and first released in 2018, requires players to guess a five-letter word in six attempts — and it can only be completed once every day.
The New York Times acquired the game in late January 2022 for an undisclosed amount in "the low-seven figures," TIME reported, raising concerns about if Wordle would remain free for all users or be placed behind a paywall.
In an interview with TechCrunch just before the NYT's acquisition, Wardle revealed that nearly two million users were playing the game.
Related: Are You Better At Wordle Than Bill Gates? See His Strategy
So far, Wordle has remained free — and extremely popular, bringing "tens of millions" of new users to the NYT in the first quarter of 2022, per The Verge.
