The year in Malaysian search

• Topping the list of the country’s 2016 Trending Searches is ‘Euro 2016’
• In third place is the annual government financial aid programme ‘BR1M’

GOOGLE on Dec 15 announced its annual Year in Malaysian Search, which looks back at 2016 through the collective eyes of searches on google.com.my and offers a unique perspective on the year's major events, top newsmakers and hottest trends.

Topping the list of the country’s 2016 Trending Searches is ‘Euro 2016’, the football championship among European nations which took place in June and July.

Second spot belongs to ‘Pokemon GO’, the mobile location-based augmented reality phenomenon launched August.

In third place is the annual government financial aid programme ‘BR1M.’ The rest of the top five is rounded off by the public school exam analysis system for parents ‘SAPS Ibu Bapa’ and another global sports event ‘Olympic Games Rio 2016.’

The rest of the trending searches on the top 10 are: hit local Malay drama, ‘Suri Hati Mr Pilot’ and ‘7 Hari Mencintaiku’, South Korean zombie apocalypse film, ‘Train to Busan’, The K-pop Mnet Asian Music Awards, ‘MAMA 2016’ and South Korean hit drama series, ‘Descendants of The Sun.’   

Meanwhile the trending person searches of the year went to US President-elect ‘Donald Trump.’ Local actress ‘Atikah Suhaime’ was in the spotlight in second place over some alleged photo leaks.

South Korean heartthrob ‘Song Joong Ki’ is in third spot due to his starring role in Descendants of The Sun. In 4th spot is singer ‘Aiman Tino’ with his 2016 song hit song Ku Rela Dibenci followed by ‘Margot Robbie’ who played Harley Quinn in the Suicide Squad movie. 

The rest of the annual trending people searches rounding off the top 10 are: actress ‘Syatilla Melvin,’ housewife video gone viral ‘Nadia Nordin.’ controversial Indian Islamic preacher ‘Zakir Naik,’ China’s superstar badminton player ‘Lin Dan’ and lastly US presidential candidate, ‘Hillary Clinton’.

“Google searches continue to act as a reliable cultural barometer that gives us a real snapshot of the major events, popular individuals and trends that have collectively made an impact in the lives of Malaysians,” said Google Malaysia Communications and Public Affairs head Zeffri Yusof.

“Google is where most Malaysians turn to for information and discovery, and we believe the lists we’ve compiled on Malaysian searches reflect the national zeitgeist or ‘spirit of the times’.”

In addition to showcasing what people were curious about in Malaysia, Google Search tools also offer insight into which topics captured the entire world’s attention in 2016. Go to Google.com/2016 to explore the rest of the 2016 Year in Search stories and top trending charts from countries around the world.

What is Google’s Year in Search?

Google reveals the Internet’s spirit of the times through an exploration of the over one trillion search queries we receive each year.

In addition to year end Searches, which highlights the top trends of 2016, we also have several tools that give insight into global, regional, past and present search trends.

Google Search tools can never be used to identify individual users because we rely on anonymized, aggregated counts of how often certain search queries occur over time.

These tools are available year-round for you to play with, explore, and learn from at Google.com.my/2016.