In our continuing series of examining Google Search Trends to gain insights into the top keywords queried in the USA, we present our findings for February 2024.
Every day, we capture the top three keyword phrases in terms of search volume as reported by Google Trends (US Only). Each term has an estimated query volume attached to it, which we also record. The number scale tops out at 10,000,000+ with a lower limit of 200,000+ (sometimes 100,000+). After the conclusion of the month, we look at the phrases we collected along with their volumes to get an understanding of what drove queries for the month.
February Was Leaping
Sure it was. Looking back at our collected keyword phrases from the past month, we see a few strong themes emerge. People are very interested in February holidays.Groundhog Day was particularly popular this year. Awards shows, after a few years of decreased search interest, seem to be back. The Grammys had a strong showing. We’re also giving an honorable mention to the Screen Actors Guild awards. The NFL has their championship game in February and if you don’t know, it drives some of the highest search volume of the entire year. Presidential Primaries and candidates appear in our collection. There are a few phrases related to stocks and cryptocurrency along with other tech innovations. Lastly, people mourned the loss of a couple of celebrities and we’ll start our examination with these two phrases.
Toby Keith
Sadly, one of the top queried phrases on our list is related to a celebrity death. Toby Keith passed away on the 5th.
- Toby Keith – 2/6/2024 – 10,000,000+ queries
Since Google Trends reported that his name was queried over ten million times, we couldn’t avoid reporting on it in this post. Our condolences to his family and friends.
What’s Up With That Groundhog?
On a lighter note, it appears people needed to know what Punxsutawney Phil predicted.
- Groundhog Day 2024 – 2/1/2024 – 1,000,000+ queries
- Groundhog Day – 2/1/2024 – 1,000,000+ queries
- Did the Groundhog see his shadow 2024 – 2/1/2024 – 100,000+ queries
Well, it turns out he did not see his shadow so Spring will come early, somehow.
The five year trend does show that 2024 had the most search interest for this “celebration”:
Can a rodent really give us hope that warmer weather will arrive sooner this year than in other years? If they search for it, the hope is certainly there.
The Other Holidays
The month was packed with other holidays too.
- Lunar New Year – 2/9/2024 – 5,000,000+ queries
- Ash Wednesday – 2/13/2024 – 500,000+ queries
- Presidents Day – 2/18/2024 – 200,000+ queries
- Leap day 2024 – 2/28/2024 – 5,000,000+ queries
This year, we got the bonus Leap Day on the 29h. We’re not sure if there were discounts or deals to be had, but queries related to the day point towards the desire for them.
The Grammys
Yes, search interest in the Recording Academy of the United States award show is showing a five year high in Google Trends
From the search queries we captured, there were a few moments that stuck out.
- Grammys 2024 – 2/3/2024 – 2,000,000+ queries
- Tracy Chapman – 2/4/2024 – 1,000,000+ queries
- Grammy winners 2024 – 2/4/2024 – 1,000,000+ queries
- Killer Mike – 2/4/2024 – 500,000+ queries
Beyond the general phrases about the show and the winners, Tracy Chapman’s performance was popular and the arrest of Killer Mike also drove search interest.
Since we’re on the topic of award shows, here’s our shout for the SAG awards.
- SAG Awards 2024 – 2/24/2024 – 200,000+ queries
We’ll see if the Oscars have a renewed interest as well.
Present and Future Films
Moving on, a couple of films which will be released in the near future made our compilation of keywords:
- Moana 2 – 2/7/2024 – 200,000+ queries
- Fantastic Four – 2/14/2024 – 200,000+ queries
The sequel to the Disney film Moana had a teaser trailer drop on the 7th and the cast of yet another Fantastic Four film was revealed on the 14th.
There were two movies that debuted last month that had enough interest to make our list.
- Madame Web – 2/13/2024 – 200,000+ queries
- Bob Marley movie – 2/13/2024 – 200,000+ queries
At the time of writing this post, Bob Marley: One Love was the box office winner of the two.
Small Screen Picks
Beyond films, we saw keywords related to TV shows.
- Jon Stewart – 2/12/2024 – 200,000+ queries
- Avatar: The Last Airbender Netflix – 2/22/2024 – 200,000+ queries
- Shane Gillis – 2/24/2024 – 500,000+ queries
- Shogun – 2/27/2024 – 200,000+ queries
Jon Stewert made his return to The Daily Show on February 12, 2024. The live-action adaptation of the animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender premiered on Netflix. Stand-up comedian Shane Gillis hosted Saturday Night Live on the 24th. Finally, the miniseries Shogun made its Hulu premiere on the 27th with its first two episodes.
Medical Conditions
An unusual fact about the top daily queries is that when there is an announcement of a famous person’s diagnosis, the search volume for that affliction spikes. February 2024 had two such spikes.
- Aphasia – 2/21/2024 – 1,000,000+ queries
- Cushing syndrome – 2/23/2024 – 200,000+ queries
On the 21st, there were news stories that Wendy Williams has been diagnosed with primary progressive aphasia. On 23rd, Amy Shumer revealed she has Cushing’s Syndrome. The team finds it fascinating that general queries to learn more about the conditions are triggered by these announcements.
Presidential Primaries and Other Notable World News
The 2024 US Presidential election is underway and there are a few instances of candidate’s names and a couple of state primaries in our list:
- Biden – 2/8/2024 – 200,000+ queries
- Trump – 2/16/2024 – 200,000+ queries
- South Carolina primary – 2/23/2024 – 500,000+ queries
- Michigan Primary – 2/27/2024 – 200,000+ queries
Wouldn’t you know it? One of the candidates is selling his own shoes:
- Trump shoes – 2/17/2024 – 500,000+ queries
The District Attorney who is the lead prosecutor in the Trump Election Interference case in Georgia made the news on the 15th.
- Fani Willis – 2/15/2024 – 2,000,000+ queries
She testified in a hearing as Trump defense lawyers sought to disqualify her.
In world news, the Russian opposition leader to Vladimir Putin died on the 16th and his name was a top query on the 16th.
- Alexei Navalny – 2/16/2024 – 500,000+ queries
Rounding out this section, news broke about the English monarch’s cancer treatment.
- King Charles – 2/5/2024 – 1,000,000+ queries
We will continuing monitoring queries related to the British Royal Family in the coming months.
The Big Game Gets Big Query Volumes
In this world of fractured audiences, there is still one big event that happens every year that draws huge attention from millions of people. The Super Bowl is not only the top viewed sporting event, it also drives a great amount of search query volume. Let’s look at the timeline of keywords that were related to the big game this year.
- Superbowl kickoff time – 2/9/2024 – 200,000+ queries
- What time is the Super Bowl on Sunday – 2/9/2024 – 200,000+ queries
- Super Bowl – 2/10/2024 – 10,000,000+ queries
- What time is the Super Bowl – 2/10/2024 – 5,000,000+ queries
- Travis Kelce – 2/10/2024 – 2,000,000+ queries
- Who won the Super Bowl 2024 – 2/11/2024 – 2,000,000+ queries
- Brock Purdy – 2/11/2024 – 1,000,000+ queries
Someday, we will learn when the game starts – maybe in 2025.
NBA News
The second most popular sporting league in the USA had a few events that happened in February 2024. Here are the keywords related to the NBA from our collection.
- NBA trade deadline – 2/8/2024 – 200,000+ queries
- NBA All-Star weekend – 2/15/2024 – 200,000+ queries
It’s hard to compete with the NFL during February but certainly a good effort.
Other Sports
There are other sports, you know.
- UFC – 2/17/2024 – 1,000,000+ queries
- Daytona 500 – 2/17/2024 – 500,000+ queries
- NASCAR – 2/19/2024 – 200,000+ queries
The UFC breaks the daily top 3 whenever they broadcast fights. NASCAR starts its season in February. This year, the Dayton 500 race was delayed a day because of rain.
NVIDIA and Bitcoin
From the time mem stocks hit the Daily Top 3, we have kept an eye out for finance-related queries.
- Nvidia stock – 2/20/2024 – 500,000+ queries
- Bitcoin – 2/26/2024 – 100,000+ queries
- Bitcoin Price – 2/28/2024 – 200,000+ queries
NVIDIA had its earnings call that sent the stock price soaring. Bitcoin had a few increases in their price twice last month.
Notable Tech Topics
Rounding out the report, we found this group of tech-related phrases.
- Apple Vision Pro – 2/2/2024 – 200,000+ queries
- AT&T – 2/22/2024 – 2,000,000+ queries
- Moon landing – 2/22/2024 – 200,000+ queries
Apple’s mixed-reality headset was released to the US on the 2nd. If your carrier is AT&T, you dealt with an outage on the 22nd. On that same day, Intuitive Machines landed their craft on the moon, boldly going where we’ve been before.
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