Barbie, barter accounts and botulism: Here's what we were googling in 2023

The 2023 Google Year in Search has been revealed.

Mon, 11 Dec, 2023 - 00:05

Jack White

Barbie, Pornstar Martinis, rent tax credits and the Rugby World Cup might be the recipe for a good night but have also been revealed as the most googled search terms in Ireland in 2023.

As 2023 draws to a close, the annual Google Year in Search results remind us of a few particular obsessions throughout the year including Ryan Turbridy and barter accounts.

The RTÉ payments scandal generated major interest among Google users with Ryan Tubridy being the fourth most searched person while his replacement, Patrick Kielty, came in seventh.

Hurling legend DJ Carey was the sixth most searched person in Ireland after being accused of deception and forgery by persuading 23 people to donate funds after allegedly fraudulently claiming he needed money for cancer treatment.

The second most popular ‘what is’ question asked the search engine ‘what is a barter account?'

It was revealed in June that RTÉ under-reported the salary paid to Mr Tubridy and failed to disclose €345,000 of additional payments to him through barter accounts between 2017 and 2022.

Barter accounts came second only to 'what is botulism?' after an outbreak linked to a wine bar in Bordeaux claimed the life of one woman and saw several Irish people treated during the Rugby World Cup.

2023 saw the loss of several Irish music legends who dominated our search engines.

Sinead O’Connor was the most searched deceased celebrity followed by Friends star Matthew Perry, Tina Turner, Shane MacGowan and Christy Dignam.

The two top spots on the most searched sports list were the Rugby World Cup followed by the Women’s Football World Cup.

'How to Watch the Rugby World Cup' was also one of the most searched questions. However, 'how to claim rent tax credit' took the top spot after €500 was announced in the budget for renters.

An apparent obsession with Pornstar Martinis has not waned as it was the second most searched recipe, dropping just one place since last year and losing out only to the viral TikTok recipe for Viking Toast.

'How to drink a Pornstar Martini' was also the fourth most searched ‘how to’.

'How to solve Rubik's cube', 'how to block someone on TikTok' and 'how to use chopsticks' also made the top ten.

Oppenheimer topped the most searched movies list with Barbie in second place, while Banshees of Inisherin was the third most googled movie.

AI seems to have been on our minds as countless Irish people searched ‘what is ChatGPT’, and ‘what is AI’ while ChatGPT was also the most searched tech term.

Here are the things that we searched for and asked about most in 2023:

People: