Japanese movie ‘Your Name’ Korea’s top searched term on Google in 2017

Google Korea said Thursday that “Your Name,” a Japanese animated drama movie that hit South Korea’s theaters in January, was the most-searched term by users in Korea in 2017, with many other films and media content filling the local Top 10 search list.

Google announces its annual rankings for the top Google searches each year, offering a glimpse into what people were most interested throughout the year. In Korea, Google’s search engine comes third in usage after local players Naver and Kakao-owned Daum.

According to Google Korea’s 2017 most-searched term rankings, “Goblin: The Lonely and Great God,” a hit Korean TV drama series starring Gong Yu and Kim So-eun as the lead actors, took second place. In third place was Sulli, a former member of K-pop girl group f(x).

“Molar Daddy,” the nickname of the 35-year-old man Lee Young-hak, who confessed to killing a 14-year-old friend of his daughter this year came in fourth. The case had shocked the public because Lee had previously earned public sympathy by appearing as a devoted father struggling to cope with a rare autosomal dental tumor himself and raising a daughter with the same condition.

In fifth place was “Lineage M,” the hit mobile remake of NCSoft’s popular mobile role-playing game “Lineage,” while Moon Jae-in, the South Korean president newly elected to office this year, came in sixth.

“The Outlaws,” a Korean crime action film featuring Ma dong-seok and Yoon Kye-sang came in seventh. In eighth place was Niantic’s hit augmented reality game “Pokemon Go” that was belated launched in Korea in January this year.

In ninth place was Korean actor Kim Joo-hyuk, who was killed in a sudden car crash in Seoul in October, and “Real,” a Korean action film featuring actor Kim Soo-hyun.

Globally, Google’s top searches in 2017 came to “Hurricane Irma,” “iPhone 8,” “iPhone X,” “Matt Lauer,” “Meghan Markle,” “13 Reasons Why,” “Tom Petty,” “Fidget Spinner,” “Chester Bennington,” and the “India National Cricket Team.” 

By Sohn Ji-young (jys@heraldcorp.com)