Google celebrates Nigeria’s 2024 Year in Search trends with runway event

David Afolayan
Google celebrates Nigeria's top Year in Search trends of 2024 with runway event
Google celebrates Nigeria’s top Year in Search trends of 2024 with runway event

Google’s Year in Search Nigeria event, a unique fashion-forward take on the annual report, recently concluded in Lagos. The event aimed to connect culture, lifestyle and expression by showcasing the top searches in Nigeria for 2024 through fashion.

This innovative approach was chosen to create an experience that deeply resonated with Nigerians, as explained by Google’s Communications Manager, West Africa, Taiwo Kola-Ogunlade:

“Fashion was the perfect medium because it mirrors our bold, expressive, and colourful culture. By partnering with The Style Infidel, Ethnik Africa, and other designers, we’re transforming search trends into wearable art that tells a story.”

Nigeria's Top Trends Take the Runway at Google's Year in Search Event

The event was hosted by designer and fashion icon, Mai Atafo, and featured renowned stylist Tosin Ogundadegbe, also known as The Style Infidel. Notable designers, including Ethnik Africa, Gbemisoke Shoes, Nack Apparel, Kings & Consort, and RebelByGracie, showcased their creative styles, engaging guests with their interpretations of the year’s top searches.

Each collection reflected a specific category from the Year in Search list, translating trends into captivating runway pieces. For example, the ‘Legacy’ collection, featuring elegant black ensembles, paid tribute to prominent figures who passed away in 2024, aligning with the “Loss” category on the search list.

Nigeria's Top Trends Take the Runway at Google's Year in Search Event

The event was attended by prominent figures in the entertainment and fashion industries, including model and fitness expert Okusaga Adeoluwa (Saga), actor and singer Elozonam, award-winning actor and comedian Layi Wasabi, and actor, entrepreneur, and influencer Tomike Adeoye.

Google’s Year in Search showcases the top list of people, trends and topics that people are interested in a given year. The annual reports reveal the most searched entries across categories such as notable individuals, movies, musicians, TV series, and curiosities that captured Nigeria’s interest.

The 2024 report points to the most notable events across the year. These include the U.S. elections where Donald Trump emerged victorious in November. Significantly, President Bola Tinubu’s decision on May 29 to reinstate Nigeria’s old national anthem, which was abandoned in 1978, also topped the chat.

Nigeria's Top Trends Take the Runway at Google's Year in Search Event

Bobrisky, known as Okunleye Idris Olanrewaju, led the most searched among the trending figures revealing Nigerians’ curiosity about the social media personality. In the music industry, the likes of Shallipopi and Khaid top the popularity list.

On the movie chart, Nigerians continued to demonstrate a strong interest in entertainment with movies such as ‘A Tribe Called Judah’, ‘Treasure In The Sky’, and ‘Damsel’. The top television series that captured Nigerians’ interest were the likes of ‘Supacell’, ‘My Demon’, and ‘Queen of Tears’.

The top trending song was ‘I Don’t Care’ by Boy Spyce, followed by ‘Ozeba and Commas‘ by Ayra Starr. In the lyrics, category, ‘Ogechi’, ‘Ozeba’, and ‘Omemma’ by Chandler Moore topped the charts.

Google's 2024 Year in Search

Nigerians also explored diverse recipes in the culinary world with the ‘Pornstar Martini recipe’ leading the searches.  Practical and global concerns were also reflected in most searched questions such as “How much is a dollar to naira today?”, “How to get perfectly defined curls for African hair?”, and “Who won the U.S. presidential election?”. On another end, Nigerians occasionally searched for the meanings of words like ‘demure’, ‘steeze’, and ‘pet peeves.’

According to Google, people searched more effortlessly and in an advanced way in 2024.

When people used Lens and Circle to Search, they most often used it for translation, shopping, and identifying things. They also combined the phrase “how to use” with their visual searches, using our multimodal technology to search using both text and images at once – gaining a deeper understanding of what they saw or needed help with,” the statement reads.

Read more: Google’s 2024 Year in Search: National grid, new anthem, Bobrisky top Nigeria’s most searched trends


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