'Passport Renewal', 'Teoheng KTV' & 'Loh Kean Yew': S'pore's trending search terms in 2022

The highlights from a longer list.

Adelene Wee | December 08, 2022, 07:47 PM

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We are less than a month away from 2023.

As we wrap up the year Google Trends has compiled the top 10 lists of search terms that had the highest spike this year as compared to the previous year, in various categories.

Here's a (non-exhaustive) list of some of the most-searched terms in Singapore in 2022:

Trending travel-related searches: "Causeway Camera" and "Passport Renewal"

2022 was the year of travel restrictions being eased and borders starting to open up. So it's not surprising that there was a spike in travel-related searches.

Until Singapore and Malaysia fully reopened the land border after 745 days in April this year, "Causeway Link" — which topped the search list — was one of two bus companies ferrying passengers across the land border via the Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL).

One of the commonly searched terms is “Causeway Camera”, as many Singaporeans love to travel to our neighbouring country in search of new highs, but don't love the causeway jam.

Another popular search term is “Passport Renewal”, as yes all of us (me) included, are excited to travel overseas after the endemic.

Trending activities & places: "Northshore Plaza" and "Teoheng KTV"

"Northshore Plaza", Singapore's first seafront neighbourhood centre, which opened in October 2021, is one of the top search terms in the "activities & places" category.

A favourite pastime of many Singaporeans used to be singing our hearts out, until we were hit by the pandemic and could no longer engage in entertainment activities like going to the clubs or singing karaoke.

Earlier this year, the karaoke chain "Teoheng KTV", announced the resumption of its karaoke business from Apr. 19 onwards, and that may have contributed to it being one of the top-searched terms in this category.

Trending Singapore news: "Covid-19 cases", "GST Voucher 2022" and "CDC Voucher"

While "Covid-19 cases" was the top search for trending Singapore news in 2022, searches for this information may well be a thing of the past as the Ministry of Health shifted its focus away from daily case numbers in November 2022.

"GST Voucher 2022" and "CDC Voucher" were among the top searches in the local news category as well.

Trending athletes: "Loh Kean Yew"

"Loh Kean Yew", the Singaporean shuttler, chalked up an impressive string of achievements including defeating current world number 1 Viktor Axelsen in the Denmark Open quarter-final, and rising to an all-time career high as the world number 3 player.

He is the only Singaporean who made it to the top 10 list, though athletes from another racket sport, Tennis, dominated, with "Djokovic", "Nadal", and "Roger Federer" also making appearances.

Trending movies: "Ah Girls Go Army"

"Thor Love and Thunder", "Black Adam" and "Top Gun" are unsurprisingly among the most-searched movies in Singapore this year.

As we scrolled to the 10th trending movie in the list, we were surprised to discover that the only local movie that made it to the list is -- "Ah Girls Go Army".

Director Jack Neo, are you proud?

Trending search worldwide: "Wordle"

"Wordle", an online word game that challenges participants to find a five-letter word in six guesses has probably kept the crowd entertained through the year as it made it to the top search worldwide, and in Singapore as well.

Wow.

Top photo from Nigel Chua, Loh Kean Yew/Facebook, Teo Heng Trading & KTV Studio/Facebook