Trump-Kim Summit, World Cup and Crazy Rich Asians: Google reveals top trends in Singapore for 2018

The Trump-Kim summit, the historical event in June that saw US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un meeting for the first time, topped local news topic trends in Singapore this year.

READ: Highlights: Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un's historic summit

The Summit made global headlines as both leaders signed a document in which both committed to work towards the complete denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula.

According to Google Trends, there was a sustained interest in the topic over the year, although there was a drastic jump in May and June.

READ: Commentary: Do we really need a second Trump-Kim summit?

From politics to Hollywood, the hugely popular movie Crazy Rich Asians came in second for trending local news, with a heightened interest in August - when the movie premiered.

The Aug 7 premiere was a momentous event for Singapore as it was the first time a contingent of local talent were in the spotlight in Hollywood. 

The movie was also the first major Hollywood studio movie in years to feature an all-Asian cast - a game-changer for Hollywood in terms of diversity.

READ: Crazy Rich Asians trailer: How many Singapore actors and locations can you spot?

Other trending local news topics for Singapore included the GST voucher cash payouts, the death of Inuka, Singapore's last polar bear, and news of the SG Bonus payouts in September.

Aside from local news stories, Google Trends also provided an insight into what Internet users in Singapore frequently searched for.

With France winning the World Cup in a gripping fashion and the German defending champions crashing out, the action-packed football event topped the list of trending searches in Singapore.

READ: Reputations burnished, others buffeted at 'best World Cup ever'

The Malaysian general elections came in second on the list. Malaysian Prime Minister Mohamad Mahathir's Pakatan Harapan pulled off an unprecedented victory that brought Barisan Nasional's decades-long domination in Malaysian politics to a sudden end in May.

READ: Malaysia general election 2018: Highlights

Former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, who suffered a shock defeat in the elections in May and has been embroiled in the 1MDB corruption saga, was fourth on the list of top trending searches in Singapore.

But there was slightly more interest in this year's Australian Open, which came in third.

The fifth on the list of top trending searches in Singapore in 2018 was the death of Stan Lee, creator of Spider-Man and other Marvel superheroes. He died at the age of 95.

On a global scale, Google Trends noted that the world searched for feel-good, uplifting stories, including the heroic rescue of the Thai under-16 football team from a cave and India overturning a ban on gay sex.

See the full list here.