Photo: File / RNZ / AFP
Labubu. Viral ice cream. Tom Phillips, wind warnings, and how to make butter.
Google has announced the top trending searches for New Zealand in 2025, and it's a snapshot of the wild, weird year that's nearly over.
The single biggest search term in Aotearoa this year had little to do with New Zealand - it was the American conservative activist Charlie Kirk, who was not well known here before his death in September.
But right up there in the top ten were also the death of Tom Phillips after a four-year search for the missing man and his children, weather events like Cyclone Alfred and the long-dead American serial killer Ed Gein, subject of a popular Netflix series.
Oh, and the All Blacks. There's always the All Blacks.
Google New Zealand's communications and public affairs manager Carrie Jones told Morning Report the results provided inter
Continue Reading on RNZ
This preview shows approximately 15% of the article. Read the full story on the publisher's website to support quality journalism.