Top Google searches in South Korea for 2021

Google released their top searches in South Korea for 2022. Here's the list translated to English with very brief explanations of some of the topics.

Note that these are not the overall top searches by volume. Rather, these are weighted searches that showed relatively high popularity this year. Think of them as top trending searches. Most of these topics are pretty obviously understood so I won't comment much about them. 


Top Korean Google searches 2022. Image: Google Korea



Overall Top Trending Google searches in South Korea for 2021
2021년 구글 검색어 종합 순위 한국 TOP 10위

  1. 로블록스
    Roblox
    A popular metaverse game. Can't believe this was the overall top trending search of the year. I guess it goes to show what types of Koreans choose to use Google over Naver.
  2. 코로나 백신 예약
    Coronavirus vaccine reservations
  3. 오징어 게임
    Squid Game
    Netflix drama released this year. I stand by my previous statements that, while the show was very sharp and enjoyable, it wouldn't have broken so many records if it hadn't been for the COVID lockdowns of the year. Don't send hate comments please; I watched it and enjoyed it greatly too. 
  4. 테슬라 주가
    Tesla stock price
  5. 비트코인
    Bitcoin
  6. 김선호
    Kim Seonho
    K-drama actor who went viral this year after the release of unflattering text messages that suggested he had forced a girlfriend to get an abortion. More on that here.
  7. 코로나19 백신 접종 기관 찾기
    Corona vaccine vaccination center locations
  8. 삼성전자 주식
    Samsung Electronics stock
  9. PopCat
    An insanely stupid online game, if you can even call it a game, that somehow (blame the COVID lockdowns) has drummed up extreme competition between Asian countries. The leaderboard as of this post has Korea in 5th place worldwide with Asia taking up the entire leaderboard. Try it yourself.
  10. 로스트아크
    Lost Arc game


Not hard to see that most of these interests are for the savvy younger MZgen types, i.e. the types that would use Google in Korea. 


Kim Seon-ho article from JoongAng Daily


Popcat leaderboard screenshot


Top 10 Coronavirus related searches in 2021
코로나바이러스 분야 국내 TOP 10 

I don't know why they felt the need to include a separate list of these things but here you go. 

  1. 코로나 백신 예약
    Corona vaccine reservations
  2. 코로나19 백신 접종 기관 찾기
    Corona vaccine vaccination center locations
  3. 경기도 재난 지원금
    Gyeonggi-do province emergency relief fund
  4. 자가진단
    Self-diagnosis
  5. 질병관리청
    Korean CDC
  6. 재난지원금 신청
    Emergency relief fund applications
  7. 버팀목자금 플러스
    Support Fund “Plus”
    A special fund targeting small business owners impacted by the COVID economic downturn
  8. 재난지원금 사용처
    Where to use/spend emergency relief funds
    (Much of the government stimulus money provided by the Korean government during the pandemic was in the form of local currency vouchers, i.e. gift card type physical bank cards onto which government money would be deposited that has restrictions on where it can be spent at. Most locally owned businesses qualify, including mom-and-pop restaurants, local markets, locally-owned franchises of major brands, etc. This "stimulus" money was really more to stimulate the local small business economy than to help citizens, but it did both. Plenty of daily life places accepted it.)
  9. 상생소비지원금
    Stimulus money
  10. 희망회복자금
    Hope recovery fund,     another scheme to help small businesses


Top 10 Trending News/Society Searches in South Korea in 2021
뉴스/사회 분야 국내 TOP 10 

  1. 요소수
    Urea water, aka DEF (Diesel exhaust fluid)
    Korea experienced a surprise shortage of this necessary diesel engine add-on this year that even led the local map apps to offer special services detailing where users could find it (see tweet screenshot below).
  2. 도쿄 올림픽
    Tokyo Olympics
  3. 학교 폭력 실태 조사
    School violence surveys 
    A little sad that searches for these results seem to appear on this list every year.
  4. 정인이 사건
    Jung-in case
    The horrible case of an adopted baby that was essentially tortured by its adoptive parents to death.
  5. 이루다
    Lee Luda
    An artificial chatbot character, stylized as a cute a spunky 20 year old woman, created by a Seoul-based startup. Because this is the internet, Luda became famous for some offensive comments "she" started making after learning from users' interactions. More on that here and here. Check her out yourself at https://luda.ai and see a pic of her below. 
  6. 설거지론
    Dishwashing Theory
    A weird notion about feminism that basically laments the fact that today's men are obliged to do "dishwashing duty" - that is, to marry young women who already lived promiscuous lives and, now that they reach marrying age, start to clean up their acts. I've seen this theory used to explain all types of things, like why women stop having sex once they get married, and why it's so hard for guys to marry "clean" girls. Obviously a charged topic.  
  7. 아프가니스탄
    Afghanistan
    Probably on this list as Koreas drank up news of the United States' bungled withdrawal from the country.
  8. 머지포인트
    Merge Point
    A kind of scam where this discount app let you buy "points" for huge discounts at stores, but stores didn't go along with it, leading the app to roll back promised discounts, then refusing to refund customers who bought points expecting these discounts. Big mess. If something seems too good to be true, it probably is. More on this here and here. 
  9. 탈레반
    Taliban
  10. 누리호
    Nuri Rocket
    Domestic technology produced space satellite launching rocket that was hoped to be a proud moment but sadly failed to orbit. More here.






Luda chatbot girl, illustrative of the dangers of training AI on real people


Click through to the source to see other top 10 lists of searches for the year, including for  dramas/entertainment, movies, and games:
Google 한국 블로그: 2021년 구글 인기 검색어로 한 해를 되돌아보세요


Happy new year folks. And if you want more of these, see my other End of Year wrap-up lists here:
10원 Tips: Year in Review posts


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