After the pandemic first rocked the world in 2020, by no means was 2021 less uneventful, especially in the Philippines — from witnessing the Philippines' first-ever Olympic gold to the 2022 election race, users in the Philippines rushed online to look up these headline-defining moments this year. Athletes and celebrities continued to dominate headlines, while politics and catastrophes remained some of the most-searched topics in 2021. Meanwhile, historical events topped searches in 2021: weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz was the fourth biggest newsmaker this year after her groundbreaking win at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Beloved K-drama superstar Lee Min-ho topped searches for male celebrities, while "Crash Landing on You's" Hyun Bin (3rd) continued to be popular in searches, as well as Ji Chang-wook (7th). Binance Coin (1st), Bitcoin (2nd), Tether (3rd), Ripple (4th), and Uniswap (5th) topped crypto searches, while "meme coins" Shiba Inu (6th) and Dogecoin (8th) also made the list.

Source: Manila Times December 30, 2021 22:16 UTC