Beyoncé had one of the biggest album releases of the year so it’s no surprise that Lemonade‘s lead single “Formation” was the most-Googled song of 2016 as reported by Billboard.
The song and video arrived the first week of February on the eve of her anticipated Super Bowl 50 halftime performance. The video was Beyoncé on a sinking police car, Beyoncé hanging out a car window, Beyoncé slaying choreography in an abandoned pool, Beyoncé giving her fans everything she had in one cinematic flex.
“Formation” only got more attention the next day when Bey took the field to perform the song during the Super Bowl. Unfortunately, some started to drag the singer for her performance with complaints, misguided blame, and even some attempted protests. All of the scrutiny only added to “Formation” being googled a shit ton of times.
The late purple icon Prince comes in at the No. 2 most-Googled song with “Purple Rain.” Of course, many fans played and searched the song in the wake of the singer’s sudden death in April.
The rest of the list is rounded out by this year’s biggest hits including RaeSremmurd‘s first No. 1 song and unofficial soundtrack to the Mannequin Challenge, “Black Beatles,” Desiigner‘s breakthrough “Panda,” Drake’s first No. 1 hit, “One Dance,” and Adele’s “Hello.”
Check out the full list of 2016’s top 10 most-Googled songs below.
1. Beyoncé – “Formation”
2. Prince -“Purple Rain”
3. Rae Sremmurd – “Black Beatles”
4. Desiigner – “Panda”
5. Drake – “One Dance”
6. DNCE – “Cake by the Ocean”
7. Adele – “Hello”
8. Ruth B – “Lost Boy”
9. Disturbed – “Sound of Silence”
10. Mike Posner – “I Took a Pill in Ibiza”
