The Mercury News

Ex-Laker Odom tops 2015 Google search list

- By Michael Liedtke Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO — Lamar Odom’s bizarre downfall from a former Los Angeles Lakers star to a lost soul in a Nevada brothel had the world searching Google for answers more than any other topic this year.

A four-day binge in October that culminated in Odom being found unconsciou­s in the Nevada “Love Ranch” placed him atop Google’s list of hottest searches during 2015. The annual breakdown released Wednesday ranks the inquiries that triggered the biggest spikes in traffic on Google’s dominant search engine, excluding queries about sexually explicit subjects.

The interest in Odom eclipsed January’s lethal attacks in France at the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and a mobile game called “Agar.io” that lets multiple players devour cells in a virtual Petri dish. In the U.S., two movies, “Jurassic World” and “American Sniper,” ranked behind Odom.

Here’s a look at what was on the world’s collective mind this year, based on Google’s annual breakdown of the hottest searches:

OVERALL TOPICS

1. Former Los Angeles Lakers star Lamar Odom

2. Satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo

3. Mobile game “Agar.io”

4. Movie “Jurassic World”

5. Paris

6. Movie “Furious 7”

7. Video game “Fallout 4”

8. Former mixed marital arts bantamweig­ht champion Ronda Rousey

9. Caitlyn Jenner, formerly 1976 Olympic decathlon champion Bruce Jenner

10. Movie “American Sniper”

TOP PEOPLE

1. Lamar Odom

2. Ronda Rousey

3. Caitlyn Jenner

4. Singer Adele

5. Actor Charlie Sheen

6. Actress Ruby Rose

7. Republican Party presidenti­al candidate Donald Trump

8. Singer Sia

9. Actress Dakota Johnson

10. Broadcaste­r Jeremy Clarkson

 ?? ASSOCIATED PRESS ARCHIVES ?? Lamar Odom, with estranged wife Khloe Kardashian, was the top search topic for 2015.
ASSOCIATED PRESS ARCHIVES Lamar Odom, with estranged wife Khloe Kardashian, was the top search topic for 2015.

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