Kobe Bryant and the Coronavirus
By Natasha Petrenko
On Jan. 26, 2020 the world lost Kobe Bryant, a former basketball player who played on the Lakers. His 13-year-old daughter, Gianna Bryant along with seven other individuals died in a helicopter crash on the way to a basketball game. Bryant did not only play basketball, but he was also a father, a husband, an Acadamy Award winner, a two-time Olympic gold medalist and so much more. It is safe to say that he was a role model for many individuals, leaving a worldwide impact.
Another popular story that has affected the world is the Coronavirus. It was detected in China in 2019 however, it did not stop there. As the new year came, the virus spread all over China, then the whole world. On Feb. 26, 2020, a community transmission of the Coronavirus was found in California. As the virus spreads, so does the worry of people worldwide.
Both stories have been on many news outlets this past month. According to an analysis of Google search data on Google Trends in the United States, Kobe Bryant’s search rates were quite high for a few days, after he had passed away. The Coronavirus started to beat Bryant in searces starting on Jan. 30, 2020, and continued to rise even during the Bryant’s “Celebration of Life “memorial. This could have been due to the aggressive spread of the Coronavirus.
Here is another analysis of Google search data on Google Trends that shows which states have been looking up those topics the most. The blue represents states that have the most Kobe searches and the red represent the most Coronavirus searches within a 30 day period.
Music: Lady Gaga and Taylor Swift
Both Lady Gaga and Taylor Swift have been in the music industry for quite some time now. They have fans from all over the world because of their music, music videos, and style inspire their fans.
Lady Gaga released her newest single, “ Stupid Love”, on Feb. 28, 2020, along with a music video to her single. Gaga’s fans were so excited about this because it is the first release since her soundtrack for “ A Star is Born “ which included features with Bradley Cooper, her co-star in the movie. Before the soundtrack for the movie, she hasn’t released any music since 2016, which was her album,.
Taylor Swift’s song “The Man” was originally released on Aug. 23, 2019, in her album . However, on Feb. 27, 2020, Swift released a music video for the song where she transformed herself into a male. She did this to bring awareness about sexism and the oppression of women. This caused her fans to be thrilled because she expressed her feminism through the video.
Both stars were searched heavily through the weekend in the United States. According to an analysis of Google search data on Google Trends, Swift has slightly searched more than Gaga at the beginning of the week. However, the day before Gaga’s new release of her single, her searches skyrocketed by a lot within just a few hours.
Although Gaga was dominating Google search, it seems that Swift is being searched more throughout the United States from this past week. Below is another analysis of Google search data on Google Trends that shows which states have been looking up Gaga the most and which states have been looking up Swift the most. The blue represents Gaga and the red represents Swift.
The interactive chart below shows how the number in searches has increased so drastically in just a week.
