Google's 2-Minute Video of 2018's Top Searches Will Brighten Your Day & Make You Cry

There's plenty of uncertainty in the world right now, but the one thing we can be sure of is that 2018 was rough. In an era in which every year seems to outdo the previous one in its ability to summon existential dread, the last 12 months were, shall we say, a doozy. However, the folks at Google managed to mine some of the more hopeful moments in recent memory and turn it into a highly emotional and surprisingly optimistic 2-minute look back on the biggest search trends from 2018. 

The clip (posted above), which we highly encourage you to watch with a tissue handy, is the latest year-end roundup from the search giant, which typically releases a slickly edited Year In Search data and an accompanying video around this time. 2017's was similarly emotional, but this year's theme seems to hit a little harder. That's because it's focused around the fact that people around the world searched for "good" more than ever before, according to Google. 

Topping the list of Global Searches this year was the World Cup, with Avicii and Mac Miller rounding out the number two and three spots, respectively. Hurricane Florence, the Mega Millions result, and the Royal Wedding also made an appearance on the Global News Trends list. As for the highest trending people in the world, Meghan Markle, Demi Lovato, and Sylvester Stallone were among the top five.

In a year that witnessed dramatic cave rescues, exceedingly divided politics, tragic deaths of beloved people, and so much strife in between, it's nice to look back with even a faint glimmer of hopeful about what the future holds. 

Don't say we didn't warn you about needing that tissue, though.

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Joe McGauley is a senior writer for Thrillist. Follow him @jwmcgauley.