What Were Malaysians Searching For In January 2021?

As we move into the month of February, we present the top 10 trending searches over the past month as searched by Malaysians, along with a special feature on Chinese New Year trends surfaced from Google Trends. Here are the top 10 trending searches for January 2021

1. Semakan BPN 2021 / BPR Semak* / Kemaskini BPR**. Malaysians turned online to understand the latest update and their eligibility for the government financial aid scheme, now called Bantuan Prihatin Rakyat (BPR).   

2. Liverpool vs Man United / Man United vs Watford* / Chelsea vs Man. City**. Local soccer fans were plugged into the intense action the FA Cup had to offer, with matches from fan favorites Liverpool, Manchester United, Watford, Chelsea, and Manchester City being the most followed. 

3. Pulau Laki / Sriwijaya Air. Netizens were saddened by the unfortunate crashing of Sriwijaya Air flight SJY182 en route to Pontianak on January 9, and became curious about sightings of an S.O.S seen on Google Maps in the mostly uninhabited Pulau Laki, mistakenly linked to be from passengers of that aircraft. 

4. Fulham vs Man United / Southampton vs Liverpool*/ Burnley vs Man United**/ Liverpool vs Burnley***. Loyal followers of the English Premier League were sure not to miss out on some of the fiercest competition as their favorite teams – Fulham, Manchester United, Southampton, Liverpool, and Burnley – went head to head in the season which started September 12, 2020. 

5. PKP 2.0. Malaysians turned online to understand the SOPs for the tighter movement restrictions, which came into effect January 13 and aimed at drastically bringing down the number of daily Covid-19 cases.

6. West Indies vs Bangladesh. The West Indies tour of Bangladesh 2020/21 served up ample entertainment for local cricket enthusiasts as Bangladesh won by 6 wickets (with 97 balls remaining) in the 1st ODI, 7 wickets (with 100 balls remaining) in the 2nd ODI, and by 120 runs in the 3rd ODI against opponent West Indies. 

7. Redmi 9T. Netizens were curious to know more about Redmi’s new entry level flagship device which became available in Malaysian shores starting January 15. 

8. Sri Lanka vs England. The England tour of Sri Lanka 2020/21 saw England winning by 7 wickets in the 1st Test and by 6 wickets in the 2nd Test against opponent Sri Lanka, much to the delight of local hard core fans and followers.  

9. Toyota Thailand Open 2021. Malaysians’ hopes were high for our very own Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik who put up a good fight before losing to Taiwan’s Lee Yang and Wang Chi-Lin in the men’s doubles, in the Toyota Thailand Open. 

10. Pengumuman PM. Malaysians sought to understand the impact of Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin’s announcement of the state of emergency being declared in the country which came into effect January

Google Trends Chinese New Year 2021

Key Insights:

• Search interest for Lunar or Chinese New Year has doubled over the past month in Malaysia and is up +60% in the past week alone.
• Ox related searches have spiked more than +5,000% in the past 30 days to reach their highest levels in more than a decade.

• Orange and Mochi related searches have also spiked over +5,000% in the past month.
• Search interest for “CNY cookies” has spiked +250% in the past 30 days,  along with “pineapple tart recipe”.
• Prosperity related searches have also surged in the past month. “Prosperity toss” has spiked +450% in the past week,  while “have a prosperous year ahead” has spiked +130%.
• Along with prosperity, search interest for wealth and good luck tend to spike around Chinese New Year also.

• In the past week, Luck has been more searched out of the three overall.

Also in the past week.. 

• “Sop sambutan tahun baru cina 2021” has been the top trending New Year related search, spiking +4,200%, while “hari ke 15 tahun baru cina” has spiked +3,400%.
• Among Chinese Zodiac related searches, search interest for “立春 的 意思” (“The meaning of Lichun”) has spiked +1,150% in the past week.
• Dinner is the top trending topic searched alongside Chinese New Year, in the past week – up +130%. The topic has also been a breakout monthly search topic, spiking +5,000% in the past 30 days.
• Search interest for “reunion dinner” has  spiked +200% this week, while “年菜 食谱” (“New Year recipes”) is up +70%.

Top trending searches for Chinese New Year, within the past 7 days in Malaysia

1. sop sambutan tahun baru cina
2. hari ke 15 tahun baru cina
3. makan sup tahun baru cina
4. mkn sop terkini
5. harga kawalan tahun baru cina 2021
6. lunar new year 2021 adopt me
7. cuti sekolah sempena tahun baru cina 2021
8. growtopia lunar new year
9. wishing chinese new year
10. poslaju chinese new year 2021

Top trending questions for Chinese New Year, within the past 7 days in Malaysia

1. apa yang dipanggil tahun baru cina
2. hari ketujuh tahun baru cina merupakan hari jadi siapa
3. apakah yang perlu diberikan kepada ‘singa’ dalam tarian singa
4. berapa lamakah perayaan tahun baru cina
5. yang tinggal serumah beraya cina pkp 2
6. dalam tarian singa berapa ramai penari yang terlibat menggayakan seekor ‘singa’?
7. bila hari baik beri limau tahun baru cina
8. bila sop tahun baru cina 2021 dikuatkuasakan
9. bila cuti tahun baru cina
10. bila tarikh tahun baru cina 2021