Here are the top Twitter trends for 2020
2020 has been a rollercoaster of a ride for most people.
From the Coronavirus pandemic and social justice movement in America, the year has provided an endless array of topics for people to talk about online.
Twitter has come up with a report of what took centre stage of discussions on the microblogging site in 2020 and ‘Coronavirus’ has bagged the top position.
In its summary of trends, anything related to the pandemic with #Covid-19 topped the year on Twitter along with other combinations being used the most, about 400 million times!
The number two hashtag of 2020 was #BlackLivesMatter, which spread worldwide after the death of George Floyd at the hands of the police in Minneapolis, according to Twitter.
While #StayHome, which is also related to the Coronavirus pandemic took the third position.
A Twitter blog post that revealed the positions said that this year people utilised Twitter to publicly back political change and demand accountability from world leaders.
The most retweeted and top Liked Tweets of the year encapsulated the full spectrum of life in 2020: loss, contemplation, distraction, entertainment and a dash of humor.
The world mourned the death of actor Chadwick Boseman, making the Tweet announcing his tragic passing the most retweeted post of the year and the most ‘liked’ of all time.
— Chadwick Boseman (@chadwickboseman) August 29, 2020
Former US president Barack Obama’s tweet about the death of NBA star Kobe Bryant was the second-most like tweet of the year, with 3.9 million likes.
Kobe was a legend on the court and just getting started in what would have been just as meaningful a second act. To lose Gianna is even more heartbreaking to us as parents. Michelle and I send love and prayers to Vanessa and the entire Bryant family on an unthinkable day.
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) January 26, 2020
“Over 700 million Tweets were sent in 2020 about elections around the world and Donald Trump, Joe Biden, Barack Obama, Narendra Modi and Kamala Harris were among the most Tweeted-about global figures,” Twitter said in the blog.
This year, Twitter also compiled a list of celebrities with the most follower growth. Popstar Ariana Grande, rapper Lil Baby and NBA icon LeBron James rounded out the top three.
Tweets about cooking nearly tripled this year (but that banana bread craze surged for only about three months and is now closer to normal-times levels).
And the trends in food-related emojis suggest that everyone developed a serious sweet tooth and all those video calls created an upswing in adult beverages.
In terms of sports, the new NBA Champions, LA Lakers, were the most tweeted about team.
South Korean boy-band BTS and rapper Kanye West also made the list – while the two also led the listing of most-discussed musicians for the year.
On a lighter note, the ‘laughing with tears’ emoji was the most used through tweets.
It was also the most used emoji via tweet last year, with the top ten shuffling around only slightly, despite a significantly different period.