NZ's top Google searches for 2025 show how stressed we all are about money

It’s that magical time of year when Spotify Wrapped exposes our deepest, darkest secrets (yes, you did listen to Stan Walker 57 times this year, and no, we’re not judging).

Google Trends is no different, with our most searched thoughts and questions of the year now revealed for the world to see, and honestly, I feel exposed.

Nothing screams 'cost of living crisis' quite like one of the top searches in Aotearoa being "how to make butter". Tough times, but I am absolutely here for people trying a bit of DIY in the kitchen.

The food obsession didn’t stop there. If we saw it on TikTok, we were Googling how to make it. From “how to make matcha” to “Dubai chocolate recipe”, because who wants to pay $19.50 for a block of chocolate? If it could be made at home, we were attempting it.

Kiwis were also trying really hard to be financially sensible this year. “How to invest” and “how to calculate tax refunds” were among the most searched queries, which demonstrates just how much we were all looking for a bit of extra cash.

But 2025 wasn’t all recipes and budgeting hacks. We actually wanted to get involved with things that matter to us. Searches around the Treaty Principles Bill submissions climbed, and thousands of us wanted to know how to say “Happy Matariki” properly in te reo Māori.

A huge year for actually participating instead of just watching from the sidelines.

And even though the weather wasn’t quite as dramatic as recent years, we still panicked every time the wind became a little too aggressive, googling “wind warning,” “rainfall warning,” and “tsunami warning.”

Big news moments had us searching, with the deaths of Charlie Kirk and Tom Phillips dominating national headlines. And as true Kiwis, what truly united the country was “All Blacks vs France.”

We also went down some incredibly rogue rabbit holes, including “how to style curtain bangs,” “cowgirl outfit ideas,” and the classic “what is 6 7,” which I am pretty sure we still do not have the answer to.

Now here’s hoping ChatGPT doesn’t drop its own ‘Wrapped’ and expose the questions we all typed, lowkey hoping no one would see.