Romanian tennis star Simona Halep’s international results, the launch new iPhone 6 and the results of the baccalaureate exam were the hottest topics this year in Romania, according to Google’s ranking of the most popular searches made by Romanians in 2014.

“Simona Halep” tops the ranking of the most popular searches made by Romanians on Google, followed by “iPhone 6” and “baccalaureate results”. Next come “Eurovision”, the European music contest, “Robin Williams”, the late American actor, and “presidential elections”, which were held in Romania in November.

Austrian transsexual singer “Conchita Wurst” was the seventh most popular search. “World Cup”, the most popular international football competition, was also one of the top 10 topics of interest, as was “Adrian Iovan”, one of the top Romanian airplane pilots, who lost his life after a plane crash in the mountains, in January this year.

The most searched sports events, besides the “World Cup”, were the “Wimbledon” tennis tournament, where Simona Halep played this year and reached the semi-finals of the competition, the “Steaua Dinamo” traditional derby of the most popular football teams in Bucharest, the “Romania Hungary” international football match and the “Roland Garros” tennis tournament, where Simona Halep made it to the final, which she lost to Russian Maria Sharapova.

Among the most popular people in Romania, this year, according to Google searches, there were also Discovery’s star survivor man “Bear Grylls”, Romanian politician “Klaus Iohannis”, who won the presidential elections in November, late businessman “Dinu Patriciu”, who died in August, and Formula 1 champion “Michael Schumacher”, who spent most of this year in a coma, following a ski accident.

The most popular “What is …?” searches feature terms such as “diaspora”, “Ebola”, “epidural”, “perhydrol”, “oncology”, “satellite”, “metaphysics”, “fable” and “coronary angiography”, according to Google.

The most searched movies were “Nymphomaniac”, “Frozen”, “Maleficient”, “Interstellar”, and “Dracula Untold”. When it comes to TV shows, Romanians searched for “Romania’s got talent”, “The Voice of Romania”, and “Masterchef”, all three productions broadcasted by PRO TV, the largest Romanian TV station.

Andrei Chirileasa, andrei@romania-insider.com