This year’s global news cycle was filled with numerous memorable events—from Taylor Swift’s unstoppable rise and the Paris Summer Games to strange weather patterns, the premieres of Deadpool & Wolverine and Dune, and significant elections. From January to December, there was no shortage of major stories.
As the year comes to a close, it’s time to dive deep, category by category, into the most captivating topics for online audiences in the countries where Taboola monitors readership.
Taboola put together a snapshot of the full readership categories and the top stories that defined them. Taboola has broken down top topics both in the US and globally, providing a comprehensive view of what captured readers’ attention. The analysis accounts for hundreds of millions of views by readers of news articles on the Taboola publisher network worldwide from January 1 through November 12.
Global Topics
Top Athletes
The 2024 Paris Summer Games drew in massive worldwide excitement—in fact, NBCUniversal reports that viewership for the Paris Games, led by NBC and Peacock, saw an 82% increase compared to the 2020 Tokyo Games, with an average of 30.4 million viewers and the Opening Ceremony attracting 28.6 million, the most since 2012. When it comes to the most-read-about athletes globally, we were surprised to learn that the top five on our list did not compete in the Summer Games—proving the worldwide interest in different types of sports and teams.
Shohei Ohtani, star Japanese baseball player for the Los Angeles Dodgers (and 2024 World Series Champions) came in at first place with the most global pageviews totalling over 1.9 billion. And although the World Series is an American sporting event, Taboola’s readership data revealed that Japan actually had more online interest in the World Series than the US, thanks to widespread support for Ohtani and the Dodgers.
Top Athletes by Pageviews:
Top Musicians
Taylor Swift may be “Miss Americana,” but she’s certainly “Miss Worldwide” according to Taboola’s readership data. Ramping up in 2023 and continuing throughout 2024, Taylor Swift proved to be unstoppable and dominated the news cycle for her new album, “The Tortured Poets Department,” worldwide tour and movie, high-profile relationship with Kansas City Chiefs tight end, Travis Kelce, and ongoing “Easter Eggs” unveiling new surprises to her fans. Taylor Swift is the #1 most-read-about musician, amassing over 3.2 billion pageviews, and we weren’t surprised.
Top Musicians by Pageviews:
Top Movies
While IMDB reported Inside Out 2 as the biggest money-maker of 2024, our data shows that Deadpool & Wolverine topped the list of most-read-about movies this year, generating over 563 million pageviews. Movie fans of all types flocked to see Deadpool & Wolverine for its action-packed sequences, irreverent humour, and countless cameos that paid homage to the wider superhero universe. This film revitalised the genre by embracing the chaos and self-awareness that defined its characters, something that many have claimed the superhero movie industry has been lacking in recent years.
In addition, in an era of increasingly formulaic superhero films, Deadpool & Wolverine stood out by offering a fresh, irreverent take that not only entertained but also sparked widespread discussion on social media. Compared to other big releases this year, Deadpool & Wolverine’s ability to generate excitement and engage fans in a meaningful way demonstrates how even within an established genre, there’s still room for innovation.
Top Movies by Pageviews:
Top Health Trends
After sifting through what’s trending the most in health this year worldwide, sleep has come up as the most-read-about global health trend in 2024, racking up over 1 billion pageviews. While this is #1 on our list, it’s worth noting that 50% of the top trends are exclusive to women, highlighting the current state of health interest.
According to research from McKinsey, sleep is consistently the second highest health and wellness priority among consumers—and also the area where consumers feel like they have the most unfulfilled needs. With the rise of wearable technology, global interest in science-backed podcasts like those led by Andrew Huberman, and health studies focused on sleep—including an October 2023 study published by The Lancet, which pushed for a global call to action on sleep health—the importance of sleep and its connection to all aspects of health has become top-of-mind.
Top Health Trends by Pageviews:
As the new year quickly approaches, these stories are likely to remain of great interest to readers across the country, as evidenced by Taboola’s data. In addition to covering fresh stories in 2024, publishers should consider revisiting these topics when planning their content for the year ahead.
