Eddie Van Halen Among Google’s Top 2020 Searches

There are many ways to quantify someone's impact on the world and one of the many qualifiers in today's Internet-dominated society is through Google searches. The death of Eddie Van Halen this year struck a chord with not only those in the rock world but across all forms of entertainment and life, so it's not a surprise that Eddie and his self-titled band turn up on multiple Google Year-End "Search" lists.

Google Trends has broken their year-end analysis into categories, with Eddie Van Halen turning up in the "loss" list of deaths and the Van Halen band being among the year's most searched music acts.

Eddie's death placed No. 6 on the "Loss" list behind Kobe Bryant, Naya Rivera, Chadwick Boseman, George Floyd and Ruth Bader Ginsberg. The remainder of the Top 10 behind Eddie were King Von, Kelly Preston, Pop Smoke and Ahmaud Arbery. Bryant actually finished third for the entire year in all searches on Google behind Election Update and Coronavirus.

Van Halen also placed sixth amongst Musician and Band searches. The list was almost exclusively pop acts with Shakira topping the list, followed by August Alsina, Adele, Doja Cat and Grimes just ahead of Van Halen. Lizzo, Tamar Braxton, Quando Rondo and Tory Lanez rounded out the top 10.

Van Halen died on Oct. 6 at the age of 65 after a long battle with cancer. Looking beyond the Google numbers, Eddie's impact on the world of music was immeasurable. His tapping guitar playing style influenced a whole generation of musicians as he graced many a guitar magazine cover in the '70s and '80s.

During his time with Van Halen, the band released 12 studio albums, including the Diamond certified 1984, which has sold over 10 million copies in the U.S. Other accolades included a Grammy in 1992 for Best Hard Rock Performance With Vocal for their album For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge. Van Halen were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007.

Eddie's skills were also heavily sought out by many of his peers. He famously delivered the guitar solo for Michael Jackson's "Beat It" off the Thriller album. He's also worked with KISS, Black Sabbath, Brian May, Roger Waters, Steve Lukather and LL Cool J among others. He was a true talent that eclipsed the worlds of rock and metal, impacting so many that marveled at his music. That interest is reflected among other places in the Google Year-End search stats. See more year-end Google search trends for 2020 here.