If you ever want to know who we really are as a country… well, these stats tell us preeeetty clearly! Here’s what we searched, bought, asked and wished for in 2025, courtesy of many of *those* end-of-year data wrap-ups!
Wowee, is it just me or did 2025 go by so fast? I literally just blinked, and poof! We’re halfway through December and hello 2026!
Here at Capsule, we’re wrapping up this year by revealing NZ’s search history – this is a safe space with NO judgment okay? Remember that when I mention I bought a Labubu.
Kiwis asked the internet some deeply important questions: How to cook just for yourself? Is tomato a fruit or a vegetable? What the actual f*ck is the 6 7 trend? And how tall is Kevin Hart?
We also have a list of pretty interesting things New Zealanders bought this year, which I’m oddly proud to say I only bought one out of the 11 things on the list, but then again, that one thing is a Labubu… (Remember! Safe space!)
This year in review pulls together the quirkiest, most telling patterns in what we searched, bought and asked out loud this year, thanks to Google, Afterpay and Alexa:
Things We Unashamedly Asked Alexa:
Top Five Celebrity Heights We Asked Alexa: “How tall is…”
1. Lionel Messi
2. Sabrina Carpenter
3. Tom Cruise
4. Taylor Swift
5. Kevin Hart
Top 10 Songs We Listened to (Dominated by KPop Demon Hunters?!)
1. Golden, HUNTR/X (KPop Demon Hunters)
2. APT. ROSÉ, Bruno Mars
3. Soda Pop, Saja Boys (KPop Demon Hunters)
4. Your Idol, Saja Boys (KPop Demon Hunters)
5. Takedown, HUNTR/X (KPop Demon Hunters)
6. Die With A Smile, Lady Gaga & Bruno Mars
7. How It’s Done, HUNTR/X (KPop Demon Hunters)
8. Ordinary, Alex Warren
9. That’s So True, Gracie Abrams
10. Shake It Off, Taylor Swift
Some of Life’s Most Important Questions
- Cooking times for eggs, chicken, broccoli, sweet potato, salmon
- “How to cook for just yourself?”
- Sleeping help: “how to fall asleep?” and “how to fall asleep fast?”
- “Is tomato a fruit or a vegetable?”
- “How to solve a Rubik’s Cube?”
Our Top Google Search History:
How To…
- How to make butter (Look, fair. Store bought butter has no business being $10!)
- How to invest money in shares
- How to make buttermilk (scones?)
- How to get rid of bed bugs
- How to screenshot on Macbook
- How to watch All Blacks vs France
- How to soft boil an egg (we REALLY can’t cook egss, can we?)
- How to say Happy Matariki in te reo Maori
- How to clear cache on Chrome (lol, we get it guys)
- How to calculate a tax refund
How to Style…
- How to style curtain bangs (why is this so hard!?)
- How to style a bed
- How to style brown pants
- How to style Adidas Japan shoes high top
- How to style short hair (surely the answer is FREQUENTLY)
- How to style polo shirt and jeans women smart casual
- How to style a wavy quiff (god we’re not doing this again are we)
- How to style a messy fringe
- How to style a bandana men
- How to style A line skirt
Internet Trends and Memes
- Viral Ice Cream
- Action Figure Trend
- Mango Ice Cream
- Barbie AI Trend
- Revenge Saving Financial Trend (LOVE this one)
- Peach Ice Cream
- What is the 6 7 Trend (I STILL DON’T KNOW)
- Squishy Toy Trend
- Polaroid Trend
- Starter Pack Trend
Things We Bought That We Absolutely, Probably Didn’t *Need* (But GURL, We in a Recession, so Treat Yoself) from Afterpay
1. Ring Lights: 43,588 were sold this year, with women driving the purchases at 62%.
2. Blind Box Toys (think Sonny Angels and Smiskis): 11,232 sold this year. Millennial women know what’s up, as 67% led the blind box craze.
3. Labubu Figurines: 6,389 sold, with women making up 73% of buyers (hehehe)
4. Cowboy Boots: 3,085 pairs sold, with Gen Z leading the yeehaw revival (39%).
5. Smart Rings: 2,981 sold, with Gen X showing strong uptake (22%).
6. Heatless Curler Sets: 2,688 heatless curler sets sold, with Gen Z accounting for 43% of purchases.
7. Hammocks: 2,625 sold and a summer peak on 16th January. Gen Y dominated purchases. (We take relaxing very seriously around here.)
8. Digital Cameras: 2,401 sold. Gen Z drove 46% of purchases, as they love to bring back analog and retro gadgets to transport them back to much simpler times.
9. Robot Vacuums: 1,784 robot vacuums sold, mostly purchased by Millennial women (61%). Admittedly, if we have the budget for a good one this year, we would have bought one!
10. Walking Pads: 567 walking pads sold, with Gen Z making up for 35% of purchases. Gotta get those steps in while we work from home! Health is wealth after all!
11. LED Face Masks: 428 sold, and again, women drove 69% of purchases.