Culture

Lakeland’s hottest trends for summer 2024

“brat summer” is unofficially over, so we’re looking back on what was really hot in Lakeland thanks to Google Trends search results.

September 6, 2024 • 
Michael Beausoleil
A lake at dusk in Lakeland with night lights illuminating and city buildings in the background.

The summer is setting on Swan City.

Photo via @paulsombric

With Labor Day behind us, summer has unofficially ended. The season might have brought us national fads like “brat summer,” but we wanted to know what was really hot in Lakeland this summer — besides the sun.

We turned to Google Trends to see what locals searched for from Memorial Day through Labor Day, minus political results. Turns out, Lakelanders were feeling especially sporty this summer. The term “Copa America” saw the most search growth compared to prior months, but the Olympics weren’t far behind. “Olympics medal count,” “Olympics,” and “Olympics schedule” were all top 10 search queries in the area.

What else set Google ablaze this summer? Here are some fast facts from the Lakeland area:

  • Most popular Olympic sport: Artistic swimming
  • Most popular Olympic athlete: Simone Biles
  • Most popular movie: “Inside Out 2"
  • Most popular song (based on YouTube searches): “Houdini” by Eminem
  • Most searched weather term: Hurricane tracker

What do you think will be trendy in fall 2024? Let us know.

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