What did we look up in 2025?
From turbulent weather to animal adventures, Britannica School’s most viewed articles offer a peek into what captured the curiosity of students, teachers, and library-goers in 2025. Let’s take a look at the top topics that had readers clicking, reading, and learning across the year!
Australian Schools
Searches on Britannica School helped Australian students grapple with issues in and out of the classroom, from history and current events to major shifts in global culture that impacted them.
Lookups for floods, droughts, and cyclones spiked, as students turned to Britannica to help them make sense of the turbulent weather that gripped Australia this year, including severe impacts from Tropical Cyclone Alfred and major floods across New South Wales.
Students were keenly aware of international events as well: sudden spikes in searches for the Louvre Museum followed the dramatic 2025 heist that rocked Paris and made headlines worldwide. The new album The Life of a Showgirl by Taylor Swift sparked a cultural wave of interest, while the youth-led 2025 “Gen Z” protests against corruption and social-media suppression in Nepal grabbed global attention.
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Australian SchoolsTop 10 most viewed articles on Britannica School among Australian schools in 2025. |
New Zealand Schools
New Zealand students’ Britannica School searches this year show students deep-diving into a myriad of topics that tickled their curiosity in class, with more lookups for the Great Barrier Reef, WWI, segregation, the Middle Ages, Machu Picchu, the Great Wall of China, and Nelson Mandela.
On the scientific front, students’ favourite topics were weather and human anatomy. And beyond the classroom, the buzz surrounding the 2025 solar eclipse had students across New Zealand looking up, quite literally.
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New Zealand SchoolsTop 10 most viewed articles on Britannica School among New Zealand schools in 2025. |
Libraries in Australia
For our library-goers this year, the focus was on exploring the wider world around them.
Lookups on Britannica Library featured all the usual favourites, like Ancient Egypt, the Middle Ages, Buddhism, and big-picture topics like anthropology. For younger readers, popular articles included trees, elephants, fish, and even the Sahara.
Current events and curiosity about Australia’s geopolitical role no doubt also played a part in shaping search behaviour this year, with more hits to articles like Afghanistan and Australia.
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Libraries in AustraliaTop 10 most viewed articles on Britannica Library among libraries in Australia in 2025. |
Libraries in New Zealand
In New Zealand libraries, readers’ fascination with history and iconic landmarks led them to Britannica Library articles on The Great Barrier Reef, Machu Picchu, the Acropolis, and the Great Wall of China.
Meanwhile, searches for fair trade spiked, as readers sought out balanced perspectives to help them understand the impact of sweeping tariffs from the US.
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Libraries in New ZealandTop 10 most viewed articles on Britannica Library among libraries in New Zealand in 2025. |
