Iran is becoming obsessed with downloads, according to the recent findings of Google Trends on users searching from Iranian IP addresses in July 2015.
Celebrities and religious days were also trending this month with some surprising results appearing among the data for the past 30-day period.
In first place stood the term "download" written in Persian, which constituted the largest search term conducted in Iran. Tehran's residents were ahead of compatriots from Gilan's city of Rasht searching for downloads.
In second place was the term "Aks" or the Persian equivalent of picture. If one were to search for picture in Persian, image results came up with baby photos. The city, which seems most obsessed with babies, was the capital of Fars province, Shiraz. Kerman followed closely with an interest in seeing pictures of babies.
One reason for this surprising statistic is that Shiraz is known for its fertility clinics and the region has a disproportionally high infertility rate, according to a statistician.
The search engine reveals the country loves songs, as online users were increasingly looking for "Ahang" meaning music; this is a general search term whereby people sought sites to download songs in MP3 format. The top hit for this was pop-music.ir with Tabriz being one of the cities with the most music lovers, according to the results.
In fifth place was "film" spelt in Persian script. This is particularly good news for sites like Aparat.com—a local YouTube lookalike site—which has seen a steady rise in visitors in recent months.
In sixth place was "Download Ahang", similar to the search term above, and the province that topped music download was the northern province of Mazandaran followed by neighboring Gilan. The city of Koohsar used the search term more than any other city.
In seventh place, people across the country were hinting at nationalist tendencies and the rising search term was "Iran" in Persian. The top hit for this result was the Persian-language "Iran" page on Wikipedia.
"Bazi" (meaning game in Persian) was next in line, with Sistan-Baluchestan Province speeding ahead of gamers in other provinces.
Rising Profiles
The terms with the sharpest rise in popularity in Iran were "cool browser", this month's biggest breakout terms–reaching over 5,000 hits–which were searched most in the southern city of Fars Province. This was followed by the neighboring southern province of Kerman and the Persian Gulf province of Khuzestan.
The surprising southern lead suggests that word of mouth and social messaging apps in those regions are likely contributing to the growth in downloads.
The second biggest breakout terms in Iran were "Elham Arab" an Iranian wedding dress stylist, who happened to appear on a local TV show Mah-e-Asal, a regular Ramadan fixture. In this talk show, Arab appeared on the program talking about how much she earned, which consequently led to her being the second most talked about person in the country during Ramadan.
The third largest breakout terms in the last 30 days were "Eid al-Fitr", the day of feast at the end of the month of Ramadan. The southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchestan led the way and was closely followed by fellow southern province, Bushehr.
The next search was "Laylat al-Qadr" in Persian, which roughly translates to "Night of the Power, or Night of the Decree." This is a day of significance as it marks the day when the first revelation of the Holy Qur'an was made to Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).
Kerman Province led the search inquiries for this term, with the central city of Qom coming in a very close second place.
News events followed religious terms throughout the month of July, with the next rising search terms being "Nuclear Deal" in Persian. The city with the largest number of news inquiries related to the historic nuclear accord between Iran and the six world powers was the northeastern city of Mashhad, followed by West Azarbaijan Province's Urmia. Tehranis did not seem too concerned with the news or pursued other sources of information and stood at sixth place.
The next two searched terms related to "Ehsan Alikhani", the host of talk show "Mah-e-Asal". He was searched most widely in the southern desert city of Yazd, which was followed by Qom.
Precious metals and currencies were other topics of interest, with "Gold Price" rising 150% during the period. This was followed by "Dollar Price" in Persian gaining traction of 120%.
