What’s Kourtney Kardashian latest scheme to get pregnant with Travis Barker? Did Taylor Swift and Joe Alwyn get secretly engaged? The answers to these and similar questions have no direct bearing on most of our lives, yet we continue to be fascinated by what the “It” celebrity couples are up to anyway. A new study has crunched the numbers on our (or should I say my…) fascination, with Ryan Reynolds & Blake Lively and Tom Hanks & Rita Wilson as some unsurprising entries among the most Googled couples. However, the No. 1 couple overall probably isn't who you'd think it was.
The study conducted by DC Jewellery used five specific factors in its methodology in order to rank the top 10 celebrity couples in the world: combined search volume, combined Instagram and Twitter followers, how long they have been in their relationship and how long they have been married. The idea was to gauge the public’s invested interest in them against their success/longevity as a couple. Each duo then garnered a “celeb couple score,” and based on their averaging system, a certain NBA player and his wife dunked the coveted lead position: LeBron and Savannah James. See the full couple rankings here:
- 10. Melissa McCarthy & Ben Falcone (6.21)
- 9. Lisa Kudrow & Michael Stern (6.31)
- 8. Jessica Alba & Cash Warren (6.56)
- 7. Justin Timberlake & Jessica Biel (6.62)
- 6. Elsa Pataky & Chris Hemsworth (6.82)
- 5. Blake Lively & Ryan Reynolds (6.87)
- 4. Tom Brady & Gisele Bündchen (7.13)
- 3. Ellen DeGeneres & Portia De Rossi (7.18)
- 2. Tom Hanks & Rita Wilson (7.38)
- 1. LeBron James & Savannah James (7.79)
So, the winner is LeBron James and his high school sweetheart Savannah Brinson, who got married back in 2013. Truth be told, their marriage isn’t as in-your-face as some of the other “competitors,” which is why we’re so surprised. Not to mention, Brinson (now James) isn’t a high-profile actor or athlete to help bolster their standings in these kind of analytics.
Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively, for example, are both performers in their own rights and are constantly making headlines for their sarcastic jokes at each other's expense (which explains why they were the No. 1 in terms of most Google searches). And what we know of Tom Hanks is that he’ll make his opinions quite clear where Lightyear without Tim Allen is concerned or about any fan who dares to knock into his wife Rita Wilson. The study showed that Hanks and Wilson have lasted longer than all the rest on the list, too – and no kidding, because they just celebrated their 34th anniversary together.
LeBron James was seemingly able to add this new personal accolade to his long list of professional accomplishments – which includes two Gold Olympic medals, four NBA MVP awards and four championship rings – due to the huge numbers that his name puts on this kind of scoreboard. The 37-year-old father of three and his wife have more than 120 million followers across both Twitter and Instagram, most of which coming from the power forward. They also have generated over 70 million Google searches between them, per the study. But if that wasn’t proof enough that the James are #CoupleGoals, then just note that the NBA champion’s self-produced high school biopic (which will presumably document the couple’s own origin story as well) is heading to Peacock Premium subscribers in 2023. Who else in this list can claim that their real-life love story will soon part of a major motion picture? I’ll wait...
A lot of other celebrity couples made some noise in the study, just not in the numero uno relationship spot. Oprah Winfrey and Stedman Graham and Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick came in second and third respectively for the longest-lasting couples (after my man Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson, of course). The two couples who got married the quickest? Tim McGraw and Faith Hill, and Elsa Pataky and Chris Hemsworth, who all wed after less than a year of dating. And Taylor Swift and her rumored husband-to-be, Joe Alwyn, blasted everyone out of the water for most social media followers.
All in all, though, we must admit that these kind of rankings need to be taken with a grain of salt. The study indicated that celebrities without data for certain categories were removed outright so as to create a “level playing field.” This seemingly accounts for why the likes of Kim Kardashian and Pete Davidson or JLo and Ben Affleck were nowhere to be seen, despite their relationships (and frequent engagements) almost always being a hot topic.
Alas, there can be only one King (and Queen). And King James retains his crown...
