UPDATE 11/2/2015

Here’s a quick chart I put together using R and ggplot2 to highlight the Kansas City Royals’s continued prominence over Lorde’s “Royals” since their 2014 World Series appearance. This year’s World Series win definitely leaves no room for speculation as to which “Royals” is most relevant now!

The 2014 Kansas City Royals surprised much of the United States this fall with an unprecedented run through the playoffs. Despite ultimately losing the World Series, Kansas City’s “Blue October” made the team exponentially more relevant to the United States than it had been in decades.

There’s no doubt Kansas City Royals fans will be forever disheartened by their Game 7 loss to the San Fransisco Giants in the World Series. However if there is something positive to be taken away from their historic postseason run, it’s that in doing so they finally surpassed singer Lorde’s identically named ultrahit “Royals” in relative popularity (according to Google Trends).

Following it’s release in June 2013, “Royals” stayed far more popular than the Kansas City Royals throughout their 2013 season. By the time Lorde’s “Royals” hit peak popularity last October when it reached the top of Billboard’s Hot 100, the KC Royals had been eliminated from playoff contention for the 28th straight year. One year later the Royals were cruising through the American League side of the playoffs in dramatic fashion, racking up wins and salience in the national pysche. The small uncharacteristic bump at the end of the “Royals” trendline makes me wonder if the KC Royals’ national popularity even caused some people to search for the song once again. What a difference a year makes!