2022 isn’t even over yet but this year we’ve seen an influx of babies being born to celebrity parents who, no doubt, received some of the most lavish and luxurious gifts and hampers from friends and family! From Kylie Jenner and Travis Scott, to Rihanna and A$AP Rocky, there are a lot of A-Listers who have welcomed little bundles of joy into their families this year, but which ones have we been the most excited about?
To find out exactly which celebrity babies of 2022 have been the most anticipated, the Hey Discount consumer research team took a look at the numbers…
The celebrity birth announcements with the highest anticipation scores
By combining all of our factors - the most Google News articles, the most Instagram likes, the most Google searches and the highest search volume increase - we have come up with an overall anticipation score for each celebrity birth. So, which celebrity offspring created the most anticipation?
Rihanna and A$AP Rocky - 9.84 overall anticipation score
Topping the list is, of course, Rihanna and A$AP Rocky’s first child, with an overall anticipation score of 9.84. With parents whose combined net worth is $1.41 billion - while Rihanna is worth $1.4 billion alone - this child is set to live a life of luxury!
Post Malone - 9.56 overall anticipation score
The second most anticipated celebrity baby of the year is Post Malone’s newborn with an overall anticipation score of 9.56. During his interview with Howard Stern, the rapper explained that he didn’t announce the birth of his daughter due to privacy and will be keeping her out of the limelight.
Ed Sheeran and Cherry Seaborn - 9.20 overall anticipation score
In third place is Ed Sheeran and Cherry Seaborn’s newest arrival with an overall anticipation score of 9.20. It’s no secret that this couple are good at keeping their personal life private. They secretly married in December 2018, before welcoming their first daughter, Lyra, in 2020 and their newest addition, Jupiter, in 2022.
The one thing that all of these celebrities have in common? They are all yet to reveal the names and any pictures of their latest additions!
The celebrity babies who have been written about the most
By looking at the news section of Google, we discovered that some celebrity babies were a lot more popular with journalists than others this year.
Rihanna and A$AP Rocky - 6,010,000 articles
Topping the list once again with a huge 6,010,000 articles are pop queen Rihanna and rapper A$AP Rocky. It was announced that the couple were expecting their first child together on 31st January, with Rihanna debuting her bump on her Instagram a few days later.
The couple have not yet revealed the name or any pictures of their son, who is rumoured to have been born in February.
Jennifer Lawrence and Cooke Maroney - 2,350,000 articles
Coming in second place with 2,350,000 articles is actress Jennifer Lawrence and her art dealer husband Cooke Maroney.
The couple have been very private about the new addition to their family, with Jennifer reportedly giving birth in February. In an interview with American Vogue in September, Jennifer revealed that she and her husband had welcomed a baby boy called Cy, who is named after the postwar painter Cy Twombly.
Ed Sheeran and Cherry Seaborn - 1,180,000 articles
The third most written about celebrity baby is the daughter of singer/songwriter Ed Sheeran and his wife Cherry Seaborn, with 1,180,000 articles.
The couple - who already have a daughter called Lyra together - managed to keep their second pregnancy well under wraps until the birth.
The most-liked celebrity birth announcements
For a lot of people, Instagram is the go-to place to find out when your favourite celebrity or couple has welcomed their new addition into the world. However, some celebs, like Rihanna and Khloe Kardashian, choose to be more private and skip the Insta announcement altogether.
So, for those who did announce the birth of their child on Instagram, who received the most likes?
Kylie Jenner and Travis Scott - 22,973,209 likes
At the top of the list is reality star and businesswoman Kylie Jenner and rapper Travis Scott, with a whopping 22,973,209 likes.
Kylie - who already shares daughter Stormi with Travis - announced the birth of their son on Instagram on 7th February. Although they first decided to call their son Wolf, Kylie took to Instagram just a few weeks later to say that they had changed their mind, and she is still yet to reveal her son’s new name!
Nick Jonas and Priyanka Chopra - 2,383,647 likes
In second place is singer/actor Nick Jonas and his wife Priyanka Chopra, with 2,383,647 likes.
The couple welcomed a baby girl called Malti Marie via surrogate earlier this year. Nick made the announcement on his Instagram on 21st January.
Ed Sheeran and Cherry Seaborn - 2,034,950 likes
In third place is Ed Sheeran and Cherry Seaborn, with 2,034,950 likes. The couple only revealed that they were expecting again when Ed posted a picture of a pair of baby socks to his Instagram, telling his followers that they had welcomed another daughter.
The most Googled celebrity babies
By taking a look at all of the celebrity births this year, we discovered that some babies have generated considerably more Google searches than others.
Post Malone - 26,000 average monthly searches
It seems as though fans of singer/rapper Post Malone are very eager to find out more details about his daughter, as the term “Post Malone baby” generates an average of 26,000 Google searches across the world each month.
The musician - real name Austin Richard Post - casually announced the arrival of his daughter during an interview on Sirius XM’s Howard Stern show in June, saying “I woke up at 2:30 and I went and kissed my baby girl.” When he was asked if he was referring to his partner, he responded “Nah, that’s my daughter.”
Rihanna and A$AP Rocky - 24,000 average monthly searches
In second place are power couple Rihanna and A$AP Rocky with 24,000 average Google searches per month across the globe.
The high number of Google searches related to their child is possibly due to the fact that neither of them have shared any details or images of their new addition on their social media accounts.
Ed Sheeran and Cherry Seaborn - 15,000 average monthly searches
Completing the top three is Ed Sheeran and Cherry Seaborn with 15,000 average Google searches.
Just like Rihanna and A$AP Rocky, the couple are yet to reveal any images of their daughter Jupiter, which could be contributing to their high search volume.
The celebrity birth announcements that saw the biggest jump in searches
To discover which celebrity birth announcements have generated the most excitement and intrigue, we compared the number of Google searches related to the celebrity parent/s the week before and the week after the announcement.
Alec and Hilaria Baldwin - 4900% search volume increase
It seems as though the arrival of Alec and Hilaria Baldwin’s daughter Ilaria on 22nd September generated a lot of interest, as they had a huge search volume increase of 4900%.
Hilaria announced the birth of the couple’s seventh child together on 24th September, by posting a video to Instagram showing images and clips of their daughter in the hospital and meeting her siblings.
Khloe Kardashian and Tristan Thompson - 373% search volume increase
Coming in second is media personality Khloe Kardashian and professional basketball player Tristan Thompson with a search volume increase of 373%.
Just like Khloe’s younger sister Kylie, the on/off couple are yet to reveal the name of their son, who was born via surrogate in the summer. Although his face was covered, over the Halloween period, their baby boy made his first appearance on Khloe’s Instagram in an adorable photo with his older sister True.
Rihanna and A$AP Rocky - 231% search volume increase
In the top three again are Rihanna and A$AP Rocky, with a search volume increase of 231%.
With Rihanna’s six-year hiatus from the music world, fans are eager to catch a glimpse of what she’s been up to - including giving birth to her first child!
The celebrity births we’re looking forward to in 2023!
It looks as though 2023 is already shaping up to be another celebrity baby-filled year! Some of our favourite celebs - from actresses to Love Island stars - have already announced that they will be extending their families next year, but which has gotten us most excited?
Molly-Mae Hague and Tommy Fury
In September, Love Island stars Molly-Mae Hague and Tommy Fury announced that they are expecting their first child together. Molly made the announcement on her Instagram by sharing a black and white clip of the two of them whilst on Love Island, before switching to a clip of Tommy holding Molly’s bump.
The couple - who finished in second place on the 2019 series of Love Island - will be welcoming a little girl into their family in 2023. Before their announcement, fans of the pair had been speculating on social media that they were expecting - and they were right!
Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds
It was also announced in September that power couple Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds are expecting their fourth child together. Blake ‘announced’ her latest pregnancy by wearing a sparkly minidress, which visibly showed off her bump, on the red carpet for the Forbes Power Women Event Summit.
Since then, Blake has shared some adorable photos of her and her growing bump on her Instagram. The pair already have three daughters together: James, 7, Inez, 5 and Betty, 3.
Stacey Dooley and Kevin Clifton
In August, journalist and TV personality Stacey Dooley and her partner Kevin Clifton announced that they are expecting their first child together. Stacey shared a polaroid photo of herself cradling her bump to her Instagram account, stating that it was becoming impossible to hide her pregnancy.
The pair have been together since meeting on Strictly Come Dancing in 2018, in which they won the series!
Methodology:
We began our search by collating a list of some of the many celebrity births that have occurred this year, using Page Six as our source.
We then chose four factors to look at when analysing how anticipated each celebrity birth was: the number of Google News articles, the number of likes on Instagram announcements, the average number of monthly searches on Google and the search volume increase.
Number of Google News articles - we entered search terms for all of our celebrity parents into the news section of Google and looked at the number of articles that are available.
Number of likes on Instagram announcements - we discovered which celebrity parents had announced their child’s birth on Instagram, found the post on their account and made a note of how many likes the post had received.
Average number of monthly searches on Google - we entered all of our search terms into the keyword explorer section of ahrefs and made a note of the average number of global Google searches each month.
Search volume increase - by entering our search terms into Google Trends and looking at the index score for the week before and the week after the birth announcement, we were able to work out the percentage increase or decrease of searches for each celebrity birth.
For our overall anticipation score, we gave a normalised score out of 10 for each factor, before taking our overall score as an average across all four factors.
Data correct as of 31st October 2022.
