Five years of UK Google search data on home lighting, analysed by Enso Lighting. Wall lights are up a fifth in a year, brass has trebled since 2021, the bathroom IP question is more confused than ever, and the whole country goes looking for lamps the week the clocks go back.
The move to the wall
Every fitting type grew in the last season, but not evenly. Ceiling lights — the "big light" — were the most-searched fitting in 2021–22 and 2022–23. Wall lights overtook them in 2023–24 and have pulled away since: they finished the last season 21% up on the year before and 11% ahead of ceiling lights. Searches for the phrase "the big light" itself nearly doubled in the same year, which is what happens when a habit becomes a talking point.
Brass has trebled. Chrome is still on the floor.
Black is still the most-searched wall-light finish and grew by a third last year. The story is the gap underneath it: brass has gone from an index of 8 to 23 in four seasons and now sees almost five times the search interest of chrome. Chrome has risen too — but from an index of 3 to 5, a tiny base that leaves it a fraction of brass. Gold, brass's shinier cousin, grew 42% in a year.
The clocks-go-back effect
It happens every year and it is getting bigger. The lift was 7% in 2021 and 12% in 2025; wall lights alone jumped 13% and floor lamps 14%. The single busiest week for wall-light searches in the last twelve months was the week beginning 9 November 2025 — two weeks after the change. This year the clocks go back on Sunday 25 October.
The bathroom question nobody can answer
"IP44 bathroom" rose 42% in a year and "bathroom lighting" 39% — faster than any other room. Most of that is people trying to work out whether a light they like is allowed above the basin. Usually it is: outside Zone 2, more than 60 cm from the bath or shower, no rating is required at all. Our lighting calculator answers it in one click, and the bathroom zones guide explains the rules.
Rattan comes indoors
Rattan pendants were a conservatory product. They are now two and a half times as searched as in 2021–22, and the growth is concentrated in England — Scotland indexes at 71 and Wales at 42 against England's 100 over the last year. Wales, by contrast, is level with England for wall lights (100 vs 99) and tops the UK for outdoor wall lights (100 vs England's 97).
About the data
Google Trends, United Kingdom, weekly data 29 August 2021 – 30 August 2026, pulled 2 September 2026. Figures are relative search interest (0–100) within each chart's set of terms, not search volumes; growth is comparable within a chart, not between charts. "Season" is September to August, labelled by the year it ends. Three weeks in February 2026 (8–22 Feb) show an unusual spike across every lighting term; it is included in the 2025–26 averages and noted here rather than removed. Analysis by Enso Lighting. Free to reproduce with a link to this page. Press enquiries: press@ensolighting.com.