'Zelda' searches skyrocket on Pornhub

"Legend of Zelda rule 34" is, of course, a popular search term.
 By 
Anna Iovine
 on 
pornhub logo with 'o' displayed as earth
'Zelda' Pornhub searches spiked after Friday's game release. Credit: Mashable

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom has only been out for a few days, but it's already piqued Pornhub users' interest. The tube site released its Zelda insights, which are both surprising and...not surprising, at all.

In the days leading up to last Friday's release, the search term "zelda" spiked. On May 7, the word was 357 percent more popular than compared to an average period. On release day, that figure was 399 percent, and by May 15 "zelda" had a whopping 1,477 percent increase in popularity on Pornhub.

pornhub zelda search graph
Pornhub searches for "zelda" were much more popular leading up to and after the game release. Credit: Pornhub

Characters and other specific terms also heightened in popularity. The term "purah zelda" (there's a character named Purah in the game) saw a massive 42,257 percent increase in popularity compared to an average day. Another top term, with a 22,067 increase in popularity, was "legend of zelda rule 34." For the uninitiated, Rule 34 is, "if it exists, there's porn of it."

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top gaining 'zelda' searches on pornhub graph
'Zelda' character Purah is a popular Pornhub search. Credit: Pornhub

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Overall, top Zelda-related searches include, "legend of zelda," "zelda hentai," and "zelda cosplay":

top zelda searches on pornhub graph
Top 'Zelda' searches on Pornhub. Credit: Pornhub

Finally, on midnight release day, Pornhub's traffic was down 2.3 percent compared to normal; it's safe to say those folks were gaming.

Topics Pornhub

anna iovine, a white woman with curly chin-length brown hair, smiles at the camera
Anna Iovine
Associate Editor, Features

Anna Iovine is the associate editor of features at Mashable. Previously, as the sex and relationships reporter, she covered topics ranging from dating apps to pelvic pain. Before Mashable, Anna was a social editor at VICE and freelanced for publications such as Slate and the Columbia Journalism Review. Follow her on Bluesky.

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