10-time Group 1 winner Mr Brightside is officially more popular than the cult The Killers song of the same name, according to data released by Google Trends overnight.

The finding is based on Google Trends' measure of relative search interest — which, in a stunning reversal for a song that has been streamed over 3.4 billion times on Spotify, now favours the horse.

“He has taken complete cultural ownership of the phrase ‘Mr Brightside’”, a Google spokesperson said. “People aren't searching for the song lyrics, they're searching for this horse’s next start."

Despite the shift away from The Killers' debut classic, which Google acknowledged is "still a genuine banger", this masthead understands that the only song-related search term that has remained on an upward trend since 2017 is ‘Richmond player ruins Killers song’.

Google Trends data reportedly shows searches for Mr Brightside the horse have been climbing steadily since his emergence as one of Australian racing's most beloved and tenacious competitors, with search analysts pointing to his rare combination of consistency, longevity and ‘fat starting prices’ as driving factors.

A spokesperson for The Killers expressed shock and disappointment about the shift, but conceded that Mr Brightside “is a bloody good horse” and that they would be “loading up at the double-figures” in the G1 Makybe Diva tomorrow.

More to follow.