NordPass showcases the 200 most common passwords of 2022

In 2022, “guest” overtakes “123456” as the most used password in the United States (US), according to NordPass. Previous year’s winner, “123456,” also seems to be retaining favor — it has fallen only to second place.

Globally, the most common password last year was “password.”

NordPass has revealed the results of its annual most common passwords research. The study looked into password creation trends worldwide and how password usage differs by gender and among 30 researched countries. For the first time, NordPass also analyzed how pop culture trends influence our password choices.

Below are the 20 most common passwords in the US. The full study is available here: nordpass.com/most-common-passwords-list/.

1. guest
2. 123456
3. password
4. 12345
5. a1b2c3
6. 123456789
7. Password1
8. 1234
9. abc123
10. 12345678
11. qwerty
12. baseball
13. football
14. unknown
15. soccer
16. jordan23
17. iloveyou
18. monkey
19. shadow
20. g_czechout

Despite cybersecurity experts’ continuous warnings about the consequences of irresponsible password management, internet users were found guilty again. Compared to the data from 2021, 73% of the 200 most common passwords in 2022 remain the same. Furthermore, 83% of the passwords in last year’s list can be cracked in less than a second.

However, NordPass presented both a global list as well as segregated data for 30 countries worldwide. Gender-specific information is also available on the website.

Common password creation trends among different countries and genders

Overall, the password list of internet users in the US shows trends that are similar to other countries’ trends.

1. The number one password in the US — “guest” — is also trending worldwide, along with other pre-configured passwords such as “welcome.” For instance, “guest” is the third most common password in the United Kingdom and fifth in Canada.

2. While “password” is the most loved password globally (used over 4.9 million times), it ranks third in the US. Variations such as “Password1” and “password123” are also trending among Americans. 

3. Having analyzed categories such as sports, food, movies, or fashion brands, researchers concluded that culture, lifestyle trends, and recent events have a huge effect on people’s password choices. 

4. Using your name to secure your accounts remains a common practice of internet users. In the US, Jordan, Michael, Hunter, Anthony, and Maggie were top names used as passwords. Globally, this trend is also big: the world’s most-used people names for password creation were Daniel, Thomas, Jordan, Michael, Marina, and Jessica.

5. People tend to go for convenience: Easy keyboard combinations of numbers, letters, and symbols make most lists worldwide. The US is no exception here — easily-hackable “a1b2c3,” “abc123,” “qwerty,” and other similar passwords are highly popular in the country.

When it comes to other worldwide trends, researchers noticed that password irritation is also reflected in internet users’ picks last year. In the US, “fuckyou” is the 24th most common password, with “fuckyou1,” and “fuckyou2” also picked often. On the other hand, loving words are extensively used as well — “iloveyou” and its translations into other languages are highly common passwords in most countries.

Pop culture influences our password habits

Differently from previous years, in 2022, NordPass, in collaboration with independent researchers, analyzed how current events and lifestyle trends inspire our passwords. The company presents which of the world’s beloved movies, sports, food, cars, video games, artists, fashion brands, and even swear words are most reflected in passwords.

As an example, “mini,” “kia,” and “ford” are the most common passwords in the “car” category, and “tiffany,” “aldo,” and “gap” top the list of fashion brands.

Password use is coming to an end

“Throughout the years, we observe almost identical password management mistakes, which suggests people simply prefer convenience. If we cannot do better with passwords, we should do better than passwords. Last year marks a huge milestone in search of alternative online authentication solutions, with passkey technology paving a way to replace passwords in the future,” says Tomas Smalakys, the chief technology officer of NordPass.

With Google, Microsoft, and Apple at the forefront of passkey technology, other progressive businesses like PayPal, KAYAK, or eBay have also introduced passkey support to their users. Recently, NordPass has developed a solution to store clients’ passkeys and use them to access various apps and websites.

Tips to secure your passwords

Even though companies implement security measures to protect our accounts, every user still needs to be careful with their passwords. Below are a few essential tips to improve your password “hygiene”:

1. Be aware of all accounts that are in your possession. Experts recommend deleting unused accounts and knowing the exact number of those that are active. This way, you can prevent gaps in your password management.

2. Make long, unique passwords, and never reuse them. Complicated combinations of numbers, uppercase, lowercase letters, and symbols make the most robust passwords. Reusing them is never an option — if one account gets hacked, other accounts are at risk.

3. Use a password manager. This technological solution fully encrypts the passwords stored in the vault and allows secure sharing. Many cybersecurity incidents happen because of simple human mistakes — people leave their passwords openly accessible for others and store them  in Excel or other unencrypted applications.

Methodology: The list of passwords was compiled in partnership with independent researchers specializing in research of cybersecurity incidents. They evaluated a 3TB-sized database.

Researchers classified the data into various verticals, which allowed them to perform a statistical analysis based on countries and gender.

With regard to the gender vertical, the researched data was classified by gender only if it included a gender key. If the breached data didn’t contain the data key, it was classified as “unknown.”

ABOUT NORDPASS

NordPass is a password manager for both business and consumer clients. It’s powered by the latest technology for the utmost security. Developed with affordability, simplicity, and ease of use in mind, NordPass allows users to access passwords securely on desktop, mobile, and browsers. All passwords are encrypted on the device, so only the user can access them. NordPass was created by the experts behind NordVPN — the advanced security and privacy app trusted by more than 14 million customers worldwide. For more information: nordpass.com.