In order to grasp the context, hot spots and trends of digital economy research, based on the literatures of the Web of Science core database, CiteSpace and VOSviewer are used to econometrically analyze the digital economy literature since 2009. The research results clarify the annual publication trend and field category of the digital economy, the most influential and productive authors, institutions, countries and journals, digital economy related research after more than ten years of stagnation, is currently in a period of rapid growth, research disciplines are concentrated in management, environmental science, communication, environmental research and business. The United States, the United Kingdom and China are important digital economy research centers, research cooperation between countries and international research institutions needs to be strengthened. The prominent theme of digital economy research has undergone three stages of significant changes, presenting the evolutionary context of the continuous development of technology-industry-system. Digital economy research hotspots focus on four aspects: digitalization, social media, sharing economy and circular economy. The research hotspots focus on four aspects: digitalization, social media, sharing economy and circular economy. According to the results of keyword clustering and the composition of the techno-economic paradigm, the emerging trends of digital economy include digital technology, smart assets and digital platforms from the perspective of technological systems. From the perspective of industrial system, it includes business model, value creation, circular economy, sharing economy and gig economy. From the perspective of institutional systems, it includes platform capital and political economy. Finally, the conclusions of the study and the outlook for future research are proposed.