With the year drawing to a close, Google has announced its annual zeitgeist – a rundown of the people and topics most frequently ‘Googled’ in the past 12 months.
The top 10 searched items in the UK are for websites, perhaps proving that far too many people are unsure how to add a favourite or bookmark to their browser, or even worse – unsure what the address bar is. Facebook topped the top 10 searched items by UK Googlers, followed closely by YouTube and Hotmail.
Elsewhere in the media, the recent Twilight flick ‘Breaking Dawn’ quickly became the fastest rising searched movie of the year, following huge box office successes. Final Destination 2 and Mean Girls 2 took second and third place respectively. Our editor is gutted his own search efforts didn’t get Mean Girls 2 to the top spot – he’s a big fan.
The fastest rising person of 2011 was Ryan Dunn, the Jackass star who unfortunately lost his life in a tragic car accident earlier in the year. After scoring success in Twitter’s top trending topics of 2011, Rebecca Black managed to land third spot in this category.
As we had expected, the topic that was searched most in 2011 was The Royal Wedding, closely followed by two matters closer to a geek’s heart – the iPhone 5 and FIFA 12. The iPad 2 also featured in the overall fastest rising searches top 10 at number 5, showing that it’s been a good year for Cupertino company Apple.
You can check out the full list of top 10’s from Google below. What have you found yourself Googling again and again this year?
Fastest rising searches in 2011
1. Royal wedding
2. iPhone 5
3. Fifa 12
4. Groupon
5. iPad 2
6. Ryan Dunn
7. Adele
8. Minecraft
9. Rebecca Black
10. Ed Sheeran
Fastest rising people in 2011
1. Ryan Dunn
2. Adele
3. Rebecca Black
4. Ed Sheeran
5. Amy Winehouse
6. Charlie Sheen
7. Steve Jobs
8. Kate Middleton
9. Nicki Minaj
10. Darren Criss
How to (top searches for ‘How to’ in 2011)
1. How to revise
2. How to snog
3. How to reference
4. How to wallpaper
5. How to draw
6. How to sleep
7. How to flirt
8. How to geek
9. How to pronounce
10. How to shuffle
What is (top searches for ‘What is’ in 2011)
1. What is AV
2. What is scampi
3. What are truffles
4. What are piles
5. What is 4d
6. What are cookies
7. What is copyright
8. What is zumba
9. What is icloud
10. What is probate
Fastest rising movies in 2011
1. Breaking Dawn
2. Final Destination 5
3. Mean Girls 2
4. True Grit
5. Conan the Barbarian
6. Scream 4
7. The Inbetweeners
8. Little Fockers
9. Transformers 3
10. Unstoppable
Fastest rising sports terms in 2011
1. Haye vs Klitschko
2. Olympic tickets 2012
3. Arsenal transfer
4. Six Nations 2011
5. Wimbledon 2011
6. Grand National 2011
7. Wrestlemania 27
8. Copa America 2011
9. Randy Savage
10. Dan Wheldon
Top Food & Drink
1. Asda
2. Recipes
3. Tesco
4. Sainsburys
5. Pizza
6. Chicken
7. Chocolate
8. Dominos
9. Morrisons
10. Argos
Top Travel Destinations
1. Las Vegas
2. New York
3. Disneyland Paris
4. Jamaica
5. Orlando
6. Barbados
7. Hawaii
8. Caribbean
9. Florida
10. Cuba
Top UK searches in 2011
1. Facebook
2. YouTube
3. Hotmail
4. Ebay
5. Google
6. BBC
7. Amazon
8. Argos
9. Yahoo
10. Tesco
News Top 10 (top searches on news.google.co.uk)
1. BBC News
2. Arsenal
3. Facebook
4. YouTube
5. Cheryl Cole
6. iPhone 5
7. Liverpool
8. Kate Middleton
9. Manchester United
10. Justin Bieber
Fastest rising football searches in 2011
1. Anzhi Makhachkala
2. Arsenal transfer
3. Liverpool rumours
4. Joey Barton Twitter
5. Sky Sports transfer
6. Fifa ultimate team
7. Eric Abidal
8. Copa America 2011
9. Billy Sharp
10. Demba Ba
Top celebrities in 2011
1. Kim Kardashian
2. Victoria Beckham
3. Emma Watson
4. Scarlett Johansson
5. Jennifer Aniston
6. Britney Spears
7. Megan Fox
8. Ricky Gervais
9. Jessica Jane
10. Angelina Jolie
Fastest rising TV programme in 2011
1. X Factor 2011
2. Apprentice 2011
3. X Factor usa
4. NCIS season 9
5. House season 8
6. Glee season 3
7. Thundercats 2011
8. Big Brother 13
9. Supernatural season 7
10. Smallville season 10
Top tickets
1. Train tickets
2. Cheap tickets
3. 2012 tickets
4. Theatre tickets
5. Ticketmaster
6. BBC tickets
7. Concert tickets
8. O2
9. Liverpool tickets
10. Leeds tickets
Bargain hunting (top cheap searches 2011)
1. Cheap flights
2. Cheap holidays
3. Cheap hotels
4. Cheap tickets
5. Cheap insurance
6. Cheap cars
7. Cheap breaks
8. Cheap shoes
9. Cheap dresses
10. Cheap clothes
Let us know your thoughts on our comments below or via our @Gadget_Helpline Twitter page or Official Facebook group.